At the beginning of the semester, we have reshot the scene from the film called The Sixth Sense. The time-set is in the night. Thus, we shot it in a dark environment. The result is the footages are either too many super grainy or too bright. It makes me feel uncomfortable and it loses the cinematic feel. This time we still gonna shoot our film in the night. So I want to learn some skills to avoid the problem.

Reason:

The reason there are lots of noise in the frame is that we jacking up the ISO. It controls the sensitivity of the sensor to light. Thus, the higher the ISO number is, the more noises appear in the image.

Solution:

Firstly, a faster lens is a good choice to avoid this problem. Faster means the number of stopped number is lower. However, even it looks better, still not good enough.

The second way is adding lights into the scene. There are two different way to do it, getting the look in camera or get it in the post.

Bouncing light is a sign of filmmaking. As the man mentioned, a large amount of the lights in films is bouncing light. Normally, the direct light is only used in some particular situation.

In a dark situation, the light of the room usually comes from another room, under the door or from the window. Thus, we can bounce on the ceiling, adjust the power and turn it around to find a good image on camera. Use the white wall to create the outline on the face of the character and adjust the grade. Besides, we also can add the fill light on the character’s face. The main idea of setting light is trying various angles. The point of this video is that there is no right or wrong, just try. We can bounce the ceiling, floor or wall.

Get the right image in the post means film a bright image and adjust it in the post.

However, doing it on camera can get a more cinematic effect.

 

Reference:

Film Riot 2014, How to Light For Darkness?, Youtube, 1 May, American, viewed 30 September 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zJcjHYDIys>.