It's fine advice and the process of setting up is good. But in no way is this a *BAD* location. It's actually pretty good compared to what I would consider bad locations. It's long so you can get depth. It has diffused natural light, the walls are white with nothing on them, there are a few organic props and you have plenty of room to set lights, Like...dude. This is totally not a bad location.
I've definitely been in worse locations, true. Still a bland basement in an old church, so definitely not ideal and not many folks would pick it. The diffused windows helped a ton.
@@CurrenSheldon I think it's also worth pointing out that being able to see the potential of a room like this takes a great eye. Plenty of others would walk into this room and have their heart sink with how dingy it looks but I think you've pointed out some really great helpful principles that can be applied to any room you walk into.
@@ZacharyCusson I appreciate that! Five years ago, I probably would have been one of those people - but now every room and situation is an opportunity to make something new, so it's fun to try in less-than-ideal circumstances.
Agreed - at least the location is minimalist and the window placement and shape is pretty aesthetic :) I've definitely seen MUCH worse locations with bad walls, all kinds of clutter etc ;) Still - great job setting this up, the outcome looks perfect :)
Your channel is criminally under-viewed. This video is fantastic, I love seeing the process and adjustments. This is the type of content that makes the viewer better, you should teach a course on doc style shooting...
Aw thank you for the kind words - channel is growing, so we'll see where where it goes. I am going to do a mini course on doc interviews, so subscribe to my newsletter in the comments to hear when that comes out. If that goes well, perhaps a full documentary cinematography course would be a worthwhile endeavor...
Don't get me wrong, this video is fantastic. However, depending on where you are in your cinematography journey, a room like this might not seem 'bad' at all. Personally, with all that natural light pouring in from those windows, I'd never consider this space as bad. But here's the thing - I want to see more challenging room setups. I work as a videographer/photographer at a university, and we've got some really tough spaces - no windows, cinderblock walls from a bygone era, and almost zero decor in the vicinity to set design. Of course, we have solutions to avoid these spaces altogether, but part of me likes a challenge. I can relate to this content, as I'm sure most videographers do. The beautiful set and travel videos to Iceland that everyone has done are overdone. Show me more garbage locations, the absolute worst - literally shoot in a closet, lol - and walk us through how you tackle these situations. I think this could be a great series!
Agree that this isn't the WORST room I've ever set up an interview and I love the series idea. I am definitely planning a video (or collection of videos) on setting up in much worse locations. People's windowless offices, drab conference rooms, etc.
Great work, great use of the space. I would have removed a few plants from the background of his shoulder and maybe swapped the two plants in the other window but man this is great. Loved seeing it come together. I think I'm gonna make a few videos like this. Good work!
Agreed that after viewing it for a bit I would have moved a couple of plants. I often find myself wanting to change things 20 minutes into an interview - 🤦🏻♂️
Great video! I’ve shot about 5 interviews and I love the process. Your workflow was very useful. I would have liked to see you try sliding the table towards the wall where the sink was to subtract some of the table from the frame. Or add some props on the table to break it up a bit.
Fantastic tutorial. Love how quickly you made a great looking shot and impressive with such minimal lighting gear. I personally would’ve kept the hair light daylight temp to motivate the light coming in from the window, especially since the lamp is on the other side of your subject and/or I would’ve scrapped the practical all together giving it more of a somewhat moody feel, it also doesn’t seem like the table lamp would be on since there’s so much natural light in the room. OR I would’ve thrown a brown shirt or sweater on your subject for contrast which of course would require a wardrobe to pull from lol. But overall the end result looks great! Just my 2 cents.
This came at a good time for me and has definitely helped a lot! I’ve had back to back shoots with multiple Home service companies, where their offices are never ideal, would love to see how you would tackle a room with no windows or blank walls! Either way, thanks for the tips!!
Glad it was helpful! And yes, after I was done with this video I thought of all the worst places I've shot before - especially those no-windows-and-blank-walls type of places. I may do a follow up doing just that.
Loved this! Most people will shoot how you did in the beginning and add key light and not dress the set. Not always their fault. But you turned something simple into something extraordinary, it challenged me, great job!
Thanks! Yep, I'm a strong proponent of the keep it simple but effective approach. The Aputure bulbs are great and more useful than I thought they would be. You can check them out here: amzn.to/4bj537K
@@CurrenSheldon Nice! On my wish list. Consider including that link in your “gear I use” sections! I’m currently using their 4 MC set. They make some excellent kits!
It was a 25mm on the C300, so equivalent to about a 35mm field of view on full-frame. I prefer using a 50mm for wide interviews and just backing up more, but as you can see from the video, didn't have any extra room!
Yes I was planning on setting up a second camera but never really had the room. If I did, I would probably set up a tighter shot, a bit more to the side, and angled it down for a more dramatic close-up effect. Next time I'll include it!
Don’t let all the nitpicking about your set design and the perfect color temp stuff get you down- You showed how you elevate the frame, where the value added for the client comes in-you showed the work that lets us charge a living wage for a day rate. For this kind of stuff, that’s what matters. How to create 300 dollars worth of value in an hour’s work.
I appreciate it! No setup in a real location, especially when done quickly, can be perfect. 90% of documentary cinematography is getting the best results with the context and scenarios that are thrown at you - so that's what you gotta do.
Just saw your Industry Call fro AOD. Amazing presentation although your 4 slides at the beginning made me think my professional life has been a total failure lol. ... Discovering your UA-cam channel and looks super interesting / practical .... love the "tone" ... Wonder how you find the time to do this though.. Congrats.
Haha when you lay out your entire 12-year career in four slides, it looks like you've done A LOT, but even I feel as thought I've often only operated at 50% of what I could be doing. Chipping away at big projects over time means you can get a lot done in 6, 12, 18 months and beyond.
Also - the TIME portion is going to be a big question for me moving forward. Had a slow Jan/Feb in terms of DP and commercial work, so I backlogged a bunch of videos - but now things are busier, so we'll see. Will try to get them out as often as I can!
Pet hate throwing practicals in. Never understand why people place them dead centre of frame especially if there is only one practical. Hugely distracting. Also try to avoid hard lines emerging from the subjects head. Eg window frames especially when it is high contrast. When in doubt decrease depth of field.
Practicals - you could move them around and I don't always use them. Seemed to fit the space nicely on this one as it was a pretty bare/lifeless room (BAD location, after all). All good points. Lots of people don't have (or don't want to use) f1.2/1.4 lenses or shoot 85mm every time, so you do your best with what you have and the time you've got.
How do you handle shifting daylight that’s coming through the windows? Editing sometimes requires moving shots around in the timeline and the sunlight changes can be distracting.
This is so helpful thank you very much. Someone suggested me to bring a 47'' (120cm) softbox instead of a 33'' (85cm) softbox for my amaran 200x keylight. What would be better if I had enough space? And would the 200x even be strong enough for a 120cm softbox (+grid)? Tia
Generally, the larger the source = the softer the light. So the larger softbox will get you a softer light. I prefer my 35" softbox because it's easier to travel with, can be used on smaller lights (like the Zhiyuns in the video or the lighter Amaran lights - though the 200x should be fine), and still gets a light that is soft enough for 98% of my use cases.
There's also a huge difference in the quality of softboxes. A smaller one of better quality might give you way better lighting compared to a big cheap one. An easy way to check is to look at the diffusion to see if you can see hotspots/paterns/stripes etc @@dinbali
@@housepandacrew581 Yeah , soft boxes with an inner light baffle , will give you a softer light , as they spread it more evenly on the front panel , than a larger box / front panel , but with a hot spot , not filling the front panel evenly . The front panel is essentially the light source .
Hey Curren. How would you set up in a long conference room, with a big table ind the middle that you can’t move, and with limited space to the walls (around 5 feet) all around. Windows has view to rooftop with ventilator so not an option to use windows as backdrop and not enough space. Other side has big conference screens. This is a BAD location in my view and I have to film there. Heeeelp
Oh man, been there. I'd love to do a video for this exact situation as I think a lot of people have this pain point. Hard to know exactly what to do without seeing the room, but I would definitely start by placing your interviewee at one end of the long conference table and then angle the camera so that it creates a long disappearing line down the frame. If you have a lot of ugly background options, a big softbox with a grid on your key light will go a long way in isolating your subject with light and letting the background go a bit dark. Opening up your lens a bit (to f1.4 - f2.8) would also help in blurring the less-than-ideal background. Good luck!
Obviously this video was about lighting and the final set up looks great! I'd love to hear a mention of the time to get the subject mic'd in a scenario like this because audio is just as important as a part of the final deliverable. You don't have to go into detail about it, but just acknowledging that it's a part of the process is realistic.
Welp, I have officially now found my new favorite UA-camr / Filmmaker / Teacher.
Thanks, Brett! Looking forward to having you around for the ride.
In a world of overly saturated camera content........this is a really good video. Thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching! Glad you liked it
It's fine advice and the process of setting up is good. But in no way is this a *BAD* location. It's actually pretty good compared to what I would consider bad locations. It's long so you can get depth. It has diffused natural light, the walls are white with nothing on them, there are a few organic props and you have plenty of room to set lights, Like...dude. This is totally not a bad location.
I've definitely been in worse locations, true. Still a bland basement in an old church, so definitely not ideal and not many folks would pick it. The diffused windows helped a ton.
@@CurrenSheldon I think it's also worth pointing out that being able to see the potential of a room like this takes a great eye. Plenty of others would walk into this room and have their heart sink with how dingy it looks but I think you've pointed out some really great helpful principles that can be applied to any room you walk into.
@@ZacharyCusson I appreciate that! Five years ago, I probably would have been one of those people - but now every room and situation is an opportunity to make something new, so it's fun to try in less-than-ideal circumstances.
Agreed - at least the location is minimalist and the window placement and shape is pretty aesthetic :) I've definitely seen MUCH worse locations with bad walls, all kinds of clutter etc ;)
Still - great job setting this up, the outcome looks perfect :)
this is the type of breakdown educational video I learn the most from, seeing the complete workflow and thought process.
Glad it was helpful! I'd like to focus more on these types of videos in the future, so glad they resonate.
Your channel is criminally under-viewed. This video is fantastic, I love seeing the process and adjustments. This is the type of content that makes the viewer better, you should teach a course on doc style shooting...
Aw thank you for the kind words - channel is growing, so we'll see where where it goes. I am going to do a mini course on doc interviews, so subscribe to my newsletter in the comments to hear when that comes out. If that goes well, perhaps a full documentary cinematography course would be a worthwhile endeavor...
This was the best lighting video I've watched. Practical equipment being used. 💯
Thanks for the kind words and glad you found it helpful.
Don't get me wrong, this video is fantastic. However, depending on where you are in your cinematography journey, a room like this might not seem 'bad' at all. Personally, with all that natural light pouring in from those windows, I'd never consider this space as bad. But here's the thing - I want to see more challenging room setups.
I work as a videographer/photographer at a university, and we've got some really tough spaces - no windows, cinderblock walls from a bygone era, and almost zero decor in the vicinity to set design. Of course, we have solutions to avoid these spaces altogether, but part of me likes a challenge. I can relate to this content, as I'm sure most videographers do. The beautiful set and travel videos to Iceland that everyone has done are overdone.
Show me more garbage locations, the absolute worst - literally shoot in a closet, lol - and walk us through how you tackle these situations. I think this could be a great series!
Agree that this isn't the WORST room I've ever set up an interview and I love the series idea. I am definitely planning a video (or collection of videos) on setting up in much worse locations. People's windowless offices, drab conference rooms, etc.
@@CurrenSheldon Awesome! Can't wait to check it out. Enjoy your weekend
Great work, great use of the space. I would have removed a few plants from the background of his shoulder and maybe swapped the two plants in the other window but man this is great. Loved seeing it come together. I think I'm gonna make a few videos like this. Good work!
Agreed that after viewing it for a bit I would have moved a couple of plants. I often find myself wanting to change things 20 minutes into an interview - 🤦🏻♂️
Just discovered your channel and loving it. Thanks for the practical tips and the money-saving tips in your other videos.
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching! I have a lot planned for the second half of the year, so appreciate you being on the journey.
I'm filming a scientific conference in March in a not-so-great room; this video was a godsend!
Glad this will be helpful!
I think you made the best frame from what you had to work with.
Thanks!
Great video!
I’ve shot about 5 interviews and I love the process. Your workflow was very useful. I would have liked to see you try sliding the table towards the wall where the sink was to subtract some of the table from the frame. Or add some props on the table to break it up a bit.
That's a great idea. I love using tables in interviews, but they do pose their own problems.
Fantastic tutorial. Love how quickly you made a great looking shot and impressive with such minimal lighting gear.
I personally would’ve kept the hair light daylight temp to motivate the light coming in from the window, especially since the lamp is on the other side of your subject and/or I would’ve scrapped the practical all together giving it more of a somewhat moody feel, it also doesn’t seem like the table lamp would be on since there’s so much natural light in the room. OR I would’ve thrown a brown shirt or sweater on your subject for contrast which of course would require a wardrobe to pull from lol. But overall the end result looks great! Just my 2 cents.
All great points and agree - definitely a few different variations you could do that would all look great!
This space isnt that bad though lol great video!
haha the windows were nice! But, it IS a kitchen basement in an old church, so... not great.
Excellent! Practical and to the point
Practical and to the point is my middle name. It's a long name.
@@CurrenSheldon Just long enough to get to the point.
This came at a good time for me and has definitely helped a lot! I’ve had back to back shoots with multiple Home service companies, where their offices are never ideal, would love to see how you would tackle a room with no windows or blank walls! Either way, thanks for the tips!!
Glad it was helpful! And yes, after I was done with this video I thought of all the worst places I've shot before - especially those no-windows-and-blank-walls type of places. I may do a follow up doing just that.
Somehow this vid got recommended to me at the perfect time. I have to setup my first interview in a suboptimal location tomorrow!
Perfect! I hope it's helpful and you crush it.
Loved this! Most people will shoot how you did in the beginning and add key light and not dress the set. Not always their fault. But you turned something simple into something extraordinary, it challenged me, great job!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video and were able to get something from it.
really good job explaining everything, thank you for this!
Thanks for watching! Glad it was helpful.
Such a useful video! Subscribed!
Thanks for watching and coming along for the ride!
Solid simple workflow with excellent results. Also dig that case of RGB practical bulbs!
Thanks! Yep, I'm a strong proponent of the keep it simple but effective approach. The Aputure bulbs are great and more useful than I thought they would be. You can check them out here: amzn.to/4bj537K
@@CurrenSheldon Nice! On my wish list. Consider including that link in your “gear I use” sections! I’m currently using their 4 MC set. They make some excellent kits!
Good point,@@TazGoldstein . Will add!
love all the practicality in this!
This was excellent, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it and it was good fun to make
Hmm I'm liking the hand holding and checking out the frame. Were you using a 35mm?
It was a 25mm on the C300, so equivalent to about a 35mm field of view on full-frame. I prefer using a 50mm for wide interviews and just backing up more, but as you can see from the video, didn't have any extra room!
Thank you for your content ,💯 this very helpful , clear and straight to the point. Subscribed
Glad you liked it!
Helpful - thanks for the content!
Glad it was helpful!
This is great!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
I swear this is my exact workflow, unless I got a chance to scout. Great video man! New Sub
Haha yes scouting is a luxury that we rarely get, but I'll take it when I can get it. Thanks for watching and coming along for future videos.
Fantastic as always bud!
Thanks!
would love to see how you would have placed a second camera with a 50mm lens for example. Liked it anyway! :)
Yes I was planning on setting up a second camera but never really had the room. If I did, I would probably set up a tighter shot, a bit more to the side, and angled it down for a more dramatic close-up effect. Next time I'll include it!
Don’t let all the nitpicking about your set design and the perfect color temp stuff get you down-
You showed how you elevate the frame, where the value added for the client comes in-you showed the work that lets us charge a living wage for a day rate. For this kind of stuff, that’s what matters. How to create 300 dollars worth of value in an hour’s work.
I appreciate it! No setup in a real location, especially when done quickly, can be perfect. 90% of documentary cinematography is getting the best results with the context and scenarios that are thrown at you - so that's what you gotta do.
This was great. Subscribing. :)
Thanks!
Gustin Deiber ended up pretty well lit👌🏾
😆
Loved this! Curious which softbox you used on this. Wondering how sturdy the mount is on a unit this size.
I have an Aputure Light Dome II - it's a great softbox and I believe there is a third version out now.
Just saw your Industry Call fro AOD. Amazing presentation although your 4 slides at the beginning made me think my professional life has been a total failure lol. ... Discovering your UA-cam channel and looks super interesting / practical .... love the "tone" ... Wonder how you find the time to do this though.. Congrats.
Haha when you lay out your entire 12-year career in four slides, it looks like you've done A LOT, but even I feel as thought I've often only operated at 50% of what I could be doing. Chipping away at big projects over time means you can get a lot done in 6, 12, 18 months and beyond.
Also - the TIME portion is going to be a big question for me moving forward. Had a slow Jan/Feb in terms of DP and commercial work, so I backlogged a bunch of videos - but now things are busier, so we'll see. Will try to get them out as often as I can!
@@CurrenSheldon Would love to see KING COAL at some point. Currently based in Barcelona, any chance to watch it here?
Very helpful advice!
Thanks Zack! Hope you can use it on your next shoot.
I love this so much! Thanks for sharing! What bulbs are you using for the practical light?
Thanks for watching! Those are the Aputure B7c series - you can buy them individally or in an 8-bulb case.
thanks!@@CurrenSheldon
@8:39 I see your light dome reflection in the window.
Big thumbs up on this video. Curious what aperture setting you ended up using for the shot. Thanks.
We ended up with the 25mm at T2.1 (which is wide open on the Zeiss CP3).
@@CurrenSheldon thank you!
Pet hate throwing practicals in. Never understand why people place them dead centre of frame especially if there is only one practical. Hugely distracting. Also try to avoid hard lines emerging from the subjects head. Eg window frames especially when it is high contrast. When in doubt decrease depth of field.
Practicals - you could move them around and I don't always use them. Seemed to fit the space nicely on this one as it was a pretty bare/lifeless room (BAD location, after all). All good points. Lots of people don't have (or don't want to use) f1.2/1.4 lenses or shoot 85mm every time, so you do your best with what you have and the time you've got.
Beautiful set up! Whats your back light? The 200?
That was the Zhiyun X100 Molus: store.zhiyun-tech.com/collections/photography-light/products/molus-x100?variant=42185885974708 - GREAT little light.
@@CurrenSheldon thank you! I like how portable and simple it looks.
the back/hairlight doesnt match the window's temp - window is cold and the (motivated) light is warm making it look/feel fake
Once I added in the lamp I changed the backlight to match the lamp instead - could go either way, but may have worked better with a 5600k temp.
How do you handle shifting daylight that’s coming through the windows? Editing sometimes requires moving shots around in the timeline and the sunlight changes can be distracting.
This is so helpful thank you very much. Someone suggested me to bring a 47'' (120cm) softbox instead of a 33'' (85cm) softbox for my amaran 200x keylight. What would be better if I had enough space? And would the 200x even be strong enough for a 120cm softbox (+grid)? Tia
Generally, the larger the source = the softer the light. So the larger softbox will get you a softer light. I prefer my 35" softbox because it's easier to travel with, can be used on smaller lights (like the Zhiyuns in the video or the lighter Amaran lights - though the 200x should be fine), and still gets a light that is soft enough for 98% of my use cases.
Thanks for replying, I subscribed and I'm looking forward to seeing more of these types of videos, very informative and helpful @@CurrenSheldon
@@dinbali Thanks! Glad it was helpful and looking forward to making more videos like these. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to see.
There's also a huge difference in the quality of softboxes. A smaller one of better quality might give you way better lighting compared to a big cheap one.
An easy way to check is to look at the diffusion to see if you can see hotspots/paterns/stripes etc
@@dinbali
@@housepandacrew581 Yeah , soft boxes with an inner light baffle , will give you a softer light , as they spread it more evenly on the front panel , than a larger box / front panel , but with a hot spot , not filling the front panel evenly . The front panel is essentially the light source .
Hey Curren. How would you set up in a long conference room, with a big table ind the middle that you can’t move, and with limited space to the walls (around 5 feet) all around. Windows has view to rooftop with ventilator so not an option to use windows as backdrop and not enough space. Other side has big conference screens. This is a BAD location in my view and I have to film there. Heeeelp
Oh man, been there. I'd love to do a video for this exact situation as I think a lot of people have this pain point. Hard to know exactly what to do without seeing the room, but I would definitely start by placing your interviewee at one end of the long conference table and then angle the camera so that it creates a long disappearing line down the frame. If you have a lot of ugly background options, a big softbox with a grid on your key light will go a long way in isolating your subject with light and letting the background go a bit dark. Opening up your lens a bit (to f1.4 - f2.8) would also help in blurring the less-than-ideal background. Good luck!
What's the actual realistic time to set this up if you don't have to explain everything?
I would guess I could have done all of this in about 15-20 minutes, though I would always take all the time I could get to make all the small tweaks.
Obviously this video was about lighting and the final set up looks great! I'd love to hear a mention of the time to get the subject mic'd in a scenario like this because audio is just as important as a part of the final deliverable. You don't have to go into detail about it, but just acknowledging that it's a part of the process is realistic.