Pokemon Go-ne Too Far

THE VIDEO

I created this sketch for my Youtube channel. It was a fun idea I thought up while shooting another Pokémon Go sketch. Since it was a trending topic that week, I wrote/shot/edited within a few days.

CREW: one sound person

LIGHTING: one Arri kit (1k, 650 w/ Chimera, 300, 150)

CAMERA: Canon 5d mkiii with Rokinon primes, shot in Cinestyle

COLOR: DaVinci Resolve Lite

 

LIGHTING

 

The thing I liked about this shot was using the Arri 1k as double duty to get the shafts of light behind Brad and also give him an edge light. The Arri 650 bounced off the ceiling nicely and wrapped his face exactly how I wanted it.

 

Wide shots are a little harder than closeups when you have fewer lights, but this one worked out just fine. The only thing that bothered me was how hot the practical was in the background. But, alas, the wiring was inside the walls and the dimmest bulb we had was a 60W so I just went with it. Definitely looked better on than it did off. In general, practicals are great assets when you only have a few film lights.

 

COLOR

Why is that original contrast so whack, you ask? Because I shot with the Technicolor Cinestyle picture profile, which is much flatter and less saturated than standard DSLR profiles. The purpose was to retain more detail in the shadows so I can decide the exact black level I want in post.

Where’s all the blue in the original, you ask? Great fucking question. Since I was using the same light (Arri 650 w/ Chimera) for the burglars’ faces as well as the ceiling background, I wasn’t able to separate colors and fill the room with a blue ambient light. I had recently learned how to use parallel nodes in DaVinci and knew this would be a good chance to test my new skills. I outlined both people and isolated their skin tones so I could manipulate them separately from the background. The only annoying obstacle was that their faces and the ceiling were too similar in hue, saturation and luminance, so the tracker had trouble following them when they moved. For several shots, I had to track the face-shaped power windows frame by frame. *Frowny face-track*

LESSONS LEARNED

We shot this sketch in 3 hours. Allow more time if fight choreography is involved…even the simplest of moves. Also, separate the subject and background better when possible. It’s like Photography 101, Eric. Daaaamn. Git yo shit together.

CREDITS

Directed by Eric Lombart

Starring Brad Gage, Jasmine Elist, Andrew Maiorano

Sound recorded by Justin Arbabi

Special thanks to Anna Akana