I was blown away by the lighting in John Wick 4 and Bullet Train. Definitely makes me look at light differently.
This video is next level. Feels like you unlocked some secret door to Hollywood filmmaking
always thankful for the insight and how in-depth you get in your videos
I have learned so much and because of this video I WILL sign up for the course.
Great information here, Mark!
To add, if you are looking to improve your cinematography game, grab some of your favorite stills from movies, and throw them into a Davinci Resolve or another NLE and put on false color. Cinematic images have specific ratios of key, fill ,back light and Ambient. Once you know what these ratios are in images that you like, you can repeat that in your own work.
Hope this helps!
assuming you are familiar with the concept of dynamic range and how stops of light work? Basically pro cinematographers despite shooting on cameras with huge dynamic ranges usually massage the light in their image to within the range of their cameras sensor, meaning that besides maybe a light source directly shining into the camera or a few spots of pure 0 black shadows, MOST pro images will be lit in such a way that the contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of the image, or contrast ratio, is less than the dynamic range of the actual camera. You can examine these ratios in stops of light, or f stops as photographers say. For example if the brightest point on a subject's face in a clip that you like is at say f/2.8, and the darkest part of their face is at f/8, then you could say that face has a contrast ratio of three stops or 3:1. You can take this even further and examine the contrast ratios of the entire scene as well as different lights and sources in the scene. Combine that with a knowledge of understanding shaping light, and youll be well on your way. @@jamessterlin8507
I've been a Lighting-Cameraman for 40+ years, and I have never seen so much information of an esoteric nature to the average civilian be presented so well. You explained only enough to get from point to point leaving us wanting more, but not confused. Of course, I'd have expected no less. Filmmaking is simply storytelling in another language. Thank you.
In every video like this there will be comments like “I’ve been doing this for so many years, but I never...” Oh, come on! Doing this for 40 years and never hearing about such banality? Nothing particularly unknown was told here. It's just that someone hasn't really been doing this for 40 years, that's all.
Fantastic video Mark!
This video was so USEFUL, thanks!
This is the first video I've seen on your station, and I learned a ton. Thanks man.
Had to hit the like button after the first minute. Quality content is always appreciated.
This video was LEGIT… great information while still looking stylish!
How you chose the music, blend, mix into this edit is a masterpiece!
Absolutely fascinating. It's clearly an art form which requires years of experience.
Wow somebody who mentions what clips they're using it's amazing it's almost like if I wanted to go see what that movie was at three something I could I am so shocked!
I've seen way too many people watch Hollywood films, fall in love with America, move to New York, then be disappointed that things aren't as pretty as they thought, literally. That's the power of good lighting setups.
I used to think diffusion was "filtering" the light making it look softer. So I'd put a sheet in front of a light that is about the same size as the light. Until I one day realized that it's the size of the light relative to the subject that will determine the quality of light. So I think that's also a common misconception for "self learners". Like always, great video!
Yeah that reminds me of when I tried putting pieces of paper in front of shop lights trying to make them softer haha.
I agree, this is one the biggest misconceptions I see in videos. I would say whether Mark meant to or not, he kind of suggested in his example of Dune that the lighting was getting softer because of additional diffusion panels, not because they were making the sources of light effectively larger.
Haha nice! I also did that with the paper. The thing is, if you understand how diffusion works (unlike us in the beginning haha), it starts to become obvious that putting any kind of modifiers in front of your light fixtures will enlarge or shrink the light source, affecting the quality of light.
Really expanded my awareness of lighting. Very cool. Thanks.
Best video explanation Ive ever heard of lighting. Thanks
My man, great presentation. Good tempo, highly knowledgeable, easy for a rookie to digest.
lol i listen to what youre talking about because your talking head shot is lit and composed perfectly, skin tone, suttle background. nice bro, new sub.
Thank you for this educational video!
Amazing video! I had no idea how much light engineering goes into a movie, but it makes total sense now. As a painter, this gave me a lot of ideas to play around with lights, shapes, and colors.
Why doesn’t life always look as stunning as a Hollywood movie? Because we don’t see black bars😄 thx for all those passion filled videos👍👍👍
Another fantastic vid mark, thankyou! 🙏
So much to know....All I understand about lighting is to reach for the switch on the wall just as you walk in through the door.
Lights - camera - action! tHanks for the video
this video was so great, informative and happy to watch and contine to learn!
Seeing frames from LOS(t) SUENOS in the intro made my day haha! Great video and looking forward for ''The Cinematic Eye'' course man!:)
I'm really excited to see this light and color in your videos! Thanks!
Absolute great breakdown. New photographers and cinematographers pay attention!
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
Great video
This is really well presented and created. Certainly be watching this again.
Would be interested to know how DP's collaborate with Directors and Colourists to achieve these looks. Like how much of it is planned, and how much of the final colour look is created in post.
I worked for a period of time in IATSE as an on-set DIT and part of my job was to colour the footage as we went and show it to the DP's on a iPad. I did this on a couple HBO shows. It depended the DP some want constant updates every 10minutes on the colour and others didn't give a rip at all
Interesting! I find the new Relight feature in Resolve fascinating too, can basically reshape and colour the light of a shot. Do you think it has a place in the workflow if you perhaps ran out of time, or only had a limited window to shoot, like in a documentary. @@markbone
It really depends on the relationship of those crew members and how they like to work. Every working relationship is different, sometimes directors put their full trust in you, sometimes it’s a collaboration. Often the colorist and DP work closely to build a show LUT in prep, so they have an image on-set that reflects the characteristics that the DP/Director want to see in the final image.
Whether the look is made in production or post doesn’t really matter as long as all your decisions are being considered and you are making an intentional choice for the story and using the best tool for the job (it might be better to make it warm in post than on set or vice versa, just depends on the factors of your location, budget, equipment, etc)
that's what's so wondeful about cinema! It's art. everyone will do it differently. look up roger deakins and compare with Wes Anderson. the way their work with their respecting director / cinematographer is very different
best lighting tutorial on UA-cam !!
I learned how to use the lights some time ago, but it was nice to see your ability to clearly and concisely explain everything. Great video, thanks.
This was very informative. Thank you!
Such a great overview with 4 simple pillars that make me think….it all makes sense. Love all the visuals and examples, too. Very well done.
what else can I say...but a big thank you.....this clip brought about a shift in my creativity and art directing .....
Gold! Thanks for the video
Lighting is so important as a photographer, cinematographer, or content creator 😎⚡️🤙
Very illuminating! Well done and super helpful.
Always blessed and bettered by your work, Mark. Thank you.
I think something important that i dont see alot of youtubers talk about , when they talk about lighting is ROOM TONE! To me room tone is ESSENTIAL as it seamlessly blends your lighting sources to make it feel more organic and less sourcey :)
You hooked me! Thank you.
Grat video Mark! So many elements to lighting a scene I've never considered before, which I'll certainly take away to make my first great epic
I saw the movie "She" recently and was awe struck at how gorgeous Ursula Andres looked. But then I Googled her and in many pictures she wasn't all that. It was the Hollywood lighting they used to bring out her cheekbones, catchlights in the eyes etc. Many actresses in c1950s had a contract with photographers to only use "Paramount" lighting on them for this reason. As it would affect their star value. This lighting technique is still used today in portrait photography, though not as much.
Looking forward to the course:)
Eye spy Saul Williams in Maya's film. That's exciting. I need to look that film up.
Great as always !! Thanks for sharing
That was super interesting, thanks Mark!
In Historic movies I like bright lights cinematic. Action, adventure, also, too much dark is boring.
I remember Old movies , are still love it.
Great video as allways!
Fantastic Breakdown !
Thank you algorithm 🙏🏻
Nice work sir. Not even a cinematographer here. Just a regular stills guy and I found your video exceptional!!
Thanks for such an informative and easy to understand video
That was amazing. Thanks for sharing. I got a lot from this one video. Cheers.
This is a really interesting and useful video. I’m not a cinematographer or videographer in the slightest but I feel like a lot of these principles will be just as relevant in still photography. Thanks for sharing this.
Wow, what a great and informative video! Sub earned!
Fascinating stuff. Lighting is such an art and modern films look so beautiful.
Interesting that you refer to ‘films’ (which is the term I much prefer), rather than the usual American ’movie’.
Lighting is Hollywoods biggest kept secret. You'll never really see BTS on lighting setups.
good lord Mark. You're such a wonderful teacher. If you had help writing, they are really good too...haha. Thanks for the content and the community brother!
Nice video! A big piece of "subtracting light' - is a Grid for a Softbox! The Grid subtracts tiny squares of light to focus the light waves, to increase the quality of light substantially. This is a unique way of light subtraction, and you can really see when you see how much light is actually subtracted when you might need to open your aperture or raise your ISO. The quality of light increases substantially. it doesn't get softer, as with a nother layer of diffusion, but becomes more focused to add more shadows on your subject.
What an insanely brilliant video. I learnt a lot. Thank you.
Great video, Well explained. ❤
Love this breakdown, thank you Mark!
Haha no way Maya is killin it! 🙌🏻 she taught me documentary at Toronto Film School ages ago. Excited to see that interview in the course 🤙🏻
loved the video so much valuable!!!
Awesome overview (and detail) about lighting. Thanks.
Great video .. adding colors has an intention beyond the pure look, related to the meaning of color, in terms of psychological, cultural and historical aspects . Color is an own language an own dimension to express and give further meaning to an image, a scene or a full movie
Thanks Marc, very Interesting 🙏🙋🏼♂️ greetings from Germany
This just shows me that it's the know-how that makes the grade...and not necessarily the hardware.
Well done Mark!
Well done! Bravo !
My whole Night Game series of 36 videos was filmed using a Samsung J7 but it looks spectacular because I focused on the lighting. I studied a lot of George Hurrell and used that as inspiration and it came out great.
Hey! Nice quality content! I love light! I'm into museum and exhibition stand business and my favorite part of my job is when I get to do lighting. That's like putting cherry on a cake, but more - it defines the taste!
But don't you think your sound has too much highs? It is also noticeably louder than other videos. I even changed my earbuds to overheads but still..
Came here thinking it’s a video about why life in movies always looks so jolly, stayed for the lighting part
(Yes I didn’t read the second part of the title)
Excellent!!! Thank you!!!!
Color lighting is so much more interesting when it bounces off black skin. It really adds to depth and looks amazing.
Really good content!
Loved this video!
bravo Mark!
Great video - thanks!
Such a cool video, I think this is what 99% of the viewers of movies don't understand. Or they just give credit to the camera. Really nicely done, thanks a lot Mark
great job man!
I had a cinematography professor who would use a trick question on all of his students. First he would say, 'the bigger the light source, the softer it is.' Then, he would ask, 'is the moon a hard source or a soft source?' Everyone said soft; the moon is obviously huge. That's when he would qualify the rule: a large source that's far away is the same as a small source. That's why diffusion is often close to the talent and inches away from being in frame. He said if anybody made a movie with a moonlit night scene, it better be hard light 😂
great information, wow! thank you
As a guy just love to learn cinema stuff I understand well except the shaping. That one is still shady :)
What are you favourite films based on lighting alone? I'll go first: Blade Runner 2049.
You already mentioned it with the John Wick movies.
The color lighting in those is so insane and consistent that it makes you feel like you're watching a world that exists in a rave. I love it lol.
Steven Spielberg's Westside Story. The story as always is mid, but the lighting... Spielberg was doing the Lord's work on that picture.
Collateral (2004)
Such a great mix of techniques and settings. I remember watching this multiple times while studying audio/video in college and feeling like I was auditing a night class on the side, haha.
I like the lighting in Euphoria, They cloned Tyrone, Blade runner 2049, Dune…. They’re a lot 😅
They Cloned Tyrone, Dune, BR2049 and a little film called “The Swimmers”, based on a true story. It looks like they used the Helios 58mm for some shots and I have 4 of them.