"Women Have it Easy" - Scarlet X Short

[Jesse Hunt]

I asked a writer/director friend if he had any scripts laying around that he wanted to shoot as a camera test. I told him the look that I was hoping to achieve and how I really wanted to see how the camera looked in low light situations.
So we found a few actors, location and a small crew and this is what we came up with.

http://vimeo.com/36588279

 

[Joseph Coleman]

Love the subtle lighting, very realistic bar scene. what was the lighting and lens used?

 

[Bob Gundu]

Was this shot at 4K? Can you provide a few seconds of the R3D file?

Thanks.

 

[Arnold F.]

Very nice! It looked and sounded good. It can be so hard to get proper locations. I'm guessing a focal length in the 70-85mm range and lit with a very diffused kino or perhaps 650 with softbox, very diffuse and nice whatever it was.

Very appropriate that the Production Mixer's name comes before the DP, although I've never seen one request a credit of "Audio Technician" instead of the normal title.

 

[Carmine Scalzi]

It seems too dark, really too much, I think...

my 2 cents

 

[Casey David Johnson]

Love the subtle lighting, very realistic bar scene. what was the lighting and lens used?

+1 Really soft and natural feel, really nice stuff man! Am interested in the lens and lights you used as well...looks almost as if you just used the overhead practicals with a soft box key, seeing as you were trying to test low-light.

 

[Jesse Hunt]

Love the subtle lighting, very realistic bar scene. what was the lighting and lens used?

Thanks! Thats really what I was trying to achieve. I'm a huge fan of lighting techniques used in The Social Network, GWTDT etc so that is what I was going for.

Lighting was interesting as we didn't have a lot of time to pull things together but I knew what I wanted so we ended up using a White Lightning 250w photo strobe modeling light with a softbox that was maybe 1 or 2 feet above the actors heads. I really was trying to avoid the harsh highlights so I had it turned down to about 1/4 of the full output. For the male shot I then placed a KinoFlo 4ft 4bank about 15-20 feet back and put some white de-fusion over it because I was worried there wasn't going to be enough light on him from the softbox. For the female, the softbox was enough to light her face, so I used the Kino to light the background a little. We then used a small 150w arri to give a bit of a backlight but really tried to keep that as subtle as we could.

It was shot on the RED PRO 17-50.

 

[Jesse Hunt]

+1 Really soft and natural feel, really nice stuff man! Am interested in the lens and lights you used as well...looks almost as if you just used the overhead practicals with a soft box key, seeing as you were trying to test low-light.

Thanks man! you are pretty much dead on with your guesses.

 

[Jesse Hunt]

Was this shot at 4K? Can you provide a few seconds of the R3D file?

Thanks.

I am away until Tuesday but I will send you one when I get home if you'd like. Maybe PM an email?

 

[Andrew PC Smith]

The girl is a good actress, but the guy doesn't have any real dialog so he keeps making constipated faces until the one liner. Good shooting, but the story comes off more as feminist propaganda than a comedy. Again, nothing against you as the DP. It looks great, I personally dig the subtle lighting for the location.

 

[Robert L. Mickles]

It seems too dark, really too much, I think...

my 2 cents

Great work, but I do agree slightly with Carmine.

 

[Jesse Hunt]

The girl is a good actress, but the guy doesn't have any real dialog so he keeps making constipated faces until the one liner. Good shooting, but the story comes off more as feminist propaganda than a comedy. Again, nothing against you as the DP. It looks great, I personally dig the subtle lighting for the location.

Thanks man, I appreciate the feedback!

 

[Jesse Hunt]

Great work, but I do agree slightly with Carmine.

It seems too dark, really too much, I think...

my 2 cents

Thanks for watching and for the feedback guys. I appreciate it!

 

[Kim Frank]

Jesse, don't get me wrong, I just want to give you an honest feedback and hopefully some tips.

It's definetly not too dark, but just flat lighting.
The face of the actress doesn't seperate from the background enough, because there is no highlights and shadows in the whole shot.
Realistic lighting doesn't mean flat lighting.
The eyes always look at the brightest or most contasty point in frame first. This is why you want to seperate your actors faces with colour and lighting from their surrounding.
You quotet 'The social Network' so please take a look at the screengrab. Do you see what I mean?
You could have achieved a similar look with just your kino Flo and maybe a white board for a little bounce on the shadows.

Also for my taste your short to me lacks an overall look, or at leat an enhaning colour correction. Your blacks are too milky for my taste.
And although its a simple scene and maybe you dindn't have a lot of time, just cutting between two overshoulders is too simple in my Opinion.
Just take a look at the very simple opening scene of TSN: It opens with a wide two shot of the table. Then there are the Overshoulders, but also Close ups that are more into the eyeline. Then there is a close two shot and then a wide from a little higher angle that finishes the scene. It would have been way less boring if you at least would have shot two close ups.

Best Regards
Kim

 

[Carmine Scalzi]

Jesse, don't get me wrong, I just want to give you an honest feedback and hopefully some tips.

It's definetly not too dark, but just flat lighting.
The face of the actress doesn't seperate from the background enough, because there is no highlights and shadows in the whole shot.
Realistic lighting doesn't mean flat lighting.
The eyes always look at the brightest or most contasty point in frame first. This is why you want to seperate your actors faces with colour and lighting from their surrounding.
You quotet 'The social Network' so please take a look at the screengrab. Do you see what I mean?
You could have achieved a similar look with just your kino Flo and maybe a white board for a little bounce on the shadows.

Also for my taste your short to me lacks an overall look, or at leat an enhaning colour correction. Your blacks are too milky for my taste.
And although its a simple scene and maybe you dindn't have a lot of time, just cutting between two overshoulders is too simple in my Opinion.
Just take a look at the very simple opening scene of TSN: It opens with a wide two shot of the table. Then there are the Overshoulders, but also Close ups that are more into the eyeline. Then there is a close two shot and then a wide from a little higher angle that finishes the scene. It would have been way less boring if you at least would have shot two close ups.

Best Regards
Kim

+1... definetly. Well explained, Kim

kindest regards, Jesse.

friendly

C

 

[Joseph Coleman]

Thank you Kim! its Critiques like that, that help the entire community out! Thank you

 

[Jonas Klittmark]

I enjoyed it overall but do agree with Kim's points about the lighting. The only highlight I noticed was the guy's collar and so it kept stealing my attention...

Good job though, I love seeing Scarlet footage that actually tells a story. Keep it coming!

 

[Jesse Hunt]

Jesse, don't get me wrong, I just want to give you an honest feedback and hopefully some tips.

It's definetly not too dark, but just flat lighting.
The face of the actress doesn't seperate from the background enough, because there is no highlights and shadows in the whole shot.
Realistic lighting doesn't mean flat lighting.
The eyes always look at the brightest or most contasty point in frame first. This is why you want to seperate your actors faces with colour and lighting from their surrounding.
You quotet 'The social Network' so please take a look at the screengrab. Do you see what I mean?
You could have achieved a similar look with just your kino Flo and maybe a white board for a little bounce on the shadows.

Also for my taste your short to me lacks an overall look, or at leat an enhaning colour correction. Your blacks are too milky for my taste.
And although its a simple scene and maybe you dindn't have a lot of time, just cutting between two overshoulders is too simple in my Opinion.
Just take a look at the very simple opening scene of TSN: It opens with a wide two shot of the table. Then there are the Overshoulders, but also Close ups that are more into the eyeline. Then there is a close two shot and then a wide from a little higher angle that finishes the scene. It would have been way less boring if you at least would have shot two close ups.

Best Regards
Kim

Yes Kim thank you for taking the time to both watch and type out a detailed critique. I really do appreciate it. I won't make excuses I defiantly missed some lighting areas such as the ones you suggested. Maybe a bit more work in the color correction stage would help the separation. You were right when you said time may have been an issue. We had a little under an hour to do two setups and I was really pushing for a few more shots. All the same I do appreciate the feedback and suggestions, it's all part of the learning process! Also thanks for posting those photos. That really helped with comparison.

 

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Jesse,

Couple of thoughts;
What Kim pointed out about the eyes being drawn to the brightest part of the frame - dead on. For example, the TV sets in the background, while defining the location, take away from the actors everytime they are in the frame together. So much of the white shirt collar exposed adds to the effect. The eye scans those highlights from left to right and leaves the face of the actor out.

Adding a bit of bounce to the hair on the back of the females head would help establish some depth to the frame in the two shot. For the reverse shot (looking towards her) a small practical on the dartboard far in the background would help - I almost wanted to see blurred / shadows of players back there to form a depth to the environment.
The earlier comments about the flat lighting - and suggestions about how to mitigate it using bounce cards is something you should look at. If you have access to LitePads, try them out - they can be hidden just outside the frame (say on the tabletop). Don't be afraid to add some practicals - even hanging a fixture in the background off a boom arm - not only will it define the space, it will make additional sources more believable. There is little more irritating to me than seeing hairlight accents without a natural source.
If you were to have gone with close-ups, eye lights would become essential.

Shooting low levels of light can produce wonderful visuals, look at your frame as a canvas - paint it with subtle nuances. You can add considerable texture to a shot without losing the low light ambiance. Above all, have fun - good test.

 

[Bob Gundu]

Lots of good advise here. Your eye will hunt the frame for contrast. Here is a slightly touched up image.