How to edit dark footage filmed at night?

[kieranvyas]

I have a lot of footage for a music video that was filmed at night with a light on my subject. I have edited the video in premiere pro cc and I was happy with the results. My monitor is colour calibrated... when I played the video on my friend's mac and another friends windows laptop a lot of the footage was too dark to see - with the subjects clothes completely invisible against the black background.

How can I find out if my blacks are too low, possibly using scopes in premiere? And what's the best way to handle footage like this. If I don't lower the blacks to the level I have done then the background is full of noise, but at that level many monitors don't display enough detail.

I have included some footage to show you what I mean.

[smrpix]

Your initial black levels are where they should be. Okay, you've got an extra 2 points ire in the red and blue channels -- but that's not serious.

You can pull a little more detail out of the shadows (clothes) using luma curves, and you've also got some room to play with in the brights.

Right now you've crushed your blacks beyond what is necessary. There's nothing particularly wrong technically with your footage. Your background "noise" is non-existent if your monitors are properly calibrated.

[kieranvyas]

Your initial black levels are where they should be. Okay, you've got an extra 2 points ire in the red and blue channels -- but that's not serious.

You can pull a little more detail out of the shadows (clothes) using luma curves, and you've also got some room to play with in the brights.

Right now you've crushed your blacks beyond what is necessary. There's nothing particularly wrong technically with your footage. Your background "noise" is non-existent if your monitors are properly calibrated.

Luma curves was the perfect tool! Thank you!