Tips for film location shoot

Nifkin

Nifkin

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Simon
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Hi,

I have a friend who's currently filming a 90-minute independent movie in and around London, and he's asked me to be on set to take production stills (cast, crew, rehearsals, etc).

I know that the sets I'm going to visit on Friday and over the weekend are all interior locations; flats, houses, and a cabaret setting (all professionally lit). I'll be working alongside a crew of around 25, with actors and extras on top of that.

I'll be shooting in raw, and processing the results in LR2. I haven't done a shoot like this before, as photography has always been a solo pursuit for me, so I would be grateful to hear from any of you out there who've had experience of such shoots, and if there are any (constructive) general tips or ideas you could recommend to assist me with my task. Any ideas or annecdotes will be positively received! :thumbs:

Thanks all,

N
 
I've done a few short film shoots and some telly work, all good fun. The benefit to shooting on sets is that, for the most part, the setting is well-lit by strong tungsten light. Sets usually use anything from 300 watt to 2000 watt lights. I rarely use flash, unless it's off camera, and always lean towards the primes for shooting.

Also, personally, as good as it is to get "behind the scenes" shots, it's also nice to get natural documentary-style shots of actors "within the fiction" when the cameras aren't rolling if that makes sense? As in during script rehersal or just before a take, so the characters are on set and in character but not necessarily posing for the camera. I did this recently for a television show and the actors really liked that way of working.

I think posed shots are well worth getting too though, just picking the right spot is tricky sometimes.

I've posted images of some of the shoots I've done on my blog. Check it out and let me know if you have any more questions.

(One thing I don't have and have never used is a sound blimp, which takes away the sound of the camera's shutter. A lot of photographers work this way while the cameras are rolling to get the aforementioned "natural" looking shots. One set-back is the cost of the things, they're astronomical!)
 
mr_v_s said:
I've done a few short film shoots and some telly work, all good fun. The benefit to shooting on sets is that, for the most part, the setting is well-lit by strong tungsten light. Sets usually use anything from 300 watt to 2000 watt lights. I rarely use flash, unless it's off camera, and always lean towards the primes for shooting.

Also, personally, as good as it is to get "behind the scenes" shots, it's also nice to get natural documentary-style shots of actors "within the fiction" when the cameras aren't rolling if that makes sense? As in during script rehersal or just before a take, so the characters are on set and in character but not necessarily posing for the camera. I did this recently for a television show and the actors really liked that way of working.

I think posed shots are well worth getting too though, just picking the right spot is tricky sometimes.

I've posted images of some of the shoots I've done on my blog. Check it out and let me know if you have any more questions.

(One thing I don't have and have never used is a sound blimp, which takes away the sound of the camera's shutter. A lot of photographers work this way while the cameras are rolling to get the aforementioned "natural" looking shots. One set-back is the cost of the things, they're astronomical!)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, and, having looked at the pics on your blog, they have definitely given me a look to aim for!

Can I ask, when the location shoot is an interior with a professional light set-up, how do you meter the scene? As the lighting conditions "on camera" are susposed to be constant for the duration of a given set up, I was thinking of using a grey card (I don't have an external light meter) under the key light to manually meter against, then ETTR about one stop, and leaving my settings there. This way I don't have to worry about actors/extras in contrasting costumes cocking up my exposure as they float around the scene.

Also, I noticed from your pics that you use primes with a shallow depth of field for artistic effect and light gathering, allowing you to take more handheld shots. A few of your shots are taken with a UWA lens as well; did you use a tripod for these, or is using a tripod on set best avoided?

Sorry if my questions seem a bit green, but I just want to prepare myself as well as possible for tomorrow!
 
ashsalmun said:
Here are some night photography tips:
1. Use a fast highly sensitive film or push develop your usual film.
2. If you have a digital camera: set your ISO setting to a higher than normal value.
3. Use a flash.
4. Use other additional light sources like spots, or a reflector.
5. Use a fast lens.
6. Use a tripod.
Click to expand...

1. OP's shooting digital
2. There's usually a lot of light on set anyway, so adjust accordingly
3. Prepare for a hard slap from the Director / DoP if you ever do this.
4. See 3. Don't go cluttering their set.
5. Common sense
6. See 4.

Also, consider the noise your camera is making, if you're shooting whilst they're shooting then look to rent a blimp for the duration of your shoot. Otherwise you'll have the sound crew getting very upset at your shutter noise in the dialogue mix.
 
Hey no problem, would love to see some of your pics when you're done.

I don't use a tripod though I do own one. I think that's a bad habit that I need to correct but for on-set stuff unless you have a slow lens, you shouldn't really need one. It's very cumbersome to move about. I don't personally like using one anyway but then I am a fussy b****r ;)

Primes at the widest aperture give you the "wow" effect, for sure. All depends on what you're going for. I used a combination of different lenses, from a 14-24 to a 24-70. I also used a 50mm f/1.4 lens and an 85mm f/1.8 lens. All with available light. Re: metering, it may be a case of trial and error as matrix-metering is thrown off by having *very* bright lights contrast with a very dim interior setting. I used aperture priority and dialed in -1 exposure compensation for certain shots, while no exposure compensation was required for other shots, it depends what kind of light is in your way. Probably not the most professional thing for me to do but I used auto white balance and figured I could warm/cool things down in post.
I also shot RAW and processed through Lightroom 2. Great workflow.

I found with the "lapdancing club" shots I did (on my blog) that approaching the actresses' individually for posed portrait shots worked well. The problem with going on to a set full of people who know one another is, as you can probably guess, they don't really know you (that might not be the case with you but it has been with me). So it's judging when's the time to direct something for yourself (i.e. actor portraits) and when's best to document (and stay out of the way of the crew!)

Let me know if there's anything else or if I didn't explain myself properly (!) :)
 
mr_v_s said:
Hey no problem, would love to see some of your pics when you're done.

I don't use a tripod though I do own one. I think that's a bad habit that I need to correct but for on-set stuff unless you have a slow lens, you shouldn't really need one. It's very cumbersome to move about. I don't personally like using one anyway but then I am a fussy b****r ;)

Re: metering, it may be a case of trial and error as matrix-metering is thrown off by having *very* bright lights contrast with a very dim interior setting. I used aperture priority and dialed in -1 exposure compensation for certain shots, while no exposure compensation was required for other shots, it depends what kind of light is in your way. Probably not the most professional thing for me to do but I used auto white balance and figured I could warm/cool things down in post.
Click to expand...

All good stuff! Yeah, I've sort of junked the idea of using a tripod; would probably use if doing publicity portraits for the film, but not on set, as there'll be too much other equipment about!

I use Auto WB too, which may be a bit hit-or-miss, but I'd much rather set the colour temperature in LR after the event anyway.

When it comes to contrasty scenes (as you've described above) I was wondering if it would be a good idea to use spot metering on something mid-toned, then increasing the exposure a stop, partly to reduce noise and to retain detail? One of the scenes I'm working on is a cabaret club setting (much like your "lapdancing club" scenes), and one of the others is a nighttime interior houseparty scene; both of these will have quite dynamic, high contrast lighting, so I thought using a grey card or one of the actors faces under the keylight may give me a good reference point, meaning that for the duration of the scene I can keep the same exposure settings? Does that make sense? I'm just a bit worried that, if I do as you suggest, i.e. under expose by -1 or use no exposure compensation in other shots I won't be left with anywhere to go except in the direction of increased noise levels if they do come out a a bit under exposed looking.

Also, I'm going to be on set from about 08:30 to 19:30. If you were me - and I know this is a "how long is a piece of string" question!! - how many shots would you expect to take in a 12-hour day, and what percentage would you expect to use out of those? Is taking 300 shots too many, or not enough? I guess I'm wondering how many production stills the production company will expect to play with, in your experience.

Cheers :thumbs:
 
a good cheat is silent shooting mode in live view if you can keep shutter speeds high enough (live view screws up proper bracing technique)
 
Hey again :) The spot-metering idea is a good one, the only thing to consider is the lighting set-ups will change routinely (as you note) so you need to keep up with what your scene looks like. If your camera can cope with high ISO, it isn't much of a deal breaker. I use the Nikon D700 so that's useable, for me, up to 3200. But, yes, detail over noise with correct metering would be the way to go. The only thing to consider is whether this comprimises any spontanatity. A light meter would be handy but it's not the end of the world. You're shooting RAW so you should be fine. Obviously a big one to consider is when you have actors/key crew you want to photograph who have a big powerful light behind them. In that sense that's pretty much like taking a picture of someone in front of a bright window without any fill-flash (the person is going to black out because the matrix-metering will be taking into account the bright background). I know that sounds obvious but sometimes it's easy to forget things like that when you assume you're in a controlled "well-lit" interior enviroment.

Re: your day, wow, that's long! Usually stills have a shorter day than that (in my experience) but you'll have plenty of opportunitity for variety I'm sure. Count-wise, there isn't a set rule but obviously a decent number is deseriable. If you end up with a contact sheet of 300-400 covering a full day, I'd say that would be a good amount. The key is variety. From my own perspective I take into account the size of the files I shoot (12 bit uncompressed - so about 15 meg a file) and also the time spent post-processing, that usually puts a bit of discipline in me to not shoot like a machine gun.

But with a full day, I think you'll have plenty of time to document and - where possible - direct people for photos. The key to the latter is asking the director what kind of shots they would like and asking them how they would like the shots set-up. But this is me and your experience may be different.

Good luck! Update the thread and let us know how you got on :)
 
Haha yep, 12 hours sure is a long day! However, as this is my first time on a shoot like this, I thought I'd take advantage of the whole day to attempt as many techniques and approaches as possible, and to cover all bases in terms of rehearsal, in front & behind camera and crew shots. The director of the film is a good friend, so I have access all areas, and I want to give it my best shot for him. Likelyhood is I'll probably knock off once I'm satisfied with what I've got.

That'll be Friday taken care of, then I'll be back on Saturday morning for three or four hours for some additional scenes!

Anyway, thanks for your help; have found it very useful! Will come back here at the end of the weekend to provide an update!

Cheers

Simon
 
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