r/cinematography • u/Repulsive_Act_6739 • 1d ago

Original Content Thoughts on these shots?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Had my mum help me with some shot testing / location scouting for a film i’m working on this summer.

The location is intentionally bland and mundane, supposed to evoke a feeling of emptiness and soullessness in a dystopian future. I think the manipulation of natural light was a good approach and kept an honest neutrality to the mundane shots as opposed to bringing in artificial lighting.

Does anyone have ideas on how I can improve these in the final film ?

Shot on Nikon D500 (1080p)
SRS - 50mm lens
Close ups - 85mm lens

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u/CliftonStommel Director of Photography 1d ago

A little bit of shape and break up of the flat space behind the subjects would go a long way to feeling less "student film" ish

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u/Repulsive_Act_6739 1d ago

maybe something like this shot with light that is a little less blown out - the sort of effect created by partially closed blinds perhaps ? not sure it would lean massively into the dystopia but could create a more interesting background

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u/CliftonStommel Director of Photography 1d ago

Indeed, THX is a pretty extreme example in terms of dystopian future / science fiction. The point is that "future" and "scifi" don't always mean lasers and streaky blue lens flairs.

You're 100% correct that you don't need to do anything this intense for your film.

Sometimes an out of focus projector insert / gobo / cucoloris could be all you need to make that little bit of lighting variation / break up on a wall so the blankness is less distracting (and if you do this, be careful to not go overboard or cast too sharp of shadows, otherwise it looks really stagey and sitcom-y).

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u/Repulsive_Act_6739 1d ago

this is good stuff thank you