Parc Entertainment - A Video Production Company

A few months ago I posted a couple of articles outlining ways in which you can help make the post-production process a little more efficient.  The foundation for a smooth post-production is laid during the actual shoot. If you are disciplined and organized in production, then the edit will get off to a good start. There are two major things you need to do throughout the shoot - slate each shot and maintain a shooting log.

Slating each shot means placing a clapboard, card, a piece of paper, etc. in front of the camera before each scene. Written on the slate is valuable information pertaining to the individual shot, like scene number, take number, production title, and date. Having this information appear before every take will help your editor keep track of all the shots throughout post. Even if you are working both as director and editor, a slate is an invaluable tool.

In addition to slating each shot, it’s important to keep a running log of everything you shoot. A log contains a description of each take and a record of what happened during that particular take. It will help you remember, for example, if the pickup truck blocked your main actor on the fourth take or the sixth take. It will help you to remember if the conveyor belt moved at just the right speed on the third or the fifth take. And it will help you to remember when your interview subject used that great sound byte.

This all sounds great, in theory. The reality is, sometimes in the hectic pace of a documentary corporate shoot, or low-budget indie project, it can be easy to get off track. However, the iPhone has apps available to help make the process easier and more convenient. iSlate, from iBuiltThis, is a digital clapper that allows users to conveniently slate and log their shots. It’s perfect for a run-and-gun project with a bare bones crew, because you will always have your phone with you. And since it’s only $3, iSlate is a great option when compared to actual chalk and dry-earse slates on the market.

I love my iPhone. It’s incredible to have that many resources and tools in one device. I’m always interested in learning about new apps that can increase productivity and make my life a little more organized and efficient. Last month I posted a video about Cinemek’s storyboarding application, Hitchcock. Today I wanted to post a little information about Helios. Released last April, Helios is a tool for cinematographers that will allow you to calculate the position of the sun for any given day, at any given time, at any given location around the world. This can be an incredibly useful tool for DP’s working with natural light. Let’s say you have an exterior shoot in Grand Rapids, MI next month, but it’s overcast and rainy on your location scout . With the Helios app, you can instantly calculate where the sun will be at the exact moment of your shoot. It’s a great way to keep track of the ever-changing lighting conditions when shooting outdoors.

This question came to me recently…

We have a cannon XHA1 and are having issues shooting dark objects inside. The pixels within the dark areas become noisy or fuzzy. It seems like lower shutter speeds help this issue but don’t resolve it all together.

If you are shooting video in low light and your camera is set to auto iris, the camera will maximize all available light to boost the exposure. This results in grainy, or noisy video. You can also introduce grain onto your video if you increase the camera’s gain to compensate for low light. Many video cameras with manual controls allow you to control the amount of gain, usually in increments ranging from 0db to 18db.

To ensure that your image is clear, sharp and clean, you need to ensure that there is enough light on set for a proper exposure. If your script requires that you shoot nighttime scenes, or scenes in dark interiors, remember that the illusion of darkness is created NOT by taking away the amount of light on set, but by increasing the amount of contrast. You can shoot nighttime scenes without grain by knowing how to properly light the set.

In the Birmingham film & video production market you can find several independent professionals working away at their craft, creating a wide variety of content - wedding videos, promotional videos, short films, etc. Often they work alone, or at smaller production houses, because of the affordability of production equipment and editing software. This means that one individual sometimes must take on several responsibilities - writer, producer, director, DP, and editor. Some people prefer working solo, but the production industry is all about creative collaboration. Improving the quality of your work is often the result of someone else critiquing you and challenging you to try new things. So, on your next video project, let me encourage you to bring someone else on board who has a stake in the final product. You might shoot while the other person edits. You might like to edit, so let your colleague shoot. The point is to create an atmosphere where different creative voices are allowed to voice their opinions. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Find someone with whom you feel free to voice your opinion, but one who ultimately has a different approach than your own.
• Recognize the differences you have with your colleague and use that to your advantage. An editor I like to work with has a very strong sense of story and structure. He’s extremely talented at seeing the entire arc from the raw footage as it comes in. Me? I like to insert the artistic flourishes in the final edit; the little details picked up in the b-roll that really add a nice element to the finished product.
• Remember that you both want what’s best for the project. If you work with someone who has a different style and/or philosophy, you will disagree from time to time, but realize that you both share the same goal.
• It’s give-and-take. Don’t be stubborn. Be willing to concede to your colleague when he/she is right about a particular segment of the video. For example, for one recent video project, I had a vision for how I wanted a certain portion edited. I shot footage that could only be used for this one purpose . However, when I saw the first cut with my editor, that segment wasn’t in the video. We discussed my vision and I fought to have that section in the final video, but in watching the entire video in context I soon realized that he was right. My scene just didn’t work like I wanted it to.

It can be difficult to hear someone else critique our work. That’s why it’s so tempting to go it alone and do everything yourself. But that approach will ultimately hinder you from taking your craft to the next level.

While in college, I majored in film/video production and minored in art with a photography concentration. When it comes to sketching/drawing, I am capable, but by no means am I an expert. That’s why, when it comes to storyboarding my projects, I am much more comfortable writing out a shot list with simple diagrams. Drawing storyboards is just too time consuming for me.

Pre-visualization is an excellent tool for any video/film project, including marketing/promotional videos for a client. To have the ability to show a client what your vision is (rather than describe it) is a huge plus. That’s why my eyes almost popped out of my head a few months ago when I ran across a storyboarding app for the iPhone. It’s called Hitchcock and it’s from Cinemek. The app allows you to create professional storyboards by using the phone’s camera. Simply take a photo, add in camera directions, and lay it on your timeline. You can even insert music and other audio if you’d like. Once the storyboard is complete, you can export it as a pdf and email it to your client or others on your crew. Take a look at the demo below.

Hitchcock in action! from cinemek / Hitchcock on Vimeo.

For video production, it’s always helpful to have a collection of sound effects at your disposal, but sometimes you need to create something from scratch. Perhaps you can’t find the right sound effect in your library, or the effect itself sounds too electronic or campy. There are a number of resources across the web that can provide you with great DIY tutorials on creating authentic sound effects. Years ago, I came across a tip on how to create an authentic punching sound effect for fight scenes. All you need is a stalk of celery, a pillow, and a stick or baseball bat. Place the celery on the pillow and then hit the celery with the stick. The pillow provides you with a nice, muffled “thud,” mimicking the sound of a fist making contact with someone’s stomach. And the celery provides a nice bone-crunching sound effect. There are some variations to this effect, like using raw meat instead of a pillow, and cabbage instead of celery, but with a few household items and some experimentation you can create some nice authentic sounds.

Twice this week I have been up all night working as the DP for Filament Artists’ latest short film, entitled “Love at the Grocery Store.” The screenplay was selected as the winner of the Production Prize at the 2008 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival and will premiere at this year’s festival on September 26.

Shooting inside a grocery store has its particular set of challenges and so I wanted to pass along some things to remember if any of your projects take you inside the same environment.

LIGHTING & TONE

Most grocery stores are lit with fluorescents, meaning that everything will be washed with a flat, even, diffused light. If the tone of your piece calls for high-contrast lighting, you might want to see if the grocery store manager will allow you to turn off the overheads, giving you more freedom to light as you see fit. If this isn’t possible and you still want to create a surreal look with high-contrast, you can always light your subject with hard, direct light, that comes from the side, creating harsh shadows. The hard light will force you to stop down your f-stop. This should darken the background, while leaving your subject properly exposed.

Since fluorescent bulbs cast an even, diffused light, your subjects can come out looking drab, flat, and uninteresting. You will need some additional light to help create more natural skin tones and make colors that pop just a little more. However, reflectors alone won’t get the job done. They just won’t provide enough reflected light underneath fluorescent bulbs. And aiming a 1Kw or 650w tungsten at your actors will create an obvious difference in color and tone.

To give your shots a warmer look under fluorescent lighting, start by using your tungsten lamps and reflectors together. Mount a large piece of white foam core onto a c-stand and then bounce light from a 1Kw lamp onto your subject. The result is a soft, diffused light that isn’t overbearing, and yet one that warms up the scene a bit more. And I always recommend a little rim lighting to help your subjects stand out more from the background.

Bear in mind that the above solution assumes that you want a natural, warm tone for your project. If the mood of your film is a bit darker and somber, then you might like the sterile, flat, “blue” tone that the existing lights create.

LIGHTING & COLOR

Shooting under fluorescent lights can affect the white balance of your shot. If not properly monitored, the lights may cause the color of your shot to drift slowly from a cool tone to a warm tone, then back again.

However, I’d advise you to look back at our previous post for a more extensive look at shooting under fluorescents. To that article let me add that using a Kino light bank will be a big help. Kino’s do use fluorescent bulbs, but unlike the bulbs installed overhead in a grocery store, these bulbs burn at a constant color temperature. This will give your shots more accurate color representation while maintaining a consistent look with the rest of the lighting in the store.

Fluorescent lights might also appear green on camera. A green tone might work well for your project if the mood is more sinister and the location of your story more urban, decayed, or threatening.

Look for the comedy, “Love at a Grocery Store” at this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. The screening is tentatively set for 9pm at the Alabama Power Building.

In 2003 director Lexi Alexander teamed up with Hunter Films to produce Johnny Flynton, a short-film that went on to receive an Oscar nomination. Now, Alexander returns to Alabama to shoot Lifted, a feature that centers on a young boy striving to make life better for himself and his family through his passion for R&B music. This production will be taking advantage of the filmmaker tax-incentive legislation that was recently passed by representatives in Montgomery. Hopefully, Lifted will mark a new surge in film production across the state.

The film starts shooting today and will run for the next three weeks. I will be on set for at least four days shooting behind-the-scenes footage that will ultimately be used in the film’s marketing efforts. Our goal is to capture the southern flavor of the locale and highlight the capable and talented Alabama crew that will be working tirelessly to see this film through to completion. Not only do we hope to promote the film as a whole, but we want to promote Alabama as a great place for filmmakers.

Understanding as much as possible about the physics of light will greatly improve your skills as a cinematographer. I recommend reading Placing Shadows as a good reference. For my location work, I normally use an Arri kit consisting of one (1) 1000 watt lamp with chimera soft box, two (2) 650 watt lamps, and one (1) 350 watt lamp. The kit comes with stands, scrims, gels, and diffusion; each accessory giving me the flexibility to manipulate the light.

The Arri kit provides great latitude in an easy-to-transport package. Recently I have also been utilizing china balls while on set. China balls are a great addition to your lighting package and they have several advantages. However, consideration must be given to the type of look you want to achieve before you decide to use them, because china balls aren’t right for every occasion.

The first thing to consider is the fact that the light coming from a china ball is difficult to trim. You’re dealing with an even and diffused light source, so you will need flags and c-stands to control how the light spills onto the scene.

Second, if you want to utilize a low-key lighting approach to your set, china balls are probably not the way to go. Since the light output is even, the contrast of the subject is reduced.

Third, china balls are difficult to gel. You can always purchase daylight balanced bulbs or tungsten bulbs to match the color temperature of your scene, but trying to color correct with gel is more challenging than using lamps with barn doors.

With these considerations in mind, china balls have some great advantages:

Light Output

China balls give you a nice, soft, diffused light source with little effort. If you want to achieve the same look with a lamp from an Arri kit, you would have to add a chimera, or diffusion, add some scrims, adjust the lens, etc. With a china ball, you can simply put it on the stand and plug it in.

Quick & Efficient

China balls are quick and easy to set up and use lower wattage bulbs. If you need to shoot a number of on-camera interviews during a grueling run-and-gun kind of day, a china ball is a great asset.

Comfortable

Since China balls use lower wattage bulbs, they don’t give off nearly as much heat as other tungsten lamps. Therefore, your talent can work under them for longer periods of time without getting too hot.

Affordable

Not everyone can invest in a Kino-Flo or Arri kit, but China balls are great because of their pricing and availability. No-budget filmmakers can grab a few of these lights, get out with their cameras and their friends, and shoot some great looking footage.

Shooting exteriors can be tricky, because you have less control over the light falling onto your scene. It would be nice to have access to a one-ton grip truck with shiny boards, silks, butterflies, and HMI’s. But most often you won’t have the budget to acquire all that extra gear. Even without all the fancy grip and electric toys, you can still get some fantastic exteriors. Here’s how:

1. Pay Attention to the Time of Day - Shooting in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is low in the sky is ideal for exteriors. Conversely, shooting at mid-day when the sun is at its highest will produce nasty shadows on your subject, creating unwanted contrast. If you have to shoot the exterior of a building, scout the location first. Find out when the sun is hitting the front of the building. If the sun is at the back of the building and the front is in the shade, your shot won’t turn out very well.
2. Invest in Lens Filters - Filters are great additions to your camera package and give you a little more control over the way your exteriors look. When placed over the lens, a filter will manipulate the light entering the camera. When shooting on cloudy days, the scene will look flat and gray. Adding a warming filter to the camera will improve skin tones and give more saturation to your colors. A definite must-have, in my opinion, is a circular polarizer filter. A polarizer has a number of different uses:

• Increases the saturation of blue skies - You’ve probably seen video footage shot outdoors where the sky looks gray or even white. Adding a polarizer to your lens will block out the haziness of the sky and will intensify the blues, giving the sky a rich, natural look. You can rotate the polarizer to adjust the intesity of the color.
• Reduces glare - If you’re shooting footage of a lake, river, or ocean, a polarizer will cut down on the amount of sun glare coming off the water, reducing intense highlights within the scene
• Eliminates reflection - If you’re shooting through a window, or a car windshield, a polarizer will reduce reflection off the glass, allowing you to see through the window.

3. Use Reflectors - Even if you can’t purchase large shiny boards or flex fills, sturdy foam core will do the trick. You can use the boards to reflect sunlight back toward your subject. Bear in mind that if you place your subject in the shade, you will have to contend with the contrast between the shaded foreground and sunlit background. If you expose for the background, your subject will be too dark. If you expose for your subject, the background will be over-exposed.

A shoot scheduled at the right time of day, coupled with a few well-placed reflectors and the utilization of lens filters will ensure great exterior footage, even with the smallest of crews.