color correction and camera settings.

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peter917

I own a canon rebel t2i with a 18-55mm lens and a 55-250 telephoto lens. I am getting a 50mm f1.8 next week also. I am going to be shooting a horror feature soon, and i wanted to know how i could a achieve a look similar to this movie

http://sciencefiction.com/2012/04/11/new-clip-for-the-cabin-in-the-woods-suggests-splitting-up/

thats a clip from the upcoming cabin in the woods, and heres a few pics

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=cabi...w=205&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0,i:84

i like how it has that some what grainy look to it, which also might be because it was not shot digitally, but i like this sort of style and want to know if i can replicate something similar with either color correction, camera settings, or maybe even some lens recommendations.
 
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Screen shot 2012-04-11 at 1.22.52 PM.png

Key frame right gelled bluish
Back fill frame left gelled bluish
Background lit lower than foreground
small bare lights on a dimmer hanging in background in some of the shots

Note the dark line down the middle of the actors
Note the reflections in the eyes and blood/sweat to find lighting positions and shapes

Then in post, pull down the blacks and low mids to black.

The goal when lighting or post grading is to give the colorist ranges to lock onto in post to be able to pull around separately. If everything is lit the same and flat, you can't isolate it in post to correct it separately. Get it close, but give the shadows lights that you'll take out in post... that way, the rolloff from visible to black will show detail that makes it look convincing rather than just flat black.

Use the Ansel Adams Zone system (I use 3 zones to match the grading paradigm) when you shoot... and apply the same logic to the color space when lighting as well... that way, you can make chroma keys for corrections that can grab just fleshtones, just the background, just the stuff lit by window light, etc.
 
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Looks fairly standard slight desaturation to drain out a bit of colour. Bring the blacks towards a cyan/green tone and compliment with adding some skin tone red/orange in the highlights. Find the black point and 'crush' the image using gamma to give a high contrast look.

Also as your using a t2i try filming using the technicolor log emulation that you can load on the camera found here:

http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/theatrical/visual-post-production/digital-printer-lights/cinestyle

Will stop the camera clipping the blacks and highlights giving headroom thus increasing the range you have to work with in the grade.
 
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A lot of depth to that shot, as Knightly notes at least 3 or 4 fixtures out frame in addition to the well placed practicals being controlled with dimmers. The hard key coming from frame right is the first thing I notice.
 
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ok, i partly understand knightly's post. When you say key frame right i get its coming from the right side but whats the difference in key frame right and back fill framed left?
 
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peter917 said:
ok, i partly understand knightly's post. When you say key frame right i get its coming from the right side but whats the difference in key frame right and back fill framed left?
Click to expand...

The "key" light is the primary light on the subject. In a shot like that one it's purpose is to be the main light on the talent's face. Look at the redhead in the right part of the frame. See how the right side of her face is lit and the left side is more shadowed. That means the key light is out of frame on the right hand side (her left). See the practical fixture right by the face of the guy in the back left part of the frame? That is providing the key light on his face.

Behind them is the wall with the fireplace in it. Down out of frame on the left, probably hidden by the furniture is another light. It's shining on that wall. This gives the wall separation and stops everything from looking flat. It's also likely there is another light on the left side further back out of frame that is weaker and more diffused than the key light. It stops the shadow side of their faces from being TOO dark (another fill light). It also looks like there might even be a kicker or "rim light" somewhere high on the right side slightly back lighting the redhead.

The point being Color Correction is a tiny piece of the look you're going for. That shot was also created by a skilled grip/DP using multiple lights carefully positioned.
 
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yeah thats a lot to take in considering i know nothing about lighting really, seems like it'd be a lot of work setting up so many lights for almost all of the scenes. Ill see what more i can learn in the next month and maybe give it a go once i understand more.
 
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peter917 said:
yeah thats a lot to take in considering i know nothing about lighting really, seems like it'd be a lot of work setting up so many lights for almost all of the scenes. Ill see what more i can learn in the next month and maybe give it a go once i understand more.
Click to expand...

It's a ton of work. It's a big reason why 3 or 4 pages of script a day is considered working fast and why a "skeleton crew" is 6 or 8 people.
 
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As painters, sculptors, photographers or filmmakers, we capture and shape light for presentation to an audience to invoke emotion in our audiences. It behooves us to study it well and completely.

Reflections will tell you where there lights are located on set. Look to the eyes, they are the window to the soul of the key grip ;)

remember that the light beams all end up coming at the lens. the angle of incidence = the angle of reflectance ( http://www.photoflexlightingschool....of_Reflection___Angle_of_Incidence/index.html ). This should allow you to deconstruct any lighting you see in any picture . There is a point in space on the actual set that is equidistant between the camera and the light source (just draw a straight line between the two, and cut it perfectly in half). From that point, draw a line through space to the object that is reflecting the light. The angle from this line to the line to the light is the same as the angle from the mid-line to the camera.

Geometry and trigonometry are your friends here, all of the people in school who told you that you would never need this stuff after school lied to you.
 
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Having seen The Cabin in the Woods a couple of times now, I should mention that the film is intentionally quite brightly lit, especially compared to other, recent horror movies.

I recommend watching it before thinking too much about replicating its visual style ;) That's if you haven't already...
 
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ok thank you all for the replies, I'm going to study into lighting for a bit now. Also no i have not seen cabin yet, i am going to midnight showing tonight, its my most anticipated horror movie in a few years now..can't wait!
 
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