Small Setups for Cinematography Series: Tech Demo

Why Was This a Small Setup?

Sometimes as filmmakers, we run into situations where we need a small, quick setup to film something. These can be a little stressful when you 1) don’t have a lot of time, 2) you have a small production team, and 3) you’ve never seen the location before.

All these things came together for this project I had only a short time to setup, interview and breakdown, my team was me and a helper, and the location was unknown and also a challenging one.

Here are some things to keep in mind when watching:

High-key, low-contrast lighting

This video is an example of a high-key, low-contrast scene. What does that mean? First, high-key videos are bright with few shadows, and the shadows that do exist are minimal. And the light in the scene is soft - in other words, the transition points where light meets shadow are soft. There aren’t any sharp transitions between dark spots and bright spots.

That’s the low-contrast part of the equation too. Consider the look of this scene with something like a Marvel movie, or Road to Perdition or even The Godfather. Those movies use a lot of darkness and put you into a mood when you watch them. Because this is a tech demonstration video for a corporate client, we went with a bright even lighting style.

For many shoots I would consider using negative fill to soak up some light and create shadows, but because this is a tech demonstration I wanted more light. I didn’t mind the light bouncing around a white room as long as the talent and the product look good.

Separating the Talent From the Background

For most projects you’ll want to separate the talent from the background. There are a lot of ways to do this. We can use different colors on the actors and the background. We can backlight the actors with their own light. We can make sure the amount of light on the talent is different than the light on the background. In this video, I spotted a light through the frosted glass panel behind him. That creates a “halo” for him to sit in and makes sure he is well-separated from what’s the scene and draws attention to him.

Main Equipment Used for the Shoot

Camera: Black Magic Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K G2

Lighting: Aputure: 300D x 2, Godox SL150W

Microphone: Sennheiser MKE600

Lens: Canon 24-70 with Black Diffusion FX 3