Advice Welcome on Picture Tone

[Justin Batchelor]

Hi All , First time poster, loooong time reader.

So, generally, I am fairly pleased with the whole Scarlet thang. Great tool that essentially allows me and my work to take a forced step up.

After shooting a few shorts (its part of a very small business I run) I wanted to ask for some, or any feedback on an example video I have made. The client is stoked which is great, but I am still musing on the ideal nature of what I achieve with the camera.
I've got most of it nailed from sound to sharpness (running around with three 20 year old nikon primes that have served me well for about 6 years), simple lighting setups, but I wanted to get peoples take on the picture overall.

I am seeing a lot of video running around now for the scarlet and red in general, and without sounding like a goose, I feel like I am missing something in the quality of picture coming up. Feedback would be welcome and as always on these forums, I hope it serves others well for learning and picking up their game.

vimeo link : https://vimeo.com/42113995 (password : julia3)
R3D from file : http://www.batchedit.com.au/xtests/A034_C002_0513JV.0001867F.R3D

 

[Gunleik Groven]

I'd say that this looks like it is not lit....

 

[Justin Batchelor]

Granted, not heavily, but it was with two fluro banks for each of the girls and then (as poor a choice I know), the backlight comes from the hallway and the window for the other girl. I get the feeling though that I need to blast the area with light?

 

[James Bridges]

Hello Justin,
I thought it looked very natural. I have to admit I was paying more attention to the performance. I would add a touch of backlight to the actor nearest to the window.

 

[Christopher Barrett]

Justin,

Actually, the problem I have with the scene is that you CAN tell that it was lit. I think you looked alright overall until the brunette leaned against the wall. Look at the shadow there, it totally gives you away. I can see that the source is lower than the actor, which would never happen with soft window light (which I assume you are trying to emulate). Also the shadows on the wall give your source away as something man-made. The scene does feel like a daylight filled room, so you have to consider what sort of shadows you get from daylight. You either get a hard & Crisp shadow from direct sun or you get a very diffuse almost nonexistent shadow from ambient window light. Diffusion over the flo bank could have helped, you need to soften that shadow. I probably would have started the lighting for this scene with either a Joker at ceiling height through a silk, or just a ceiling bounce.

Also, you've got the blonde seated next to a window with no window light hitting her. That feels weird, especially since we see a bright window behind her. It's also odd that the blinds are closed when there is such a strong feeling of light in the room. I think things would have felt better if you'd opened or raised the blinds and threw some silk over the windows outside.

Here is a quick grade I threw on it. I did three power windows that help with depth. I darkened the blonde in the foreground so that your eye is able to move past her and focus on the speaker. Always try to tone down foregrounds to add dimension. I then did a soft window to brighten the brunette, again for depth and focus. Lastly I added an overall vignette which is something I like to do quite often. The scene already draws me in more than the raw footage did. These corrections are doable in the free version of Resolve.

Hope this helps,
CB

 

[Justin Batchelor]

Ta for the feedback.

 

[Derrick Lu]

Hey Justin,

Looks good overall! The only issue I noticed was skintone. The skintone on the lady by the door seems to have a little more green than the blond lady. I had noticed this problem on one of the films I shot earlier this year. This discrepancy wasn't noticeable by eye on set, but was quite pronounced in the footage. In the end, it turns out to be the foundation that they had used on the actress (whose skin looks slightly greener).
And for the mid-shot (and even the MCUs) of the blond lady seated, somehow the light spill off the window have this tinge of magenta to it while the key from the right is properly balanced.

 

[Joel Arvidsson]

For this I like something little warmish. Since its only a still I have no Idea how the grain would dance. But I think you get an Idea. Would be easier if the one of the walls were not so dominant lit. Just looked at the narrative and this "grade" would probely look little to much like sunset beach or something. I think you still should take up the light a little.

Cheers

 

[Justin Batchelor]

Cant you upload pictures anymore? I only find alternatives that point to an url?

right click and download as for the .r3d