how to light big spaces at night

[@lewispotts]

Thanks to Milanote for sponsoring this video. Sign up for free milanote.com/lewispotts1024

[@simransidhu3444]

Finally. A lighting tutorial in which the camera moves through space, and not just another four-point lighting setup for static close-ups.

[@willfulmattergonefr]

Babe wake up new Lewis dropped

[@williamshakespeare9815]

Im already awake. And stop calling me tht in public

[@WasabiNoise]

Lewis Potts posts... I click

[@emmanuelnkwocha1275]

This is more like it actually filmmaking information! Not some salesy bs.. selling rubbish gear .thank you for this !! Beautiful work

[@bertelxi7344]

You deserve 1 million+ views on all your videos. Seriously. I learn something new from every video and you're great at explaining the process.

[@Charles-Elie]

Haven't seen such an amazing and precious lesson in cinematography out there (and for free!) in like... ever. Thanks a million!

[@flochfitness]

The two examples at the end, though different in their approach seem perfect for the environment that the characters are in. Thanks for adding value to my day!

[@lewispotts]

Agree

[@sammorganmoore]

@@lewispotts I thought the rolling soft box a little too consistent. the other shot.. a little too in consistent!

[@runawayboyy]

Liked before even playing the video. Man I appreciate your free lessons very much!!!!

[@FreddieAsh]

that Deakins inspired shot is gorgeous

[@sphiwemchunu8404]

No one does it better than Lewis!!

[@emilthilsing]

Didn't even notice the matte box at first. Love the transparency!

[@NickChenStudio]

So much valuable info for a filmmaker in less than 15 minutes!

[@the-creative-block]

This was super insightful. I had the luxury of working with the lighting dept on True Detective Ssn 1and this brought me back to working on that show. Cheers mate!

[@davidvincentsmith]

YO! Awesome Lewis, thanks for putting this together and having capturing so much footage to document the journey together. Kind of incredible to think you did such complex setups in such a short time; 🙏 Amazing breakdown.

[@lewispotts]

Thanks, yeah it was great work from everyone involved!

[@IOS.mobile]

What a wonderful share! As a hobbyist, a person like myself would never get a chance to see and understand all of these techniques. Thank you for a great view into the process. Keep us in the U.S. posted as to where and when we will be able to see the film. Thanks again!

[@soybrunomarin]

looks beautiful and super natural which is even better! great work as always lewis

[@lewispotts]

Thanks!

[@sonpois]

Your shots look so good! Thanks for giving us a glimpse at how it was all put together. Super interesting

[@lewispotts]

Thank you!

[@OllieTheFirst]

He never misses

[@AndrewPaul1]

The GOAT

[@alejandroramirez_FoodScapes]

Wonderful break-up. Good job!

[@philippscheithauer]

This is honestly so sick, looks great!

[@lewispotts]

Thanks man!

[@jaredlobato5264]

​@@lewispotts im new, What camera did you use for this video?

[@lewispotts]

Alexa 35

[@KaanSenel]

Loved the breakdown man!

[@marcdevinci893]

Awesome work m8! Love the grading too on this.

[@LaFuenteOnFilm]

The goat is back 🔥

[@Bruno_fyi]

Awesome video man! The biggest problem I'm having at the moment is how to film night scenes with high contrast without having noise in the shadows. I would love a video on that!

[@EstudioHelios]

What a beautifully shot movie. Congratulations!

[@lewispotts]

Thank you!

[@stevenzengdp]

The goat is back

[@welchworks]

Potts does it AGAIN! 🏆✨

[@donhendricks3190]

Awesome work. Love your choices with this - and your honesty regarding get the shot and move on! Cheers. With love from Atlanta.

[@jaemiem]

Been staring at the Venice2 for the last few months... But man... I actually miss that A35 footage 😍

[@halfgraincinematography]

Great breakdown! Thanks for taking the time to do these. Excited to see more. … and the movie.

[@coszec]

Hey Lewis, thank you for this. Sending positive vibes from Miami.

[@giantstudio8506]

You're the man Lewis!

[@AllThingsFilm1]

Great video. I love these lighting breakdowns. I learn so much from them. Even working with a lower budget, you can still figure out alternate ways to light scenes in a similar fashion.

[@samdotroden]

interesting stuff, thanks for sharing! keep the lighting info coming, not easy to find such good knowledge / artful consideration

[@AxiA]

Always great stuff. thank you

[@prismlensfx]

this is great info and insight, well done!

[@peterdixon7144]

Great video thanks Lewis. I learn a lot from these.

[@orcanimal]

This breakdown was really cool!

[@theinstagrapher]

Learned a lot! Thanks, Lewis!

[@AaronMcCann]

Such a great breakdown. Can’t wait to see the final film in cinemas.

[@lewispotts]

Thanks man!

[@touure]

my goat

[@MylesShank]

Looks great man!

[@lewispotts]

Thanks!

[@2do_hun_]

Look Awesome! I love the black level! I have a question, Did you use ES mode?

[@lewispotts]

No, we used standard iso at 1280

[@resilientmanproductions881]

good job lewsi, i have a feq questions. what were the conversations with the colorist in preproduction? what went into the creation of the look? how did you use it during production?

[@TheTjark57]

insane - thanks for sharing your knowledge

[@alexhahnebach647]

perfect content!

[@undronenellozaino]

Thanks for sharing!👏🏻🙋🏻

[@danijelbogdanic6387]

I enjoyed this.

[@gugughama]

So good ! Thanks for all the insight

[@saeedrouhani9806]

Thx master

[@jamieandrei]

Sik!

[@deadbrosvideos]

Fantastic video, thanks for sharing! Quick question-this is more of a production design note-how did you source the car with the damaged grill and hood?

[@davidvincentsmith]

The art department sourced one from a wrecker to match the car in the driveway and arranged for a tow truck to drop it off where we needed it further up the road.

[@wowpwnme]

GOAT❤

[@Evan-tp7ur]

putting us on major game here bro thank you! Let us know when the movie comes out please

[@innatemusic]

Yo, man... this looks fantastic, as usual. So awesome to see the BTS shots. I like to look at shots to see if they match up with what I would've done. Some shots, yes. Others, I'm like, "Wow! I would never have thought of that." It's great to watch and learn. Thank you. Can I get one of those monitors, by the way? Ha! "You get a monitor, and you get a monitor. Oh yes, you in the back, you also get a monitor! Yay!

[@lewispotts]

Haha thanks

[@deejaytunez2653]

This too harddd ❤

[@jelanmaxwell4762]

Another great video

[@anthonypc-248]

These character shots look riveting. And I don't even know the story yet.

[@StefanRingelschwandtner]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

[@lewispotts]

Thanks Stefan!

[@iamvictorperez1482]

This is awesome thanks for sharing Looking for are to checking out the film

[@plisskenetic]

1:05 - Can't lie.... this is the best shot! xD But overall, seriously good lighting!

[@lewispotts]

thanks man

[@markmadeo6227]

Just watched the trailer for this - it looks amazing. Any idea on the US release?

[@jonask682]

Love it

[@lewispotts]

Thanks, I think it just a combination of doing it for a while and knowing what tools work for specific shots. Also, you might not have the budget for every bit of gear so reusing gear that’s not completely ideal for some shots happens

[@andy_holbrook]

Love everyone of your videos, always come away with new perspective after viewing them ready to take into my own work. Would it be possible to see a lighting breakdown on the shower scenes that you showed in the intro?

[@lewispotts]

Thanks, that was lit with just one soft top light above him

[@dejvivandeveire5771]

haha that ending

[@EmileFeik]

fantastic vid

[@Stoobz01]

I love your work, And real question: how do you even get started working on sets like this. If you had to start with zero connections.

[@dane0534]

Amazing video.. 1000th likes.. 👍🏾

[@IanSnape]

Looks great and nice breakdown dude. Whats the idea behind shooting 1280ei on the night scenes? Are you trying to boost the image or protect more highlights etc? Thanks

[@lewispotts]

I was just trying to boost the exposure, everything was maxed out

[@sammorganmoore]

some nice struff there :)

[@xx1simon1xx]

Good Video, one note though: I have to say, im not a big fan of the vortex / crls combo for night lighting, its very good for daylight due to the lack of falloff, but the same effect just looks weird here. Its like a very far away source that somehow only hits that very specific spot. Feels off, i think the vortex direct would have looked better..

[@mark12345697]

Bro just casually shoots with a Netflix level actor lol

[@73jayzee]

Awesome looking shots mate i will try to see this film for sure!. Can i ask - how come you used 172.8 shutter? Also, I've learned that a camera might have more dynamic range in the shadows at lower Iso, were you tempted to do this before going for 1280iso? Thanks pal

[@lewispotts]

Thanks we were shooting 24fps for this movie and need that shutter angle to stop light flicker here in Australia. I would have used a lower iso but we needed it for the ambient light level

[@hakeemgravesande]

Lewis can you do more stuff with your FX30?

[@lewispotts]

Soon

[@aleclyons281]

Question...in any of those night shots are you clipping black? Or are you exposing brighter and then bringing down in post?

[@lewispotts]

Some of the dark blacks are clipped, we only had a certain amount of light from the ambient light in the street so we had to work with that, so it’s exposed as is

[@HasyirIbrahim]

ok now how tf do i do this with my M20C? 😜

[@remywebber5330]

Lewis why do you opt to bounce the vortex’s into the light bridge rather than sending them up and lighting with the vortex directly?

[@lewispotts]

Yeah can get a better/more accurate light quality bouncing into the panels, and it’s a little safer having them up higher on a stand rather than the vortex direct

[@wasserwasser5555]

makes me crave to watch the movie :

[@rafaelsoldani8384]

with big lights

[@YeahWhiplash]

Can you tell us your main motivation for using the light bridge? I've been wanting to use them in my work but haven't fully figured out when it's the right situation to use them. Also I would have loved to do steadicam for you in those shots over a ronin 😂

[@lewispotts]

You get a nicer more natural light fall off from those reflectors and you can choose how punchy or not you want them from swapping to either side

[@YeahWhiplash]

@@lewispotts makes perfect sense, thanks!

[@andersistbesser]

I wanted to day the footage looks like beautiful black Magic stuff and then i hear it was an alexa😸

[@ResoluteMedia]

how did you match additonal lighting to the temp of the street lights?

[@lewispotts]

The gaffer might of had a spectrometer, but you can also just do it by eye

[@TzFizzy]

Hi Lewis, why did not you light the scene directly to the character but reflect it through a reflector? Is there any different?

[@TraeBeneck]

Possibly because supporting a lightweight reflector 20 ft in the air is a lot easier/safer than supporting a heavy skypanel or something similar? Makes it a little softer too. That's my best guess at least

[@quiverfullproductionsllc]

As a director did you fully trust your gaffer to light or where you a bug part of the lighting ?

[@lewispotts]

We came up with a rough lighting plan in pre production together, then I checked on it a couple of times as they were setting up

[@quiverfullproductionsllc]

@@lewispotts thank you, thank you for responding!!

[@ganzatronique]

3rd !!!

[@theowlfromduolingo7982]

What’s going on with the crashed car. Is it really damaged or was it modified for the shoot?

[@lewispotts]

It was already damaged from a car wrecker’s

[@benjamingentile1660]

I could have sworn that was Blake Lively

[@davidvincentsmith]

It's Leila George

[@jerry4706]

What kinda permit did this need. Seems like alot of commotion for the residents to deal with... can you ballpark budget for this?

[@lewispotts]

I think it’s just a road closure, and letting the neighbours know. I wouldn’t know how much it costs

[@jerry4706]

@lewispotts thank you sir I just meant this level of production... looks like alot of people involved and equipment. Looks expensive. We'll done!!

[@DavidKfilmmaker]

Why you shoot 172.8 shutter angle?

[@lewispotts]

We had light flicker from shooting 24fps in Australia

[@kingvulture5730]

I am beginning to notice the small things that hurt…like the screen play of beginners is always missing angels like they are rushing..I make sure each shot dialogue and lighting and multiple angles are perfect before i go to the next..I plan everything the night before so i don’t capsize the budget…take your time

[@RobWhiteside-c6e]

No "byyyeeeee" this time :/

[@WhySteve]

Did you buy a broken car, or crash it there? 😅