Hey Ya’ll,

Just thought I would post an update on what’s going on with my piano sequence. Prior filming a sort of practise test for this sequence (which I plan to make my final piece) I went searching for some advise about how to achieve a certain lighting/colour/mood; a very cold blue light, contrasted with murky darkness. I’m using this light as a means of reflecting the inner state of the character, who will also reflect her emotions through the playing of the piano. I started off by researching stuff like daylight/ tungsten light and white balance. This was a really interesting and valuable little journey.

Following this I entered into a discussion with a few skilled people about whether to shoot the footage raw/neat and then colour correct it in post or whether to set my white balance to tungsten (3500k) and use LED lights and daylight to create a cold blue look when filming. Differing options were offered. I ended up shooting in the afternoon. The sun was coming in the window, as my window faces west, and creating some harsh light, which I had to soften, by placing a sheet over the window. When I re-shoot, I will shoot in the morning, to avoid direct sunlight. I set my white balance to tungsten, and placed an LED light near the feet of my actor, screen right. I placed an ND filter on my 50mm lens. The ND made the shoot very dark but somehow added the look I was going for.

Here are some unedited stills from the shoot.

So these are obviously quite dark, but I believe I can play with them in Premier and get them close to what I was envisioning.. edited update to come.