I finished the rough draft for a vampire movie and im working on the final draft. Anyways, i have a lot of nighttime scenes and I have a limited supply of lights so how would you shoot night scenes if you were me? I'm thinking shoot at dusk so the camera perceives it is darker and also lowerin light in post production, but i'm looking for suggestions here also!

Dare to be diffrent... dont give in to the "norm"

Kyle and I were filming a Vampire movie recently... I think it was wednesday when we realized it was all in daylight.

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I think it was wednesday when we realized it was all in daylight.

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I ain't dealing with lighting. Too much work.

TACO WAGON PRODUCTIONS©


"Violence in Movies? It's much more interresting to see a car exploding, than to see it parking" -Quentin Tarantino

lowering light in post production? Hmmm, film some test shots today and try it first, cause it sounds kinda jenky. Do some test shots on yourself at night with a light on you or something too. You don't wanna get out on the road and find out your brakelights don't work, do you?

BTW, your avatar looks like you're reaching down cause you dropped something. I dunno, everytime I see it I wonder what you dropped.

yeah its the only picture i had at the time... well at least that helps you remember who I am if people wonder what i dropped! Thanks for the advice I'm going to try a few things, It's going to be a lot of work but of course my favorite script that I have written is going to be the hardest to shoot!

Dare to be diffrent... dont give in to the "norm"

You can always do "day for night" in post. The new movie "Holes" has alot of shots like this. It just requires some creative color correction, and alot of blue.

I would try and do alot of stuff in areas that already have light though. You can always use car headlights as a light source. Throw some blue gels over em, to get that "night" look, or hit an alley with some over head lights, ect. Chose carefully though. Nothing worse then poorl;ey light night stuff (even i am a victim of this, with the opening scene in "Intersection".) Best of luck.
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

ok.....how many movie are you working on right now? cause if im not mistaken u are doing at least three in the past 5 days

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ok.....how many movie are you working on right now? cause if im not mistaken u are doing at least three in the past 5 days

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You wanna address who you are talking to?


TACO WAGON PRODUCTIONS©

"Violence in Movies? It's much more interresting to see a car exploding, than to see it parking" -Quentin Tarantino

[This message was edited by Kyle Johnson on April 27, 2003 at 05:30 PM.]

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[This message was edited by Kyle Johnson on April 27, 2003 at 05:30 PM.]

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He learned how to edit!

As for the lighting issue, I like the headlight idea. Could expand that with a myriad of other light sources...

Clever.

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He learned how to edit!

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You know what? Your as usefull as an ass ho** on my elbow. [taps his elbow] Right here.

TACO WAGON PRODUCTIONS©


"Violence in Movies? It's much more interresting to see a car exploding, than to see it parking" -Quentin Tarantino

Have you considered the low-key approach? Use two lights: one to provide a bit of fill and the other to illuminate the subject. That'll make an interesting visual look for your night shots.

There are plenty of films that have used lights and still made it look like night. The Exorcist has a brilliantly lit shot where the priests turn up at the house. Judicious use of fog and sodium lights created a spooky effect.

If that doesn't fit what you want stylistically, you can either do a "Blair Witch" and use the night shot on a camcorder to get a "image intensifier" look or use the same technique Mike Figgis used in "Hotel" and use specialised night vision cameras.

Richard Purves
One Man Band
omb@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.omb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Just seems like it would look as if you had a light on you. Anyone done this well for a student film that has a nearly nonexistant budget?

Thanks for all the advice... yeah im working on a lot of movies right now. In fact when summer comes i shoot like crazy. My friends and I are planning on shooting at least 3 short films before august and hopefully finish a longer one thats in the works before october. Im ambitious and I got film dorky friends like me that all they wanna do is make movies!

Dare to be diffrent... dont give in to the "norm"

lucky bastard

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I got film dorky friends like me that all they wanna do is make movies!

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heh...hopefully you & your friends arn't like the dork film morons at my school who can't make movies worth sh**.

TACO WAGON PRODUCTIONS©


"Violence in Movies? It's much more interresting to see a car exploding, than to see it parking" -Quentin Tarantino

Do you enjoy masticating with hot girls?

Wow looks like everyone is making a vampire movie these days. I'm making one too.

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Originally posted by video_filmmaker:
Wow looks like everyone is making a vampire movie these days. I'm making one too.

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Sounds good, but lets see some originality folks. Just do something new. Even with applying the rules of "vamp" films, you can offer something new. I just hope not to see a bunch of "Vampire hunter kills vamps, goes home happy" flicks. Make something happen. Have him stop at Taco Bell afterwards, and get indegestion, or something.

I have a vampire short have been developing for some time, that is FAR from the norm. Dare I call it, an intellegent vampire movie, with takes a look at our own inadequeicies as a society. Thats all you get. Just make it cool.
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

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heh...hopefully you & your friends arn't like the dork film morons at my school who can't make movies worth sh**.

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I'm gonna scan in pictures from my yearbook and we can use thier pictures as avatars... hahaha.

Vampire movie wise, does silver work on them? incase we do something like that I wanna make sure...

I would use a dark blue filter (it's just past easter so you can probably find some of that blue clear plastic stuff they use to wrap easter baskets to do the trick) and just film in daylight...

It'll give it that cheezy 1980's cop show night unless you're very good with lighting, so if you're trying to make a very dramatic I'd steer clear of it. But any vampire movie I would ever make would be sort of intentionally cheezy, so I'd certainly use the filter.