cinematography How much contrast is too much?

[harmonica44]

I am practicing with color grading to get a certain look. I like the ideas of high contrasts used in some movies like Saving Private Ryan. I tried pushing the contrast a little in different shots. I can shoot on no contrast and do it in post as well, but I did it in camera this time to an idea of where to be, since I am still learning 'curves' in post and what not.

How much contrast gets to the point where it's too much in these shots do you think? Pardon the bad lighting, as I did this under natural light:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT_cqfONRac&feature=youtu.be

It's also hard to judge cause different contrast looks much different under different lighting, but you want to pick one setting for the whole movie, so the picture matches from shot to shot of course. Thanks!

 

[WalterB]

.....But to me, all the colors seem to look the same in a scene, as long as I have the settings locked. ...........

.................Wouldn't it be more logical to grade each shot the same so they match to the viewer? Like for example, you don't want to have a Matrix green look on Actor A, then have a Godfather sepia look when you cut to the shot of Actor B of course.
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It's also hard to judge cause different contrast looks much different under different lighting, but you want to pick one setting for the whole movie, so the picture matches from shot to shot of course. Thanks!

Stop mixing up shot, scene and movie.
That changes the context all the time...

Different looks for different shots in 1 scene = RIDICULOUS or arty-farty
Different looks for different scenes = NOT STRANGE
Applying the same look settings to the whole movie DOES NOT EQUAL getting the same look in the whole movie.
Applying different grading settings to different shots in 1 scene CAN LEAD to the same look.
Applying the same grading settings to different shots in 1 scene CAN LEAD to the same look.

But YES: shooting a scene with locked camera settings will help to get the same look for different shots in the same scene IF the lighting is right.

 

[knightly]

On set, to allow for better exposure in camera and more control over the look, we costume with no pure whites, blacks or reds as it allows for a shorter latitude that will fit into the color space of the camera more readily. We can then turn the REALLY dark gray pants and REALLY light gray shirt black and white in post by adding contrast.

but here are some wonderfully disparate examples that show it to be a personal and artistic choice thing that YOU have to experiment with and make:

Moonrise Kingdom

Renaissance

 

[harmonica44]

Okay thanks. So far I haven't had a problem with color mismatches on a shot, unless a light was moved or poorly placed, in between shots, that made a difference in exposure. So far I only notice a different in between shots in exposure sometimes, but never the color itself so far, as long as the settings remain the same.

I don't mean to sound confusing between shot, movie, scene, etc. I am just using all of those as examples, since a whole movie is suppose to have the same look, or similar look. It depends. I was watching City of God, and noticed how the cinematography definitely changes from scene to scene.

But if you watch a lot of movies like say, The Dark Knight, the amount of contrast, saturation, etc, seems the same throughout the whole movie.

So is it okay then to have a movie with a high contrast in daylight scenes, but a low contrast in night scenes, if the night scenes were shot under low light? Cause the short film I helped out on recieved criticism for the night scenes not looking as contrasty as the daylight scenes, and looked to different to jar the viewer out.

Another thing is noise. If I shoot flat I get noise if I add contrast and saturation back in later. Not a lot but more than I do, if don't shoot flat. But it's not noticeable on a smaller screen so far, but a big screen, yeah...

As far my original question as to how much contrast is too much, I was told that one of the biggest mistake a lot of newcomers make is that their footage is too contrasty and new 'filmic looking' enough. Which explains why a lot of microbudgters have flatter contrasts on their projects perhaps. But what if you want a high contrast look? A lot of movies even shot on film have the contrast turned up high in the grading, especially newer movies after the 90s.