How to Shoot Day For Night - Zero Budget Filmmaking

[EFIEUR]

thank u very much i like ur work 

[fmajekodunmi]

send me your email mine is  femfolk@yahoo.com

[fmajekodunmi]

Femi Majekodunmi like your improvisation

[bruvvamoff]

I think if you increased the contrast levels on the finished footage it would improved it even further.

[mac2500c4]

i want make some video i wish i can contacte u and u sho me step by step

[borkles]

Killer headroom buddy!

[bruvvamoff]

@borkles Ikr, he could have removed the sun flicking thru the trees on the right at the same time.

[NolanSordyl]

@Spasmodicstudios you could try lighting it a little bit, with streetlights or if you can run an extension cord from somewhere nearby. Open up your iris as much as you can and lower your shutter speed as much as you feel comfortable without getting choppy. Do the best you can with that, or else if you have the tools to do so, you can shoot day for night like this then replace the sky in post

[pldshrtprdctns]

We're trying to get our feature film funded! Please watch our pitch!

/watch?v=ZaRsWgiu4DM

[pammykool]

@Spasmodicstudios It really depends on the camera you haev.What camera do you have? Sometimes increasing the ISO helps.

[surferboy36O]

I tried this to get the nuit américaine effect, but instead using a 80B filter and reducing the exposure and it didn't work at all! On the other hand I took pictures at night with full moon that looked kinda like daytime, and they were great, couldn't really get the effect I was going for but they had a cool wierd look.

[surferboy36O]

@Spasmodicstudios "..not a crappy one" haha! SD doesn't make cameras crappy, they just have lower spatial resolution. You could try adjusting the gain/exposure until you don't get any grain, and then light the scene in a way it still looks like its at night. If you need a bluish sky, try filmming after sunset.

[rickvanman]

@Spasmodicstudios afraid it's probably a case of getting a better camera

[bruvvamoff]

The image can be darkened by reducing ISO, closing the aperture, increasing shutter speed, or adding a filter. Which is the best method for shooting video indoors under tungsten lights?

[surferboy36O]

@bruvvamoff But shooting indoors is exactly the opossite!? First of all you have to light your scene as much as possible so you don't have any noise/exposure issues. Balance the light to tungsten (or custom preferably), use the highest gain without getting any noise, open up the iris, use the lenthiest shutter time, and if there's too much light, cut on the one(s) you want.

[bruvvamoff]

Thanks for the video. I would like to see you use the same techniques indoors shooting under tungsten light.

[kananidilip74]

this is great thnkyou very much you have website all this video ?

[1SWIndyfan]

Ditto! Tried it out and it looks great! Of course it's just a question of tweaking to the desired look but it will come in handy for my next project.

Thanks1

[rickvanman]

@Getlowboss No probs - happy to help :o)

[FallenWorld7777]

'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was all shot day for night - it also won for 'Best Picture!

[AMOVIEGUY14]

What camera did U use 4 this video?

[rickvanman]

@AMOVIEGUY14  Panasonic NV-GS500

[PocketVideoMarketing]

great tips



[PocketVideoMarketing]

great tips

[Richpence]

It would also help if you add a vignette.

[nateNbakkestudios]

Great video but I was able to see some sky through the trees otherwise it would of looked like night.

[TheSammyLV]

to show the sky just film regularly and key out blue(sky NO CLOUDS OR SUN) and turn down the brightness

[jonnynasz]

Thanks for sharing it is very useful for me regards

[nikeo671]

hello ther um how do you put multipls of you in one clip?

[rickvanman]

@nikeo671 see my video titled "How to Clone Yourself - Basic Technique"

[cheaphomemademoives]

@nikeo671  overlays or green screens effects shots or both.

[RogueBlueJay]

Cheers dude, shooting an indoor scene soon and I need the option of shooting it during the day as well. Any tips for that situation specifically?

[UnorthodoxPoppycock]

Hi Rick!

I'm excited to try this out. I've got quite a lot of "night" shots coming up in a film I'm working on. My question: how do you feel about blue filters? I've got a Neutral Density filter for my camera to knock the light down a bit, but I'm thinking a nice blue filter might save me some trouble in the editing part of it, and might look more authentic overall. What are your thoughts?

[rickvanman]

@UnorthodoxPoppycock in all honesty, I don't know enough about filters to advise you, sorry :o(

[freestylefilmsinc]

I AGREE my xh-a1 doesnt do that well in low light but this helps alot

[kerou16]

Don't you mean saturation? Not satchuration LOL.

[NoEatMyOrange]

@kerou16 It's called an accent. Contrary to your belief, the whole world doesn't talk like the US does.

[kerou16]

@NoEatMyOrange 1. I'm Canadian not American 2. I was talking about his spelling not his accent

[mappy890]

i really like your tricks thanks

[lmaobrian]

Awesome, thanks. :D Quick question though, what mic are you using for this video?

[rickvanman]

@lmaobrian Its a semi-pro wireless system Trantec RTD 3408

[BigEric42]

Great stuff, Rick! Love your work...

[themorningperson]

your technic is right at certain things. although this is very subjective thing. it depends on experience of someone, their shots, and experiment to get the nicest output.

[raveleando]

handy handy

[CDFfilms]

if you have a camera that doesn't have automatic controls, you could also go to the colour corrector in your edit program and adjust the shadows, whites, blacks, and mids.

[laughingcrows]

Thanks mate :)

[Tamonduando]

"satchuration", love that english accent

[swinehouse]

good video, tried it with canon xl2 and apple final cut pro colour correction.

[The040591]

you did it again man, you are my hero

[rickvanman]

@The040591  LOL!

[oddstuff123]

thanks alot me and some friends r shooting a zombie movie in the summer and we r 11 so we cant go out to late

[rickvanman]

@oddstuff123 Great stuff - glad the video helped :o)

[Michaelbee]

Sorry to have to disagree with you, but what about the golden from the Westerns the 60's that still applies today: use the sun as your moon, a cloudless sky and a clean cut horizon and key it to a night sky, turn your shadows into moon shadows, reflect the sunlight on your subject to compensate for contrast, and the rest is simple post, indeed achievable in AE (which is NOT an editing software), or any editing suite like FCP or Premiere. Last but not least, SATCHURATION doesn't take a CH :-)

[rickvanman]

@Michaelbee as I say at the end of the vid - thats how I do it, others might disagree :o) Intersesting idea using the sun as the moon.

[Michaelbee]

@rickvanman I'll go a step further for you to experiment with: if you have a clean-cut horizon, use the (cloudless) sky! Key it out as dark as you like, in AE you can even do it with camera movement by motion tracking the layer. It looks amazing.

[narcissusdark]

@rickvanman i dissagree, in the 60's it might have been fine, but not todays standards, people can always tell it's daylight...

[NushanR]

@rickvanman.. this might be a silly question, but I was wondering how you get so good/clear sound quality when their isn't any visible mics near you(in the beginning of the video)? Also when you film long distance shots, how can the voice/sound quality be so clear? Do you hide the h2 or something? :D

and great vids, keep up the good work ;)

[NushanR]

ahh you have a mic on your shirt :P but do the do the same trick in the movies when they film long distance shots?

[rickvanman]

You guessed it! yes the mic is usually plugged in to the zoom H2 which records the sound independently and I match it up in editing. i think in this case i was using the trantec radiomic.

I believe they do the same in movies

[NushanR]

So if you would film 2 or more actors talking to each other from a long distance were a mic and a boom pole couldn't be used(without the camera catching it), what would you do then?

And thank you for the reply, I appreciate it

[rickvanman]

Good question - I have to say I've never actually faced that arrangement - but I would guess you need to mic each actor up and record independently but make sure the "clap" is done at the same time on both recorders.

[GSsep]

he is wear a mic on his shirt you can see it at 1:36

[GSsep]

even better view of the mic at 2:24

[xxperoxidexx]

he has clipped on microphone

[MusicBySav]

thank u for the tutorial=]

[snifoo]

THANKSSSSSSSSSSSS

[RhiannonRocks88]

Curious- what sort of camera do you use?

[rickvanman]

Panasonic NV-GS500

[VegasHelper1]

@rickvanman Is your camera a camcorder of a proffesional camera!?

[rickvanman]

It's a high-end "consumer" (as opposed to "prosumer") camcorder. What makes it look so good is the 3CCD engine and the german Leica lense (the same make they used on the moon landings!).

[VegasHelper1]

@rickvanman Thanks!

[internetisgood]

thanks mate

[rickvanman]

no probs ;o)

[JaksProductions]

@rickvanman loose the o  ;) works much better!

[rickvanman]

I like the nose - gives it character d:P

[JaksProductions]

@rickvanman hehe okay :P

[joelgallagher12]

sweet mother this is good

[elelamb]

awesome, cheers!

[weaponeer]

Thats a great means of obtaining a nice look without having all the software.

Personally I use CompositeLab Pro which comes with the correct day for night filters and it makes my job easy (my camera does not allow much manual adjustment). While I consider CompositeLab low budget ($150)compared to Adobe, but it's still over what some budgets allow. Your method allows the same thing without a lot of money.. good work.

[TheGenejoke]

great advice, I had worked most of it out but still extra bits of info never hurt anyone.

[Myklebust]

Great tips.

Thank you for sharing

[fibble981]

Jeez this post is full of typical pretentious film makers. This video helps any amateur film maker or someone who films for a hobby. Why are you even posting on this thread if you are not one of those two!

[kurt252]

very good but no offence a little bit amature ish the white balance bit was good but you need to get adobe after effects or some other software tht does fx this enables u to mask the sky and some times shadows to edit them induvidually giving u more control and realism

[rickvanman]

I'm afraid the words "low budget filmmaking" and "adobe after effects" do not go together.

This was aimed at people who don't have those kinds of budgets (bit of a hint in the title :o)

[narcissusdark]

lol, nice vid, i use vision lab, a very advanced editing suite.. to pull off an effective day for night, try to find anything that uses "object masks" that you can place over the sky or any other areas that clearly look day time, you can darken it all out and really get good footage... leave out the camera settings, and just use a blue filter on the editing suite and just increase the ammount of blue, then brighten that up, leaving you with a very effective "moonlight" scene.

[kurt252]

Technically low budget, when you talk about FILM not movies FILM - and yes there is a difference - anything below 1mil is a low budget, so yes after affects is however expensive still a low budget -DIGITAL movie making software :)

Try to get facts right before replying to a comment.

[narcissusdark]

anything under one mil by hollywood standards is low budget, not by youtube film maker standards.....

[rickvanman]

In my book, anything below £10 is low budget, anything below £1 is zero budget .

I make videos for YouTube, not Hollywood - it's a different set of rules.

so there :-P

[narcissusdark]

thats what i said, stop stealing my lines lol.... anyway, low budget for me is no higher than ten grand... zero budget is no higher than 100 quid.... but this is going by youtube film maker standerds... but it depends what you are classing as part of the budget, such as cameras, mics etc, obviously they add up to more than 10 quid...

[narcissusdark]

so far the film im doing, the budget is up to about 8 grand and thats just the first 20 mins of it :O but thats me counting everything from the start, camera/mic/editing suite/greenscreens/wardrobe/st­udio rental/actors/special effects/sound effects/music score

[rickvanman]

Yikes! - thats a lot of dosh for a hobby!

When budgeting, I don't include any equipment costs unless I had to specifically buy some for that project.

The only considerations I factor into a budget are fuel, food and props, and perhaps a few beers compensation for making people run around and act like prats in front of a camera :o)

[narcissusdark]

yeah but its more than a hobby, i want to create good films and in order to do that i have to put alot of money in to create it... All the stuff i have bought, may be used in other films, but because its my first film, im counting the cost of all the cameras and editing suites that i had to buy to begin with...

[tankblower]

I can understand where you are coming from with this being "amateurish" but this is for low budget filming and the only people doing low budget filming will probably be amateurs.

[narcissusdark]

well thats wrong... cos im doing low budget filming and im no amature... :) low budget does not mean amature...

[rickvanman]

Maybe I should call it "zero budget" to end the confusion?

[casinoman7]

how do u make it like midnight dark

[rickvanman]

you just have to tweak the brightness / contrast serttings until you get the effect you are after

[EffectsX]

Videocpilot Clouds, will let you replace clouds, nice effect if you know how to use it.

[evertlund]

enjoy masking

[clickbiju]

Great....

[Braedanlee12]

Thank you for posting this! This is great! Might use this in my next movie! Your videos are very very helpful! :)

[johnny102marvin]

Rick you are a great teacher. I like the ending where you hear a growl and then you walk off in a hurry...that was funny. 5 stars

John

San Antonio

[rickvanman]

Thanks John - always happy to force a smile! :o)

[DeadlyMyobi]

thanks you for this, it was very helpful :)

[rickvanman]

my pleasure :o)

[StinkyBurger]

Really interesting. I'll have to check it out when I gain access to my college's equipment again. My regular camera that I shoot reviews with doesn't have the white balance option, but the other ones are pro. I'll have to give this a go. Thanks!

**Check out my short films!**

[Boldsoliloquy]

Extremely helpful, I'd been struggling with how to do this myself but these ideas should help a lot. Thank you.

[rickvanman]

you are welcome :o)

[BunCurProductions]

great video

[WOWITCANHAPPEN]

Great stuff

[DJ31419]

the plug ins free but after effects isnt

[jmessy007]

This is great!

[rickvanman]

thanks :o)

[rickvanman]

Depends if you have that ability in your editing software (I don't) . Not sure what the results would look like.

[j3pfilms]

This is great. I could find this very useful, the technique works amazingly well!Thanks Rick!

[rickvanman]

Excellent advice - sound is EVERYTHING! Will definiately do that in my next day for night video- thanks for sharing.

[Serge165]

I mgiht want to try this one, RIckvanman, thanks for the help, Meow. =^-^=

[rickvanman]

no probs :o)

[chaosgenius]

really good tip, i believe the makers in terminator 3 used 'day for night' in the transition between night to morning and slowly lightened through the terminator/emergency vehicle chase. its an excellent way to control the transiton across many clips, however it does rely on good software.

[stanedblock]

i know how to do it in sony vegas

[FenderGibsonWashburn]

Oh, so all I neeed is a better camera and editing software thanks Rick. LOL Good video anyway.

[rickvanman]

Actually Paul, I tried this technique with normal footage and just applied a blue colour matte, and tweaked the brightness and contrast of the main footage - it looked ok(ish) - but not brilliant. You could probably get away with it at a push.

[DirectorToby]

Great work Rick! Looks fantastic.

[rickvanman]

cheers Toby

[TheLogick]

What clip on mic you using

[DJ31419]

just get the day for night after effects plug in at video copilot

[rickvanman]

How much does that cost? would it qualify as low/zero budget?

[zachmanZM]

nice one rick! You misspelled saturation though :), I'm gonna try this out right now and then post it as a video response

[rickvanman]

saturation - tried several variations in google to check before including it on the video - Not sure but it appears there is more than one spelling (US and British)

Looking forward to seeing a video response :o)

[dizzylizzy6]

very cool rick you make good how to guids! lol im gana go try this :D

[rickvanman]

Go for it Colin :o)

[wyllieohagan]

Good job:)

Thanks

[TheMusicMark]

Rick that is great, it works really well on my Panasonic camera, so thanks!!

[rickvanman]

no probs Mark

[ScottRoseVideo]

Nice video Rick, I always prefer to edit in post as it makes a less destructive impact on the footage, also if you invested in After Effects you could learn to do a sky replacement which essentially is keying out the sky colour and replacing it with a image or just darkening the levels.

Great tutorial :)

Scott.

[rickvanman]

Thanks for the hint Scott, I actually have After Effects 7.0 - I might have to have a play with the sky settings.

[mickeyluvr13]

To make it more realistic add a cricket's sound effect, maybe a wolf howling, frogs croaking etc... because as I have noticed the video above is a little grey, I would add a green instead of a blue and to get really advanced you could use a frame kind of thing around a green background to make it look like you are using night vision

-Dean

[rickvanman]

Thanks for the FB - your monitor settings might be a lot different to mine.

[CathyDirector]

Very Nice! :)

[rickvanman]

thanks Cathy :o)

[Libfall]

wow thanks rick ;) check out my new video: How to make a ninja sword.

Keep going :D

[poppyl90]

thanks a ton!