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How can I fix this shot?

H

harmonica44

http://youtu.be/tlU6hm0IQpQ

For my short film, as you can see the lighting does not match in the shots, so I have come up with something to make it all match. This stairwell kept changing during shooting, as we moved lights around, and this is just one example. Any ideas? I tried using curves a lot, but haven't been able to come up with enough of a match.
 
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Believe it or not...

This is the hardest part of being an artist is learning to judge your work as an audience will judge it. We obsess over minutia, we see every mistake/error/problem and believe it needs to be corrected, being unable to put it all aside. For music, theatre or film - art forms that are linear - it passes through the awareness on a second by second basis and those seconds are gone except for their overall impressions. The average audience member will not notice the things that the crafts people will notice as long as they are caught up in the moment.

Sometimes it's the flaws that can give a piece of art its impact. The classic prog rock album "Dark Side Of The Moon" by Pink Floyd is full of "errors;" the Rhodes piano has several notes out of tune, as are some of the guitar parts (the intonation of the guitar was off). These actually create a part of the tonal mood. And guess what? 99.9% of listeners have never noticed and never will.

It's time to take a day or two (or five or six) away from the screen and the speakers. Immerse yourself in something different - some new music, old films a great book. Come back to it with fresh eyes and ears.
 
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Okay thanks. It doesn't look as noticeable on youtube. On youtube, the brightness isn't as bright, and the darkness isn't as dark. But I tested it out on my friends TV and mine, and it is more noticeable. Can I get it to look more dim and middle ground, like youtube, or maybe that's not necessary either.
 
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Everyone just said it's good to go man. Move on to something else and keep the production going.
 
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Sure. I showed some friends that same clip and they all said that the knife looks fake. I used a real metal dagger though, and dulled it. But they said it looks like plastic, because it has no shine. I guess I never thought of that, but a real metal dagger, can have no shine, depending on the material, as that one did. Plus I maybe I didn't light it a good way to make it shine. Can I make the knife look more real in post, or more shiny?
 
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harmonica44 said:
lol wow really I guess I have been overthinking it.
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This.

You've got to quit obsessing over the smallest of details. When I went to watch the clip, I thought it was going to be for a new short film of yours, but it's the same one!. You should be finished with this film by now and on to the next one!

Just finish it and give the whole thing to us to watch for critique. If there's something that needs to be fixed, we'll tell you. But more than likely, we'll just give you honest feedback on things you can look out for on your next film.

Please, for the love of God, just finish it...!
 
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harmonica44 said:
Sure. I showed some friends that same clip and they all said that the knife looks fake. I used a real metal dagger though, and dulled it. But they said it looks like plastic, because it has no shine. I guess I never thought of that, but a real metal dagger, can have no shine, depending on the material, as that one did. Plus I maybe I didn't light it a good way to make it shine. Can I make the knife look more real in post, or more shiny?
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Man, I'm starting to wonder about these friends of yours. It's good to take criticism and get feedback from others. However, not all feedback is equal, and you seem to be spinning your wheels at every turn, half because you are nitpicking, half because your friends are doing it for you. At some point you have to put your foot down; listen to what people tell you, but don't start over every time someone says they noticed the sink faucet knob turned 15 degrees differently in two different shots.

Now, all that said, this brings up an interesting point about reality and the perception of reality. In real life, knives are not always shiny (in fact, rarely so). In movies, even more "realistic" movies, they often are. In reality when you punch someone, there's a quiet thump. In movies, there's a big loud smack. Movies are not, and I don't believe SHOULD be reality. They're hyper-reality. You accentuate things above and beyond what they really are in order to draw attention to them. That's what you're doing as a filmmaker: focusing attention and making the viewer think or feel a certain way.

But as everyone has told you over and over, wrap it up, learn from the finished product and use that knowledge on your next. The knife is fine, and people nitpick details on big budget hollywood films (all the time, actually). Don't let fear of that stop you from finishing.
 
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Yeah, monica. You need to stop filmmaking by committee. Especially when you're the only only filmmaker on that committee.

Everybody is a armchair critic and an armchair expert.

Personally, I don't make a habit of showing anyone outside of other filmmakers my work until it's finished. Non-filmmakers just aren't as good at seeing an unfinished product and understanding that something is going to be added to it that will make this or that work once it's done.
 
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Other than the hallway, the change in light on the stairs is a HUGE continuity error. I do wonder, though, do you have any problems reshooting? Or have any alternate angles? If you could only get one guy, you can easily have the guy leading get to the opposite wall signaling his partner to come back and then switch back to what you originally had.
 
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I have the master shot, but don't want to use the mastershot for the whole thing because then it looks home video-ish, if all shot far away and from one angle. The problem is is that in all the shots, I have the master one is the only one where you can see him put down the bag, and the bag is important for later. He kept going out of frame while putting down the bag, but I didn't realize that till it was too late since I was acting in the scene. I can't reshoot it cause the owner mas moved from the location unfortunately. So I was hoping to copy and paste pieces of light on the wall, from shot to shot or something.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
Yeah, monica. You need to stop filmmaking by committee. Especially when you're the only only filmmaker on that committee.

Everybody is a armchair critic and an armchair expert.

Personally, I don't make a habit of showing anyone outside of other filmmakers my work until it's finished. Non-filmmakers just aren't as good at seeing an unfinished product and understanding that something is going to be added to it that will make this or that work once it's done.
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All very very true.
I often have to show unfinished work to clients (because they are stakeholders in the proces and they pay the bills), but I always make sure the part I show is as finished as possible. Some people just don't understand unfinished edits at all.

Move on.
Don't try to paste light from one scene to another; that will only kill time and enthousiasm AND the result will be worse than before.
Don't try to make the knife shine: it will look even faker.
(And no, the Shine-plugin is not a tool to make metal shine ;) )

Don't fix the shots.
Only colorgrading is allowed :P

Lessons learned:
- plan your lighting as much as possible and stick to the plan to keep continuity
- making a knife shine is done by letting it reflect light towards the camera. In darker scenes you can use a weak lightsource that reflects in the blade while the knife is moved. This trick is often used in the first shot with a knife; it's about letting the audience believe it's sharp even when the rest of the scene uses plastic knives.
- you can get away with a lot.
- fixing in post is NOT the holy grail. Use post only to do add or delete things from the screen you already planned to do. And to do 'things' with colors.
- don't act when you direct: you'll need to keep an eye on things as they happen.
- when you direct, tell the crew what you want to see on the screen. You tell the actors what they have to do, but also tell your DOP what needs to be seen in the shot.

What is great about this?
1) You can now focus on finishing this short instead of trying to 'fix' it.
2) Your next project will be better, because you learned a lot from this one.
 
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