Cinematography Masterclass: Filming Night Scenes | Roundtable

Cooke Optics TV presents the first of a new roundtable series featuring world-renowned cinematographers. In this masterclass, they discuss some of the best approaches to filming exterior night shots. Topics include types of lighting fixtures to use, handling locations and permissions and cinematography techniques.
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[@skullzalliances]

When Hollywood Reporter failed us this year, Cooke comes through 👍🏻

[@adventureStaley]

YES

[@5750mike]

Good video. Here's what I learned: - Use large, soft sources from above as far away as possible - Take your gaffer with you on location recces - Use backlight: silhouette your subjects to separate them from the background - Wet the floor to create cool reflections and glare - Use the location to motivate the colour contrast when lighting

[@eddjhoe]

GOOD NOTES

[@aceking0505]

can I ask you someting? why lamps go far as possible? is to get the even light to actor? or for the wide angle shot? I am not good at english. so I'm not sure if they explain that in the video.

[@jjbig8996]

@@aceking0505 wendy light的话是要让各个地方灯光均匀

[@aceking0505]

謝謝

[@samobenicky4388]

yea man when u schooting the wide shots u dont want your ligh on the crane hang to low beacause of the wide angle of your shot and he also said that when u are done with wide shots and go to closer ones u just put your light on the crane lower

[@kentjensen4504]

Great bunch of artists. I wouldn't have minded a three hour video with them discussing night lighting - hint hint.

[@SanczykLucas]

This.

[@koalaofdeath2045]

Yeah! Why can't we get longer interviews. These are gold mines

[@DannyGevirtz]

These are super helpful. Thanks so much for creating these!

[@ThePlaceForThings]

“preparation and collaboration is everything” 🧠 loved this round table so much.

[@Peterade]

The great Phil Méheux. A modest master.

[@StockAvuryah]

pretty cool with the examples

[@consciousxz]

Damn. Bats shut them down. Was not expecting that.

[@raredreamfootage]

1:39 - Now that's what I'm talking about!

[@DavidJonesImages]

Discovered this great channel a few months ago, have binge watched every video...keep them coming...longer please stay safe

[@riffbaama]

I love this! I would also like a conversation of night lighting on a budget.

[@JonJOn0]

Awesome video with top notch cinematographers giving great insights. But wwwhhhhyyyyyy is it so short? Please @CookeOpticsTv start do 20 minutes video and you'll realise everybody will still watch it up to the end :p. Especially with this kind of quality content.

[@LeleMatic]

You upload this while i'm currently working on a big massive night scene, thank you! And please MORE of the round table masterclasses!

[@CookeOptics]

More coming up soon! (Another one out this week).

[@faithalityblog]

My favorite advice was actually the one about going to the place, sitting down and taking it all in before anything else.

[@michaelcourian]

Absolutely brilliant information. Thank you Cooke!

[@Jahnny_Lee]

What a diverse group!

[@louisdickhaut8872]

Awesome stuff. Please post more of this.

[@siddharthbajpai1]

After all the useful skill talk, the wise words came in the end ..which help us execute the job smoothly .."preparation and collaboration is everything"..I swear, every project I've been on, the problems I've had were not about the technology or skill, it was more about misunderstanding between me and the team or the clients because of not having things penned down and communicated with clarity. It takes a toll on the project and the people involved in it. Write down and circulate everything important (reminding myself).

[@SamuelAbrahamSamfisher]

Beautiful.. more of this please. We need such type of content for coming-up DPs

[@AllThingsFilm1]

This was great information. I always learn something new from discussions like these. In this case, knowing what professionals look for when they are planning how they will light a night scene. And all the logistical considerations that come into play in the process. Very enlightening.

[@rojoratatatata4002]

Beautiful knowledge, thank you!

[@asdfghjuyteqwe]

Cooke god damnit!!! U are pure gold

[@inforobob]

CookeOpticsTV Thanks, this is good stuff from folks who've been there, done that.

[@LunaScopeJustin]

This channel is so good!!!

[@AlexandraSamton]

This is awesome video! Will use the advice for the next film

[@saemranian]

Thanks for your sharing

[@jonagoldd]

Amazing! Please do more :))

[@ianmurraydop8648]

Great stuff

[@arnopoppelaars]

superb content

[@spineblaZe]

awesome thanks!

[@abhinavbeenaanil872]

Great content. 💜👍

[@retlwiz]

This was the best one yet - they seemed to come alive here and we heard the quieter voices too. By the way, does anyone know what they meant by "lay flat" when they were talking about smoke? Just the smoke lying flat all around?

[@Jefsamaroon]

Great info 🙏

[@ClaudioDesideriFilms]

Can I listen to those guys for another 6 hours please?😍

[@tossemanden]

GREAT stuff!!! very nice format as well! would love to pay for your stuff

[@LahoreFilmSchool]

This is a Very Good Discussion, i'm director at #LahoreFilmSchool, Very informative video. Subscribed :)

[@Callmedstone]

Cooke’s storytelling game is about as cutting edge as its patents are recent. 👀

[@adamdrakestudio]

Lol, the bats.

[@Orvulum]

He mentions Won Kar Wai, the director... But the guy who was responsible for the beautiful cinematography was Christopher Doyle!

[@vfxeriksen8694]

Phil Meheux is my favorite.

[@adventureStaley]

More please.

[@OllieTheFirst]

Thanks for this, as more people have said, a more in depth lighting break down of the people involved in this videos lighting techniques would be great but I can understand if they don't wan't to give away their tricks.

[@michaelruebusch2275]

Love it. I just wish I knew some of their tech talk. What is a "windy" and what is "layflat"?

[@xx1simon1xx]

A wendy light is abig array of 1kw par tungsten sources, they can be huge, like 100 surces, making it a 100kw tungsten source

[@editor4958]

1:37 practical shoes! That recurring bit about a soft source "the further away the better" really disturbs me. soft sources far away are point sources. of course you know this. it takes a BIG rig to be able to be soft at a distance.

[@xx1simon1xx]

One thing they didnt talk about that i always tell the student cameramen and woman i shoot with, dont go too soft at night, its actually ends up looking weird and low contrast when its too soft. What they mean is that the further away the light is, the less falloff there is, so the light coming from the left of frame keeps a consistent brightness throughout the frame, if there is significant falloff from on point to another, it ends up „looking like a light“. This is very true for artificial sun or moon light, you need a big source very far away to sell that. Also these guys are talking in realms where when they want a soft source with little falloff, they can just make it happen because the budget is there. Look at the example from django unchained in this video, the huge source overhead isnt really a visible source in the end at all, its just there so the arreas that arent being hit by the torches dont just go to black (while shooting on film, if this was digital, the torches probably would work just fine). This is what we call a „nichtlicht“ („not-light“) in germany, a light that is just there to raise the ambience to a level you need at the very bottom of your exposure. For far less money what you can do is just put a soft source right over your camera, way dimmed down, this only works if there isnt much depth in the scene (indors for example) Hope this helps

[@editor4958]

@@xx1simon1xx Good point, never forget the inverse square!

[@Iliya_sh72]

UK: Bats living at St James's park are protected and cannot be disturbed under any circumstances. Wuhan: *hold my bat soup *

[@sanilalkuttimon1755]

😍😍😍😍

[@aneeeesh]

Mind knocking down the intro music about 6-8 dbs? It's fookin bumping my apartment and then I have to ride the volume once you get to the talking bits.

[@SuicideCup]

No lamp post keys in the us I find that fascinating lol 😂

[@buzzcrushtrendkill]

My pet peeve is over lit night scenes. Backgrounds that are fully lit and visible as much as daytime. Just because you fill softly doesn't make it night. Night is lot of dark shadows. Don't be afraid of the dark. Stop overfilling night scenes.

[@ChaimukiXD]

Could someone explain what do they mean by "A green spike on a digital sensor" 5:55

[@andrewravera9449]

Those lights he is referring to are probably similar to fluorescent lights which have a lot of "green hue" in them. Meaning when you look at the scene through your camera your camera is seeing more green hue coming from the light source. So when he says a "green spike" he is just saying there is a lot of green light (hue) coming from the light source.

[@EarlLaperle]

What does he mean by "lay flat 360 around" - is he talking about the fog or a lighting source?

[@salikabbasi5448]

lay flat is a type of tubing you'd put to run fog/haze through to pump it out consistently and discretely all over the set, is my understanding of it

[@EarlLaperle]

@@salikabbasi5448 Awesome, makes more sense now. Thanks for the answer!

[@davidnelson3757]

thats an awful lot of talent in one room only a fist fight will find a winner

[@JonathanR.Gutierrez]

:)

[@ahmed3261]

You should keep social distancing guys!

[@xx1simon1xx]

Cooke usually shoots these things months in advance, at camera image for example, where there are alot of industry people in one spot, so this was probably shot a few month bag :)

[@Milan-cf1xe]

Because of the Blade Runner i thought it is with Roger Deakinins :(

[@ILaxative]

Isn't that the girl from Game of Thrones?

[@yuryaires]

Did anyone see the camera operator, why this video is overexposed? This a video about cinematographer for god sic, where is the table my lord?

[@slyasassin]

can someone explain a "wendy" again

[@xx1simon1xx]

Its an array of 1kw par sources in a big grid, just a bigger version of a dino really

[@kubolor1234]

eff the bats tbh.

[@vikramsk5920]

Where is Roger deakins..

[@nanogonzalezdj3388]

Too much knowledge in just eleven minutes.

[@Meatyowlleg]

Great interview, awful interview lighting.