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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

how is the lighting on this?

Oli Williams

Oli Williams

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Here is a sample webcast I made, shooting on Red build 21 4KHD edited in final cut at ProRes HQ. It was shot with lastolite lights - 4 x 85w - two lighting backdrop and two lighting subject (one with umbrella and one with soft box) the backdrop is a fold up lastolite white backdrop. The kit is portable, it will enable me to go anywhere and shoot videos for clients at 4k!! can anyone comment on the lighting? the footage was adjusted in colour (color) to make the whites slightly whiter, i know there are a few problems in the right corner but this was done in 2 hours (shoot to web)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts4OWoNbNhc
 
Hi Oli,

Overall, nice levels of lighting and a professional result... However... and this is highly subjective of course (or it could just be my monitor levels!)... I would want to see a bit more of a kick in lighting levels around the eyes. Especially with a subject wearing glasses with that kind of thicker/darker frame, it tends to drop the overall lighting levels around the eye area slightly (negative fill etc.). Maybe a low power unit in front just to kick an extra stop into the eyes would be good. An overhead never hurts either, just to bring up the hair detail very slightly. I personally think the lighting on your main subject could use just a tad more exposure on the key and a tad less on the fill, to give a very slight sculpting effect, but as always, that is just personal preference, and may not be what you or your client wants.

Something that I have used successfully in the past to get a "true" pure white background for interviews, especially in the corners where fall-off is more likely: You could key out the white background on luminosity (may require some tweaking to get the corner darker bits) and put a pure white still image behind your main video track.. or if your subject is not moving around too much and you want really quick results, create a still white image mask in photoshop with a hole in it (with soft edges) for your interviewee and overlay that on top of your video track. So basically you have a white mask with just enough hole for your presenter to show through and soft edges to disguise the transition between the 2 video layers. These are quick and dirty techniques (that look good onscreen) which have saved my bacon in post on quick shoots where time precluded anything more than just a basic lighting set up.

Regards and hope this was constructive!

Jules
 
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Lighting looks good from here, Oli.
 
heres a pic of the setup
thanks Julian, thats been very helpful! the post process I used was similar, I made a mask in color but around him it was funny, with a lot of tweaking i got the results you see there. On jobs that have more time and space I will definitely put up a couple more lights! what do you think for 85 watt lights? and thanks Ryan!

Oli
 
It looked fine according to my untrained consumer eyes. On the other hand, Julian Gerretsen's advice is gold, particularly the bit about the eyes.
 
Hi Oli,

Don't get me wrong, the shot looked terrific. These things are always very subjective and related to what you want to use the shot for!

After viewing your setup photo, I can see that space was a tad restricted which is always a challenge. Based on this, my thoughts are:

- If you can get more backspace, you can move the backdrop back a few feet or more, which would help to even up the lighting a tad if you are having problems with fall-off on the corners (unless it's a lense issue, in which case unfortunately it's a post job)

- It looks to me (and maybe it's just the angle of the photo so I could be wrong) as if the key and fill are at quite wide angles to the subject. If you imagine the subject being positioned at the centre of a clock face and the camera at the 6 o'clock position, then it looks to me as if your key and fill are at about 8:30 and 3:30. It could be helpful to move them to something more like 7:30 and 4:30 (if space allows), this would move the lighting balance to a more frontal position, which might also bring up the eyes and negate the need for any sort of kicker on the eyes.

As always, with infinite mounts of time on your hands, you can always tweak things to the nth degree! But for 2 hrs work from camera to web, I thought it was great!

Are you in the UK? If so, then you can probably easily access a book called "Lighting for Television and Film by Gerald Millerson. It's a very technical book and a bit on the overkill side (454 pages!), but there is an excellent section on lighting faces for various purposes, interviews etc. I've pulled quite a few set up ideas from this in the past.

All the best and take care!

Julian
 
Looks totally sellable. Two thumbs up.

Just some non-lighting minor remarks:

I would have placed the camera a wee bit lower, and if at all possible further away. That way the subject wouldn't have looked so low. Also, he doesn't seem to look straight onto the camera, but angled to the camera right. That makes it all too easy to spot that he is reading off a screen.

On a more general note - have your cleared with your client to post this on youtube? It feels like an internal video that is not intended to be seen by your client's competitors. Just a thought.

Also maybe place the mic on the black jacket, to make it less obvious.
 
Martin,
I think it was a sample that Oli made, just to test the concept.... the "product" is couched in very vague terms with no actual reference to a particular company.

Good call on the mic! I was so wrapped up in lighting, I failed to notice that!
 
Martin Weiss said:
Looks totally sellable. Two thumbs up.

Just some non-lighting minor remarks:

I would have placed the camera a wee bit lower, and if at all possible further away. That way the subject wouldn't have looked so low. Also, he doesn't seem to look straight onto the camera, but angled to the camera right. That makes it all too easy to spot that he is reading off a screen.

On a more general note - have your cleared with your client to post this on youtube? It feels like an internal video that is not intended to be seen by your client's competitors. Just a thought.

Also maybe place the mic on the black jacket, to make it less obvious.
Click to expand...

Hi Martin, as Julian said, there is no client, it was all made up. As to the whole reading off the screen, for real clients, they should know what they are going to say where as this was my brother in law reading something he knows nothing about! I agree with you on putting the camera lower but I had the screen he was reading off on a table just below the camera and it could not go any lower. Thank you for the input though, I totally agree with you about the camera being lower and further back and also the mic! Of course in the future the real clients videos will not be posted on youtube. The plan is to have it as a podcast (passworded hopefully) and the intended audience can go on and watch it. I have developed an iPhone app for this also that will send the audience push notifications or a text message and they can view it in the app.

Julian - I have replied to your message!
 
My experience prompting scripted talking heads is that the only way to get the eyeline right us to use a mirror. Dropping the camera will give you a better view of the inside of the talent's nose, and may cause them to look downward more. With a heavier subject that just won't work at all.

Teleprompters are not that hard to come by. I strongly suggest that you use one, particularly if your client is selling something; be it a product or just an idea. The glances from side to side make the subject look shifty, or insencere and your audience will be suspicious of him. Downward glances appear weak, and upward glances give the appearance the subject is making it all up.

Failing to properly prompt the talent is a hallmark sign of a rookie production crew (No offense intended.) IMHO. Don't let it happen to you. If the job is worth a minute of your time, then it is worth $500 or less to prompt correctly.

Best wishes.
 
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I would invest in a shaver and a comb ;-)
For me the persons looks to flat. You should use another spot behind the subject.
And (if possible) try to place the camera as far away from the person as you can. Use a lens over 100mm to compensate the distance. The proportions of the face will then look much more favourable.
Another thing concerning the perspective. Why do you use over 2 minutes always the same view? You have a 4k camera! So why not playing with cropping and scalling?

Thomas.
 
light is fine.

post comment
i would have cut to the full screen of the graphic abit more.
 
Thomas Pohl said:
Another thing concerning the perspective. Why do you use over 2 minutes always the same view? You have a 4k camera! So why not playing with cropping and scalling?

Thomas.
Click to expand...

Some good points Thomas.

I am shooting some interviews this weekend. Also in fairly tight spaces.

I was considering changing the view slightly, by tracking slightly side to side on a light-weight dolly.

Also considered moving the camera closer or further to the subject *between* questions.

I'm not sure how much variety beyond that can be acheived with only 1 camera (on a tripod for stability) in a small space. Any thoughts?

Or even better, any links to great interviews shot in tight spaces :-)
 
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