Aputure The first thing that piqued my interest into cinematography in general was the use of visual storytelling. I’ve always admired directors/DP’s who have the ability to speak in two visual languages at once. I can imagine using contrast to show a change in the mood of conversation... Maybe it’s a walking conversation that starts neutral and ends polarized. Throughout the walking, the scene can become more and more contrasted until the two characters in the conversation visually contrast each other.
I am shooting a short film, and everything is happening in a room at midnight . I will use ctb on a 300d to replicate moon light even though some people think silver is the true color..but it's a preference . I will also use cto for practicals and a warm bulb/ 120d with cto on overhead to fill the room to compliment that blue light coming from the window.
I'm actually shooting a scene soon that involves heavy read coloring. I'm going to be using the break light from a car (Plus an additional red) to really cascade over the actors face and really put emphasis to the break happening in the story.
I am shooting a scene of a man sitting against the back bumper of a car. I’ll be using some blue color gel on a mini 20 to contrast with the intense break lights. Only small highlights on his face to emphasize the cuts and scars on his face while still leaving a dark ambience. Also playing with the idea of using a hazer in place of the exhaust pipe. Love the videos!
While I understand the need for a lighting plot, if you just look at the scene you will see shadows which should give you the answer. That mental process is what will inform your decision to add light, diffused or hard, to light the “scene”. The trick is to make your lights look like they are “not” lighting the scene but yet look like a naturally lit scene. Adding diffusion, or not, informs the viewer (mostly subconsciously) what kinds of light sources (window, sun, or fixture, and temperature) are influencing the time of day. Study shadows and you will see the light.
I use color contrast in my talking head videos for 2 purposes. 1) to create the mood that the interview will go in, whether happy, sad, questioning, etc... and 2) to create another layer of separation. Light the subject one color and the background a different. Particularly with the hair light. I like to wash the background in blue, hairlight with orange, and daylight the keylight and fill. Coupled with shallow depth of field there is lots of separation.
I haven't tried color contrasting yet, but after seeing this, it's very inspiring to see just how "simple" lighting can really affect the emotions or mood you're aiming for. I think lighting really gets a backseat when it comes to video production and with these types of videos, it helps put it out there and proves just how much of an art form lighting really is. I can't wait to try these tips for one of my next videos
I'll use color contrast to enhance the overall mood of my next project. It can really helps me to add another layer in to my own story. Also colors of light could have it's own personality too! : )
I've been shooting social ads for a client in Seattle. Everything has been shot on a light blue cyc to tie in with the brand's colors. In the next round the character takes the product to new cities-Nashville and New Orleans. I'm excited to explore new colors in the studio to invoke the destination cities. Nashville will be red and blue for the Americana music, Titans, and neon beer signs in the city. For New Orleans, I'm going to use purple and green for Mardi Gras celebration.
I like to use color contrast to emphasize the emotion of my scenes. I'm very into painting characters and backgrounds with opposing colors to help put the viewer in the right state of mind. If the subject of the scene is angry I might use reds and then have the background hit with subtle blue-green to make them stand out. If it's a daylight scene and the character is in good mood, I like to add pops of warmth with hair lights and practicals... I love using colors to help make the mood hit home.
I’m currently working on a script for a drama short film. This tutorial has sparked some new ideas for me on how to tell an even deeper story using light and color. The film is about a doctor who has insider knowledge on a patient he’s operating on. The patient is in critical condition and the doctor has an important choice to make on whether they will live or die. The setting is at night and it’s just the doctor and the patient, as well as a few nurses far down the hall. As he’s preparing the patient for emergency operation, the doctor’s fill light will be more on the warm, tungsten side, whereas the patient’s light will be more on the cooler, blue side. The warm, orange light for the doctor will be motivated by a practical light near the doctor’s prep station and will be used symbolically to communicate the aliveness and well being of the doctor. The cool, blue light of the patient will be motivated from the suspended, overhead surgery lamp and will communicate the patient’s current state of helplessness and demise. The patient is on the verge of dying and is very still, so the blue light helps make the patient’s skin tones appear as if he’s already passed away, adding more tension to the doctor’s pivotal decision. Some other ideas I’m playing around with are if the doctor decides to end his patient’s life, the power could surge and an emergency light could power on, covering the doctor in a harsh, toxic lime-green hue. The color and light would help to symbolize his turn towards corruption and cast him in unflattering harsh shadows, which is often associated with villain lighting. If anyone has suggestions/thoughts on this approach, I'd love to get some feedback. I really appreciate these tutorials! They are making me think about light-shaping and color on a whole new level!
Loved it! Looking to do high color contrast for a short with a lake monster this summer. Dark blues of the water combined with highlights of yellow streaks like camouflage on her face.
For my next horror project I'm going to use 2 sets of colors contrasting, one for when the character is safe and one for when evil is lurking, such that once the viewer realizes that danger is nearby, even when not seeing it yet, hopefully builds suspenseful anticipation. Awesome video, guys!
I love using Color Contrasts in Music Videos . They Work the best and make the colors pop. Sometime Mixing this Technique with the Right Costume Design can push the footage look to a whole new level ! Great Video . Thanks Aputure
Definitely gonna try some color contrasts for an indie short film I'm shooting this sunday. My friend has this old flat with dark red walls and mustard yellow curtains. Thought I'd enhance that with some natural lighting from the nearby window and a tungsten desktop lamp and maybe add a rusty orange fill but being careful not to overdo it.
Hi, thanks for this amazing episode! We just used color contrast for a date in a moody lit living room scene, where a quite dominant woman seduced an inherently shy man into a situation, he could never imagined himself in. The general ambience of the scene was quite a soft orange look with lots of practicals in the picture, but the woman got a fairly accented red light on the half of her face, showing her double-edged personality and a little cyan tint from an aquarium behind her head. This was the perfect colored setup for us to play with her different attitudes to turn her sensitive date into an inebriated state of mind. Keep your work going, you're simply the best RU-vid channel for lightning techniques :D
Great video guys and welcome Vee can't wait to see you grow through this Aputure journey! On my next project it'll be a music video and I want to try to use the color contrast theory you guys were discussing to metaphorically show the constant mental struggle the artist faces through his song. He's a Gemini so naturally he has conflicting mindsets so I think the contrast idea would suit it perfectly! Thanks Aputure 😊
@@valentinavee nah thank you and the A-Team! Lighting is super intimating but you guys are making it so much easier to approach with your breakdowns. We all can't afford Film school but you give is indie directors hope and direction 😁
Good day, I would like to use the blue light with the dark orange as the key light. Why blue and orange?? This is just because I feel blue is more of a cool light and the orange represents warmth and is also visually appealing when used correctly. According to me, this color contrast can be used in fight scenes or cinematic looks of a person just walking past in the club or some kind of a romantic appeal. Why I would like to use this is because, according to me, I feel it gives more depth of colours and also highlights the subject a lot. This I my kind of a way I can imagine with the color contrast. And thank you guys for the amazing content you provide us. This really helps me a lot😃♥️
I would be using color Contrast in my next film. There is a street race scene where I will be using RGB lights and color gels to liven up the street which is a deserted and bland road lit by street lamps. I will be wetting the road to reflect the lighting. I will also be using Color Contrast On the vehicles to create excitement as the colors reflect off of the lines of the vehicle. Color Contrast will also be used on the interiors of the vehicle to mimic the instruments, gauges and light spill from the exterior.
Thank you so much for this great info! I shoot a lot of spots for a hospital whose brand color is teal - So lots of teal uniforms, teal walls, rooms.. everything! I have never thought once about bringing in red-orange to add a bit of excitement and interest to some of the shots (hospital rooms are hard to make look interesting - It also gives me an idea about where to start to move the skin tones so they reallv pop. I'm shooting tthree more spots starting next week and that's going to be a primary concern. Thanks again!
I would use color contrast in a project where I depict a character's distress after getting lost in an urban setting by using the contrasting light from different colored neon sign as motivation. Thanks for the inspiring videos!!
I plan to use color contrast in my project to evoke mood or emotion of the scene. I take a lot away from the color contrast in the new bladerunner 2049. Using blues and colder tones to give a sense of stale/hardness of the world and character but then Oranges/Greens placed throughout specific areas of the frame to drive the character towards his goal of finding home and meaning.
My next project is a WWII film which takes place in an abandoned safehouse. The color contrast that I'll be using is the warm orange light from petroleum lights and candles mixed with blue moonlight coming from outside.
Color contrast can be another tool to help guide my audience through the story I want to tell. Using complimentary colors can help people better comprehend the point that is being made more than just a well exposed image could alone. Its a whole other level of depth you can add to make your story great!
In particular, I would use a yellow cast for the main character to convey a less than perfect setting, sorta grungy feel. Contrasted with a blue light for the antagonist to convey a cold and somber mood, possibly as a precursor to a future conflict between the two.
I was thinking about just keeping it simple for my next project. Maybe a very light teal or red shirt on the subject and a cool blue on the background for a general talking head segments. That underwater light is going to fantastic for some of the swim stuff I do! 👍
For my next project, I'm planning on trying something a little off the wall. I'm looking at running a yellow/violet contrast. The premise is in the sci-fi realm where there will be bright yellow lighting coming through the view ports of a ship that is without power and in a decaying orbit about a bright yellow star. The violet/purple in emanating from a mysterious glowing substance/organism that has seemingly disables the ship's controls.
I would use color contrast on my next project to create the battle in the mind, in which the character fights deamons in the mind(an empty swimming pool) to show hatred and hope we would use orange/yellow with blue/teal. We would shoot it in an empty swimming pool, which has blue led lights used for back lights, in addition we would light the teal tile back round with two AB 800 with a 20 degree grid and an yellow gel. , we would use a 600 w Open face with an orange gel for the key light. Then for the fill light use a 200 watt fresnel with a teal gel.
How I would use Color contrast: Some of my favorite films that use color for mood and drama would be Amelie and Brotherhood of the Wolf, both French films. Those two films use color so effectively, they're almost another character in the movie, as they really set the entire tone. As I'm just starting my videography journey, I can envision myself setting a mood by cutting from one camera angle to another after a dialogue motivated a mood change, and coming back to the original camera angle with a slightly different color balance than before. Eg: With your red lights in this video, it would be an excellent way to slightly make the feeling more dreadful, by adding red accents to background elements, or simply shifting a tungsten to more red.
Great stuff but I agree with the comment asking for lighting or floor diagrams - you go quickly and the placing of your lights is not always clear from the way they are shot - for example, where did that 300d “cutter” come from and how was the lift effect managed? (You guys probably say elevator)
I don't do cinematography as much as photography, so I'd use color contrast to create some sick, cinematic portraits! That Amaran MW would help a lot in my lighting setup! Under water, or not!
I am going to be shooting a documentary soon and I plan to use color contrast for the interview. I want the key light to be regular daylight and then have a daylight hair light. For the background, i would use a tungsten light and a cold blue light to create contrast. Also bounce some of the key light on to my subject.
Hey guys, my next project will be this early summer where i will shoot a music video over here in switzerland. but instead of just showing the band playing their music, i want to set up a story in the look of the 70s. the singer is a black girl and i have that vision of this warm southern US flair with, old american cars and dusty air. i'm a big fan of orange and teal, which would fit perfectly the idea i have by giving it the extra cinematic look. i already have one 120d mark II and the light dome mark II which i'll going to use for the night shots. i also have the al-mx which i want to attach to the speedometer of the car to light her up while in the car. the amaran mw would fit perfectly the back row to light up the band ;)
I would use colour contrast in restaurant bar scenes, or in a scene when a character is conflicted internally or externally to show the 2 opposing sides.
Generally standard lightbulbs are fine, as long as your motivating light matches their color temperature and perceived intensity. You can get in trouble in different frame-rates/shutter speeds, or if you need the practical to carry more light, we recommend using B7c's.
I’m working on script Idea“A compulsive buyer makes a residential pick-up from a Online purchase only to find himself in the basement with a Vampire “ . I wanted the basement to have a chilling blue tone and one window with warm orange/yellow coming in acting as safe place for the hero but dangerous for the Vampire.
While I understand the need for a lighting plot as one reply requested, if you just look at the scene you will see shadows which should give you the answer. That mental process is what will inform your decision to add light, diffused or hard, to light the “scene”. The trick is to make your lights look like they are “not” lighting the scene but yet look like a naturally lit scene. Adding diffusion, or not, informs the viewer (mostly subconsciously) what kinds of light sources (window, sun, or fixture, and temperature) are influencing the time of day. Study shadows and you will see the light.
For gels, are you guys using LEE Filter Zircon series gels, considering you're shining LEDs through them? Or will shooting LEDs through regular thin filters be fine as well?
Can I use rgb led to create color contrast or just change wb is more reliable? Thats my biggest question would love to see a video on that, if there is a big diference between wb or rgb and the effect in post process color grading
That depends on the look you're going for. If you're using saturated color gels, you would probably want to set your white balance to the original color temperature of the light. If you're dealing with a mixed color temperature situation, it depends how cool you want your daylight lights to look versus how warm you want your tungsten lights to look. You can also try balancing around 4300-4400K to get a little bit of both!
@@aputurelighting Awesome!!!!!! Appreciate your response!!!!! Will Definitely take your advice and start applying techniques to future projects!!!!! Thank you! God Bless!!
@@DIYCameraGuy Outstanding! Thank you, will start saving up to start working towards that. Excited to see how advance lighting will enhance my projects. Really appreciate it!
I feel like the first setup felt the most cinematic when there was just the natural lighting + the 120d with +green. The darker walls framed the subjects beautifully and the deep shadows had a really cinematic vibe. Atleast for the long shot. Thanks for making these videos!!! Why did you use a 120d ii with cto instead of a 120t? Would have been less gels and since the cto eats up some light the outbut on the 120t would have been at least as much as the geled 120d or am I missing something? And to join the giveaway: I love using colorcontrast to create intimacy and warmth in a room in night shots with tungsten lights inside and daylight balanced lights on the outside while the camera’s set to 4000K. So the blue lights aren’t too saturated and the skin doesn’t seem too yellow/red. Kind regards
sorry probably a stupid question, in the stage scene.. was it possible to put a diffuser layer between the bulb and the light mount "spot lens of frensel or whatever it's called"? jut thinking i would do it but a bit softer but in same spot shape.
Upcoming commercial I am filming: Man receives devastating news and is alone in spotlight when narrator enters. For subtle color contrast, I am thinking of placing tungsten on the narrator and daylight on the man, with WB set to tungsten. That gives just a slight hint of the coldness he is feeling as his world shatters.
will aputure make a soft box for the APUTURE AL-MW . i wanted to use it for youtube vids(talking HEAD vid), and will they make a smaller complimentary light?
So my next project is going to be a short sketch about young couple's seeking the meaning of being together but not overly replying on each other, their mission to to search for freedom in a relationship through a road trip. 1st act will be couple arguing about overly dependency in a relationship. Act 2: Looking for solution, deciding to do a road trip. Get into a car last minute. Act 3: on the road, stop at sunset, realizing the truth of being independently together in a relationship. ACT 1. INT. Dining room - Night: Key & fill with practicals at 4300K, quarter CTB blue wash as moonlight coming from the window to light the background. Blue tone in the background to present the harshness of an argument, and warm practicals to key & fill to add a little warmth of human relations. ACT 2. INT. Bedroom - Night: Warm wash of tungsten to push soft key & fill the room. Light tone of green coming from the restroom to create a fluorescent green tint. Tungsten lights on fresnel on big soft diff to fill the room. Maybe half a stop underexposed, light corners of the room with practicals on tungsten temp. Walk around with a lighter source to key when going close up. By using tons of warm in this setup, we get to enhance deep emotions to the audience, and to kinda break it up to create a more interesting effect, the bathroom's greenish tone will kinda break it up to create a more dynamic overall feel and break it up a little bit. And maybe a little daylight soft push from the window to make things a little more interesting. ACT 3. EXT. Car - Day to sunset - Day, Can't really do much for an interior car scene when it's moving, may do some bounce and even wrap an Amran MV in unbleached muss to reduce the harshness and to add fill. When the car stops at sunset, go warm with the Amran MV, wrap in muslin, giving it a subtle warm tone to key and to contrast the green car. Nothing much I can do with the color of the sun, but I'd change it in post to a dark blue type of vibe. So dark blue sky, warm car dash light at 400K to fill, alongside with sodium vapour street light. Sometimes we can not only use the opposite colors on the color wheels to create a more interesting look. We can also use the neighbouring color to create a more cohesive, and more subtle tone, depending of what the story needs. At the end of the day, rules are meant to be break and tweaked to serve the story.
Great job, and glad to see V running the show. At 5:14 you show what you call a "Leko attachment" on a 120D. Can we get some more info about this? I see that it's mounted with a yoke that has the Aputure logo. Does that mean we can get it from Aputure? Thanks again guys.
Rick Gates the name of the product is updated to “spotlight mount” and we will be showing it off in future episodes as well! Super cool bowens-mount attachment!
Since when is green the opposite of red? Kinda weird they both agreed on that and then decided to modify to be more teal/cyan which is actually the opposite/compliment of red...
@@noahyv hmm you could be right, and every art teacher(I've had), and internet resource could be wrong, or red and green are contrasting colors. If im wrong please correct me, so I can become a better filmmaker and/or get my eyes checked lol.
@@richardgibson9496 Some non-photographic art teachers may still teach based on the old standard of RYB subtractive color. however, modern standards are based on CMY subtractive and RGB additive color primaries. For the case in this video, RGB primaries are what matters. Perhaps this is what is confusing you: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color Mixing colors with light and cameras and monitors is all additive color and uses RGB primaries.
@@noahyv Ok Maybe I need someone to explain all that in real life. I get what you're saying for the most part, but in the video they are using RGB. That means they are outdated right? Along with many many other internet teaching filmmakers. Why did it change? Can you direct me in the right direction?
