How much could it cost to hire a VFX artist do to this?

H

harmonica44

I have a script that takes place at night, in the city. Basically it has to take place at night, since police officers are surveilling suspects, who are engaging in criminal activity, that would logically be done at night, after business hours.

I want to shoot day for night, and then hire a VFX artist to make it look like night, but lighting all the car headlights on all the cars driving around, and by adding light coming out of the building windows, and electronic street signs and all that.

However, how much would that cost at a minimum do you think, for about 15-20 minutes of footage?
 
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H44, shooting day for night for 15 to 20 mins of a film is something you really shouldn't do unless you have no other option.

The answer to your question would depend on the quality and price of whoever is working on the project. The quality of the end product you require and the quality of the work going in.

It's something that color graders do. Expect them to charge you between $75 and $250 an hour. More if you take it to a large post production house.

At your level, you're better off shooting it at night.
 
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Okay thanks. I was told before a lot, to do day for night, especially since a lot of other microbudgeters are doing it. I will shoot at night then and perhaps look for a DP who has the A7. I may have to buy one myself but will wait till they go down in price perhaps.
 
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ItDonnedOnMe said:
More than just buying an A7s and shooting at night.
Click to expand...

Which is in turn more than it would cost to rent a few HMI kits and a Genny for a night.

Which is in turn way more than a small genny, a few DIY lights, some photofloods, and some CTB.

Which is still more expensive than rewriting the scene to something within budget.
 
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Yes I considered the lower powered lights as well, but they will not generate enough power for some of the wide shots, I don't think -- such as shots from the cops point of view, as they are watching from further away.

However, I do not want to set it in the daytime now, cause I went to these locations and they are just too busy in the daytime to shoot in. Night is much better, and there is a lot less people. I don't want to change the script cause it's already written and it's very difficult to rewrite one part, without it affecting the rest of the story. It seems that if I make one change, the whole plot unravels.

But I can think of other things. Perhaps the A7 camera, or I could find locations where I can use HMI lights and it won't be too much of a problem. It's just if I light streets with them, with cars going by, the police might not like that and shut the scene shoot down.
 
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ItDonnedOnMe said:
More than just buying an A7s and shooting at night.
Click to expand...

Not a DP so I hadn't heard of the camera until recently when someone on another forum posted these pics. Shot with no lighting at 40,000 (not a typo) ISO. Obviously they had awesome glass, but still.

http://i.imgur.com/LOZlOH0.png
http://i.imgur.com/yA6UcRZ.png
http://i.imgur.com/8XztjP8.png
http://i.imgur.com/EmWQljk.png

Color my mind blown. Just looking it up now, I'm really surprised it is only $1.6k and doesn't look special at all.
 
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It's actually $2.5k - $1.6 is the standard A7 (not 's') which doesn't have the same crazy low light performance.

These are a couple pretty amazing examples of what the A7s can do at night:

http://vimeo.com/105690274

http://vimeo.com/102493110

Honestly though I wouldn't recommend H44 actually buy one - his comment about finding a DP who already has one is probably a better option. It's a complex camera, especially when it comes to tuning the picture profiles for best performance - but it's also complicated by Sony's decisions about the menu UI and functionality. It's the first camera in years that I actually have had to read the manual to figure out how to change certain basic settings. But if he can find someone who has one and knows how to use it, it will be a significantly easier solution than either shooting DFN or attempting to light a street scene (especially if he's shooting without permits for the location).
 
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Yep I want to find someone else to shoot it. However, if for some reason a DP does not show, come shooting time, it's always good to have a contingency plan. Do you think I should buy an A7s just in case? I would hate to have a DP shoot some of it, but then not show, and then I am left to shoot the rest with the Canon T2i myself, which I have.

So then what you are left with is a big sequence, shot with a good A7s, and an inferior T2i, and it will be a pain to try to match those two in post. I just feel like I need a contingency plan, if I am to rely on someone else. Everyone I know, plus myself in the past, has had this happen to them, where all of a sudden they need their own camera.
 
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You misunderstood what I mean. I mean, you step back, let someone else organize and problem solve this. Keep your mouth closed. Only observe.

While I agree this isn't helping in the long term, it *IS* helping you in the short term.

To clarify, what I am saying, with you in charge of a project like this, it WILL go pear shaped. Give it to someone else to handle and keep away.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Yes I considered the lower powered lights as well, but they will not generate enough power for some of the wide shots, I don't think -- such as shots from the cops point of view, as they are watching from further away.

However, I do not want to set it in the daytime now, cause I went to these locations and they are just too busy in the daytime to shoot in. Night is much better, and there is a lot less people. I don't want to change the script cause it's already written and it's very difficult to rewrite one part, without it affecting the rest of the story. It seems that if I make one change, the whole plot unravels.

But I can think of other things. Perhaps the A7 camera, or I could find locations where I can use HMI lights and it won't be too much of a problem. It's just if I light streets with them, with cars going by, the police might not like that and shut the scene shoot down.
Click to expand...

So, you are having technical issues because of setting issues because of script issues. Well, people have made suggestions about each, and you keep shooting them down because of something that you had already planned, it's decently likely that you might just need to consider the fact that you can't always have your cake and eat it too.

By that I mean you might need to make a sacrifice somewhere. Now, your budgets always seem to be damn near unlimited considering how much advice on what equipment you should purchase you ask for, so maybe you can manage to buy your way out of it with a new camera. Otherwise, it seems like you should consider any combination of options from among the following:

  • Shoot during the day in a different location
  • Shoot during the night in a different location with lights.
  • Shoot a few exteriors at night and do some composites
  • Change your shot list to minimize difficult shots
  • Change your script to a scene that you can reasonably do
  • Shelve this script and move onto one that you can accomplish now

Also, I can't really imagine that your script is so centered around that one scene happening at that specific time of day in that specific location that "the whole plot unravels" from making some adjustments. That's just the voice of doubt preaching to you, because it sure as heck isn't the voice of reason.
 
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Okay thanks. I a have been thinking of how to rewrite it without the plot unraveling, but perhaps just haven''t found the solution yet. It just seems when you change one scenario, everything changes from their on, since every plot turn is dependent on each other.

I can try to change my shot so that I have a lot of closer up shots, that I way I can shoot it at night. It's a lot easier to shoot at night then during the day. During the day, there are too many people around and they always get in the shots. I was even shooting in a small suburban neighborhood, and people in the background are waving in the camera. That is why, night is better, plus it's a lot more quiet at night to record dialogue. I could change it so that it's all close ups at night. However, I am worried that the audience may not get a sense of where they are, if I have all close ups and no establishing shots. Especially when it's about cops surveilling a heist. If it's all close ups, the audience may loose their sense of geography.

I don't think I will be able to shoot a heist sequence in the daytime without people on the street interfering. But do you think that audiences are smart enough to not loose their sense of geography and all close ups at night, would be fine?
 
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Hi H44! :lol:

I've not been around to post for a while, and I was wondering if any of the insane amount of projects you were apparently involved in actually got realised, and that maybe (just maybe) one or two are now finished for viewing?

One of the biggest creative killers I know, is the amateur obsession with trying to get it 'perfect' (read: prefessional) first time. As if they're only going to get one shot?! Good planning is one thing, but too many spend time finnicking over details that would have been better spent just going out and doing it and learning, not just hypothesising to the point of endless procrastination.

All I see is questions, not content! Seriously, set yourself a project that you can actually finish! I dare you... I DOUBLE dare you! :P

Although, saying that I do rather enjoy reading the frustrations of some of the IT'ers, so by all means ignore me, and keep up the trolly good work me ol' chum. :D
 
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