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The cinematography of Drive

H

harmonica44

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBiOF3y1W0Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2a7MWbmJU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z5LXyWn3-w

I really like the cinematography with the sunlight scenes, and trying to get right in my camera. It seems the best way to do it is too shoot with the color temperature around 12000 to 15000, depending on the time of day. In that scene in the second video they may have changed it for clouds too. The chase scene looks like it was done lower, more around 9000 but trying to get that one right too. I've been trying to get it right, but something feels off.

http://youtu.be/jVK4ESOV-bk

Does anybody know what they did to get those colors?

Thanks.
 
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Seriously - how many threads do you need where people tell you not to shoot at crazy color temperatures before you start listening? Nobody shoots at 12000-15000k!

Most of the daytime shots in Drive are slightly warm. Magic hour would give you that look at normal daylight balance, while at noon you might go slightly higher, 6500-7000ish.

But it's always going to vary a little from time to time when you're working with natural light, so don't waste your time trying to guess at some number like that.

Just do a custom white balance under each lighting change to get them all matched and neutral, and then adjust them all to slightly warm in post (I can guarantee you that's what they did on Drive). If you absolutely have to try and get the look in camera then just do your custom white balance with a very light blue piece of paper (you can buy 'warm cards' for this very purpose if you really want to).
 
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I already sort of did that though, the same sunset. Here's the sunset shot at daylight balance in the first shot. The second and third shot, are both adjust slightly, in camera though. But as you can see it's still not near as yellow as Drive. The first video I made matches Drive better, and that's shot at a crazy temperature. I don't sees how white balancing and adjusting slightly matched, unless I did something wrong there too.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-e9_b_NWoQ
 
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Well I thought I'd get it right in camera, so I wouldn't have to tinker with it so much in post. And I figure why get warm cards, when you can just adjust the kelvin temperature in the camera, since it's the same system as using warm cards, but it's already there for you.
 
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Okay thanks, but I find it may be cheaper to do it in camera, cause if I'm the one with the camera and doing it, then it saves me hiring a colorist later. I guess I also do not get the point of shooting white, if you are going to just add color later, when you can do it beforehand anyway. The more you do on set, the less their is to do in post.
 
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It's probably possible to get something somewhat close to that in camera - I wouldn't say it's going to be expensive, but it's going to take a lot more than just white balancing to do so - you would need to develop a custom picture profile. They've got a custom gamma curve, extra saturation, yellow-orange highlights with richer midtones and shadows with more red in them. Blues are almost teal.

But even if you could dial in all that you'd still need to do a custom white balance of some sort under each different lighting situation or else it's not going to be consistent... or you'll need to tweak them all in post to make it look consistent.

But here's the thing - it's not really going to save you any work. If you're going to put the time in to develop the custom color profile, you could put that same time into developing a look in your color correction software and then just apply it to all your neutrally-shot footage. The difference is if you do it in camera it's going to be harder to tweak or change it as much if you decide it's not what you want later.

That's the reason they do it that way in movies like Drive - so why not try and learn how to do it the right way if that's the look you're going for?

harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks, but I find it may be cheaper to do it in camera, cause if I'm the one with the camera and doing it, then it saves me hiring a colorist later.
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It basically requires exactly the same skills to achieve the look in camera as it does to do it in post. So if you can figure out how to do it in camera, you could just as easily do it yourself in post. If you can't figure out how to do it in post yourself you probably won't be able to get it in camera either.
 
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Well before when I have white balanced it didn't work to add color later well. The one shot I posted on here at night a few months ago. I white balanced the street lights to be white. Then later I added orange in post cause I wanted the orange streetlight look. The lights were then orange, but the whole sky turned pink along with the color of the streets.

I was then told on here by one of you, that I should just do it in camera to avoid unwanted colors such as pink. So that's why I have been doing it.

As far as inconsistency goes, you're talking about the sun changing color right?
 
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You know what? I was wrong. I think I misunderstood what you were asking.

You should definitely shoot it in the 12000 - 15000k range. Post some tests if you can so we can see how it looks.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks, but I find it may be cheaper to do it in camera, cause if I'm the one with the camera and doing it, then it saves me hiring a colorist later. I guess I also do not get the point of shooting white, if you are going to just add color later, when you can do it beforehand anyway. The more you do on set, the less their is to do in post.
Click to expand...

The reason you shoot white beforehand is so that you have room to color correct and grade in post. What if you decide that's not the look you want? And, it will make color correction difficult.
 
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It's closer to what I want but something is off or missing.

I shot it at dusk, around 9:00 PM where I live.

I could shoot white then color later, but I guess I felt that I want what I want, and have to make a decision and move on. It's like how people choose how they want 24 fps at 1/50 before shooting, and how they choose if they want shallow DOF while shooting. People prefer that rather than shooting 60 fps at a fast shutter speed, and then deciding they want 24fps and motion blur later. Or shooting at a deep DOF, then deciding they want shallow DOF later.

If they can make those decisions beforehand and feel comfortable, I guess I feel I can do that with color as well.
 
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I'm sorry but comparing shooting deep DOF and then adding '' Depth of field in post '' and shooting at higher FPS and then adding motion blur and go 24 with spending time color grading is post is just very stupid comparison overall.

Shoot on auto white balance or even better - shoot with a white/ gray card and then spend the time you need in post doing the colors .

If you're shooting some event then just do everything in camera so you don't to spend the time color grading in post but if you're doing a more serious project spend the time needed in every aspect - color grading , sound , etc .
 
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harmonica44 said:
It's closer to what I want but something is off or missing.
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Exactly. What you want is not achievable through changing white balance alone. Now that you've discovered this for yourself it's time to start thinking about the alternatives.

It's like how people choose how they want 24 fps at 1/50 before shooting, and how they choose if they want shallow DOF while shooting. People prefer that rather than shooting 60 fps at a fast shutter speed, and then deciding they want 24fps and motion blur later. Or shooting at a deep DOF, then deciding they want shallow DOF later.

If they can make those decisions beforehand and feel comfortable, I guess I feel I can do that with color as well.
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The difference is that frame rate, shutter speed, and DOF are difficult or impossible to change effectively in post. People make those decisions when shooting because they do not have the option to make them later.

Color, on the other hand, has a huge range of adjustability in post - significantly more than is easily achievable in camera. So smart filmmakers take advantage of this fact to use color correction where it's most effective, where they have the most control, and where they aren't holding up the rest of their crew trying to get things exactly right in camera.
 
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Download Davinci Resolve Lite. It's free from BlackMagic Designs. It's every bit as full featured as their $999 version, except it only does up to 1080p, not 2k or 4k. Some great tutorials. I've downloaded and added a LUT modeled after the LUT for CineStyle. davinci resolve lite is very powerful and will help you achive what you,want to accomplish.
 
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