'Film Colour & Cinematography'

[kk01]

This question also has been bothering me and I have not come to a full understanding why...

The question is this, why is that some films have a predominant colour...tho' atimes it could change in some scenes but they still maintain that same colour...a good example is 'The Matrix Triology'...the movie maintained a predominant 'green color' through out the movie...can someone please answer this...

Also, I'd like to know how digital colours/cinematography is achieved with video...I think I personally will score a pass mark when it comes to manipulating still pix using adobe photoshop but what about movies...let me give an example of what I am tryng to say here...

We all understand that cinematography in motion picture can be described as an art where lights are used to describe emotions or to tell a story...now, I really dont know if what I see in 2days movies are really achieveable in real life except for digital computation...

I'll give you an example...lets say there is this scene where you have a lil' homeless child in an alley crying and the period of action is at night, mmph! say 11:15pm...in todays motion pictures such a scene appears totally different from what you'll see in real life or should I say exaggerated. The shades of black are thick and shadows and reflections are well emphasised and also with sharp colors too. colours with tones of red and yellow are good examples...

can someone please explain how these processes are achieved...

regards,
'kk'

[redwudz]

Lots of planning and lots of people involved is really how they do it. And lots and lots of money. They usually have 100% control over the lighting, shadows and colors used. I've watched camera crews filming a 30 second commercial outdoors here locally. They spent several months in planning and just their film crew and helpers comprised about 25 people. Then when they take it all back to the studio, there is another group in post production that fine tunes it. The director said that just the location crew, the transport people and the filming would cost about $30,000US. And this is for a 30 second TV commercial for a car.

If you search around a little on Google, you may find some good sites that go into depth on how a movie is made.

[kschang]

why is that some films have a predominant colour...tho' atimes it could change in some scenes but they still maintain that same colour...a good example is 'The Matrix Triology'...the movie maintained a predominant 'green color' through out the movie...can someone please answer this...

Color filter could be applied during filming, but most likely it's added in post production.

Though to be honest, the "green" look is within the Matrix, and the "blue" look is in the real-world. That is indeed what the directors have planned for.

Also, I'd like to know how digital colours/cinematography is achieved with video...I think I personally will score a pass mark when it comes to manipulating still pix using adobe photoshop but what about movies...let me give an example of what I am tryng to say here...

We all understand that cinematography in motion picture can be described as an art where lights are used to describe emotions or to tell a story...now, I really dont know if what I see in 2days movies are really achieveable in real life except for digital computation...

Possible, but not likely.

I'll give you an example...lets say there is this scene where you have a lil' homeless child in an alley crying and the period of action is at night, mmph! say 11:15pm...in todays motion pictures such a scene appears totally different from what you'll see in real life or should I say exaggerated. The shades of black are thick and shadows and reflections are well emphasised and also with sharp colors too. colours with tones of red and yellow are good examples...

Two separate questions.

In motion pictures most of those are shot on a soundstage, where the light can be easily manipulated and reproduced for another day of shooting.

On location, filming often must wait until a certain time of the day and/or certain conditions to reduce the effect of sharp shadows and such.

As for colors... it could be different types of film. Certain types of film are better for certain types of shots.

[mikel]

Another good example would be what is called the "magic" or "golden" hour...

"..the optimum time for filming romantic or magical scenes due to 'warm' and 'soft' lighting conditions, characterized by a golden-orange hue color; occurs for about 30 minutes around the time of sunset and sunrise; aka golden hour"

[Cornucopia]

Film/Video crews will use one or more of the following techniques/tools to fine tune the look of the show...

• Lighting:
  Key/Fill/Highlight/Backlight/Accent lights
  Front/Rear projection
  Diffusion/scrims/curtains
  Gobos/Mattes
  GreenScreen/BlueScreen Backdrop for keying/matting
  
  Lens Adjustments:
  ND/Haze/UV/Polarizing/CC/Gradient filters
  Groundglass DOF device
  Soft/blur/burst wire filters (incl. stockings, petroleum jelly)
  
  Fim Imager:
  Choice of film stock
  Flashing
  
  Video Imager:
  Gain/Pedestal/Knee/Gamma Curves adjustments
  Black balance/WhiteBalance
  
  Film Processing:
  Timing
  Wash/Bleach chemical modifications
  
  Telecine:
  Transfer curves, esp. latitude/headroom adjustments
  
  DI/Post:
  HLS/RGB/LAB Color corrections
  Brightness/Contrast/Gamma curve(s) adjustments

And that's just barely getting into the "Special FX" categories!

Take a look at the special features section of the DVD of "O Brother, Where Art Thou", or of "The Aviator", which shows some of the amazing color correction work done on those shows. Much more versatile and yet more exacting than one would think possible.

Scott

[guns1inger]

A great example of Magic Hour filming is Terrence Malick's Thin Red Line. There were days when they only shot for 30 minutes on location because the lighting was specifically as the director required. And this is for a film which had a lot of sky replacement and colour grading work done in post as well.

[yoda313]

Yep nowadays "digital grading" has become quite common. Think that sky and water were really that blue in Lord of the Rings for the SHIRE??? Nope - here comes digital grading.

They do that in just about any movie these days. They do it to mask special effects so that it looks like it "belongs" in a scene. Die Another Day did it to match different weather conditions in the opening sequence to keep it a darker feel.

[guns1inger]

LOTR was shot on film, as opposed to the last two star wars films, yet everything you saw on the screen had been through a computer for tweaking and grading. Nothing you see is real any more.

[kschang]

Let's not forget "Saving Private Ryan". The initial Omaha beach sequence on the landing crafts... You think it's dark overcast and all that. It's actually a bright sunny day on that Irish beach. A testament to the magic of filmmaking.

How about in First Blood, when John Rambo lit a match, and we got just enough light to see the cave? (It's actually 2 matches, if you watch "the making of" featurette) that's amazing lighting (no fakery at all). That director knew exactly how much light he needed for that sequence with the film he had.

[redwudz]

kk01, I found a decent site that has a lot of information on what you are asking about:

http://www.cinematography.net/

Probably more than you ever want to know.

[kk01]

phew dear lord...I never knew I was in for for...for christ sake, are you guyz trying to tell me that this is wat people like goerge lucas go thru' when making a film...wow!...it's a total headache...

...I really dont know, but I guess I'll go thru' that pain...phew...

...I still need to read all your post properly

[redwudz]

Now you know why major films cost so much to make.

[kk01]

...you must be shitting me dawg...it's fuc%$n expensive...

...just to ask how do they make thier monies back...do they also get royalties...

[kk01]

mmph!?