The 'Magic Hour'

[David Mullen ASC]

"Golden Hour" is not well-defined as to whether the warm setting sun is still above the horizon or not, but as to how warm things are just after sunset, it all depends on atmospheric conditions. This is why I prefer the term "Magic Hour" over "Golden Hour" and I personally define Magic Hour as the time just after the sun has set because there is light everywhere but the obvious source has gone behind the horizon. When the sun is up, I prefer calling that "late afternoon" to "sunset" to make it more clear as to the height of the sun.

 

But as I said "Golden Hour" is less well-defined so if someone wants to include the setting sun in that time, that's OK with me.

 

I'm sure many people find the light as the sun sets "magic" too, but in filmmaking, the magic hour usually means the more narrow time window of twilight or dusk (which isn't an hour long except at extreme latitudes...)

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Oh, I thought it was very well defined and the definition widely accepted. :blink: Nowhere did I find that the blue hour can also be called magic hour. But that doesn't mean you're not telling the truth. Are there any books on cinematography that refer to it that way?

 

Somehow I think that that introduces unnecessary confusion.

 

Wikipedia even states that in cinematography especially the golden hour is known as the magic hour, and the article about the blue hour doesn't mention any alternative names:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hour_(photography)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_hour

 

Blue hour as a term is so well known there is even a perfume named after it: Guerlain's L'Heure bleue.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos

[David Mullen ASC]

I mainly am recalling an interview with Nestor Almendros talking about shooting "Days of Heaven" in "magic hour" -- it might have been in the documentary "Visions of Light". Even in the book "Masters of Light", Almendros said this about "Days of Heaven":

 

 

 

We would often shoot in what he (Malick) called "the magic hour". We would prepare and wait the whole day, then we would shoot at the time after the sun set. We had about twenty minutes there before it got dark. We would shoot frantically to make use of this beautiful light.

 

Nestor Almendros basically implies in the documentary I saw that that's why it is called "magic" -- there is light everywhere but there is no sun.

 

Maybe this is just a European versus U.S. thing, but certainly most people here think of Magic Hour as taking place just after sunset, i.e. dusk or twilight -- the light after the direct light of the sun has gone. But the term "Golden Hour" is used less here. If I said "Golden Hour" to someone, they would probably assume the orange light of the setting sun was involved. But if I told an AD that we were going to shoot this scene at "Magic Hour" for scheduling, he would know that we would be shooting from sunset into late twilight until it was too dark to shoot anymore.

 

But it is also not a hard line about waiting until the sun is down because atmospheric conditions and geography may affect the light and it may be soft enough even when the sun is not behind the horizon.

 

But again, film terms are not always well-defined, it is more a question of practice. If you are trying to write an academic paper on the topic, then define your terms up front and stick to those definitions, that's fine.

[David Mullen ASC]

Around 3:20, John Bailey says "the long twilight -- magic hour -- in Alberta" when talking about "Days of Heaven":

 

Again, keep in mind that as filmmakers, we don't strictly define things, we may start shooting a "magic hour" scene while the sun is up but setting and then go past that, it all depends on how things look. And the editor may use the shots made when the sun was still up or when the sun had just set.

[David Mullen ASC]

From Nestor Almendros autobiography "Man with a Camera":

 

 

At Malick's insistence certain parts of the film were made at what he calls the "magic hour", that is, the time between sunset and nightfall. From the point of view of luminosity, this period lasts about twenty minutes so that calling it a "magic hour" is an optimistic euphemism.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Before I add anything else: does magic hour in the usage you are describing imply reddish and orangeish hues of light or does it involve blueishness?

[David Mullen ASC]

As a cinematographer, whether magic hour is warm or cool is partly a creative choice -- if the weather is slightly hazy, you can usually time the image to be golden or blue or neutral. Skylight on a clear day is very blue but the glow from the horizon can be very warm, so you maybe cannot time the skylight to be warm but you can time it to be neutral and the horizon glow to be very warm. But if there is some haze in the weather, then the warm glow at the horizon can light the sky with a warmer glow and then you have more ability to time it either way, warm or cold.

 

To me "magic hour" describes a time, the transition between day to night -- the colors can be affected by any number of things.

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

Oh. That kind of doesn't make any sense to me. I thought that one would either be aiming at warm, fiery tones or blue ones. I don't get it how can you time red clouds or alpenglow to be blue. That makes no sense. I'm sure there are techniques to turn any colour into any other colour, however horrendous the results may be, but one usually shoots at a particular time because one wants either red or blue.

 

If you're shooting at magic hour, you're aiming for one of those two, rarely both, if ever.

 

This is one of the reasons why it's better to speak of either the golden hour or the blue hour.

 

Then check the ephemeris to see when it will happen.

 

And then tell the AD "I want everything ready at HH:mm."

Edited December 16, 2015 by Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos

[Alexandros Angelopoulos Apostolos]

This is confusing.

 

Why then are people shooting at magic hour? More because of constrast and less about the colours?

 

What does a cinematographer want?

 

Blue skies except approximately in the west (as you know, the Sun sets in the exact west only twice a year), where they will be reddish?

 

What's the point?

[David Mullen ASC]

I'm talking more about the color of light hitting faces, not the color in the clouds.

 

I don't understand the question about why are people shooting at magic hour. The answer is because they like the quality of the light and colors, etc.

 

What does a cinematographer want? Isn't that dependent on the intent of the scene and its place in the story?

 

How reddish the horizon near the sunset gets versus how blue the overhead skylight gets is all dependent on atmospheric conditions. Plus you can shift the overall color cast depending on the color temperature setting you use.

 

Whether I go for a golden look right after sunset or a cold blue look is a creative decision based on the story. But I can't change the quality of the light, I can only time the overall color cast one direction or the other. Just go out and shoot at dusk today with the digital camera set to 7200K, 5600K and 3200K and look at the differences in feeling you get.

 

Also, some scenes in movies want to see the changes in coloration all the way from sunset to night, and others are trying to maintain one color look for continuity within coverage.

[John E Clark]

Oh. That kind of doesn't make any sense to me. I thought that one would either be aiming at warm, fiery tones or blue ones. I don't get it how can you time red clouds or alpenglow to be blue. That makes no sense. I'm sure there are techniques to turn any colour into any other colour, however horrendous the results may be, but one usually shoots at a particular time because one wants either red or blue.

 

You can shoot B&W at the 'magic hour'. For the Wife and I and her wedding/portrait business, the Magic Hour was perhaps 1/2 hour before sunset, to 1/2 after... I think we had later 'extended' hours... but since we were shooting stills we could change the shutter to get a reasonable exposure much longer after sunset than with motion picture filming.

 

The before sunset 1/2 hour was estimated when the sun was about 1-2 finger widths up from the horizon, with one's arm extended (1 finger width being approximately 15 minutes... we are not talking NBS traceable atomic source timing here...). In fact actual sunset occurs before the sun's ball dips below the horizon due to the refraction of the sun's rays by the atmosphere... but since it is light, and enough for your shot... no issue with the 'factual geometry' of the sun/horizon...

 

When the sun is that low a subject can look more closely towards the sun than usual... and the 'warm/soft reddish light does 'melt' wrinkles, worry lines, age lines what have you for some degree of 'line'.

 

Since for portraiture that effect is a benefit in most cases... the Wife used it a lot... overcast days also work as well, but can produce 'muddy' results.

[Satsuki Murashige]

As a cinematographer, whether magic hour is warm or cool is partly a creative choice -- if the weather is slightly hazy, you can usually time the image to be golden or blue or neutral. Skylight on a clear day is very blue but the glow from the horizon can be very warm, so you maybe cannot time the skylight to be warm but you can time it to be neutral and the horizon glow to be very warm. But if there is some haze in the weather, then the warm glow at the horizon can light the sky with a warmer glow and then you have more ability to time it either way, warm or cold.

 

To me "magic hour" describes a time, the transition between day to night -- the colors can be affected by any number of things.

And this is exactly why filmmakers refer to it as "magic hour" and not "blue hour." As a cinematographer, you could be going for any number of different effects that don't involve the color blue. You just have to look at some of the images posted in this thread to get an idea of the range of expressive looks that are made possible by shooting in these conditions.

[David Mullen ASC]

Just went outside and took this shot. The sun was up but almost set, but most of my neighborhood is in shade. It's very clear today so anything the sun doesn't touch is already very cool from being lit by the clear skylight. Only the horizon was warm. You can see how you can get three different looks just with color temperature settings:

 

3200K

 

5600K

 

10000K

 

The middle photo at 5600K comes the closest to looking like it did to my eyes. Even though the sun hadn't quite set yet, there was very little gold except for what the sun was striking, and even 15 minutes earlier when the sun was higher, most of the surroundings were in a cold light because of the tall trees and buildings shading everything.

[Satsuki Murashige]

This is confusing.

 

Why then are people shooting at magic hour? More because of constrast and less about the colours?

 

What does a cinematographer want?

 

Blue skies except approximately in the west (as you know, the Sun sets in the exact west only twice a year), where they will be reddish?

 

What's the point?

 

For a cinematographer, the point is to suggest a tone or mood that supports the specific story point being photographed by manipulating the light to control how the image is recorded onto the film or sensor. If that means simply waiting until the natural light is perfect, framing the shot, selecting an aperture, white balance, and making an exposure to record the scene exactly as it appears to the eye, then great. But usually, there's more to it than that. You may have pre-visualized the scene as being played in silhouette against a red sky, much like this scene from "Gone With the Wind” (shot on a sound stage, I believe):

 

 

Or, cool with soft contrast like this scene from "The Thin Red Line":

 

 

 

Or even in black and white like this scene from "Manhattan":

 

 

Each previsualized look will determine which camera or film stocks you will by carrying on the day, specific filters, lens and aperture choice, not to mention choice of location and time of day, or in the case of a studio bound production, creation and lighting of a backdrop, matte painting, or set extension. If you're going to do a composite shot, then the background plate to be used has already been photographed, so you would use that as a lighting reference and try to match the color and contrast with movie lights.

[Satsuki Murashige]

Just went outside and took this shot. The sun was up but almost set, but most of my neighborhood is in shade. It's very clear today so anything the sun doesn't touch is already very cool from being lit by the clear skylight. Only the horizon was warm. You can see how you can get three different looks just with color temperature settings:

 

3200K

 

5600K

 

10000K

 

The middle photo at 5600K comes the closest to looking like it did to my eyes. Even though the sun hadn't quite set yet, there was very little gold except for what the sun was striking, and even 15 minutes earlier when the sun was higher, most of the surroundings were in a cold light because of the tall trees and buildings shading everything.

 

Great examples David. To take the discussion further, I would like to ask Alexandros:

 

How does each color treatment make you feel? What kind of mood does it create? And what kind of story point or scene do you think each look would be appropriate for? There's no correct answer, but I think the answers are very important.

[David Mullen ASC]

 

You may have pre-visualized the scene as being played in silhouette against a red sky, much like this scene from "Gone With the Wind” (shot on a sound stage, I believe):

 

MagicHour_GWTW.jpg

 

Actually that scene was shot against a real sunrise on location (where she finds the carrot and says she'll never be hungry again). The earlier sunset with her father under the tree was an effect shot and the red sunset with Rhett Butler kissing her after the burning of Atlanta was against a backdrop on stage.

[Satsuki Murashige]

 

Actually that scene was shot against a real sunrise on location (where she finds the carrot and says she'll never be hungry again). The earlier sunset with her father under the tree was an effect shot and the red sunset with Rhett Butler kissing her after the burning of Atlanta was against a backdrop on stage.

 

Ah ok thanks, that makes sense. I was wondering how they could possibly do a forced perspective shot for a glass matte painting since it's such a huge dolly move and the perspective shifts so much. The shot is basically repeated three times throughout the film, and as you say the first and last shots look a bit ropey with the two dimensional house in the background.