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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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
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’.
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.
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 :)
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.
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!
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..
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.
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 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!
Then there is subjet it self - reflection, absorb, roughness, illumination. Same light setup with different object gives different light. Like you hat, now its burn out.
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 😂
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.
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
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.
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
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)
![เขามัทรี - เอ็กซ์ ศุภกฤต - จอนนี่มิวสิค [ Official MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AS9ufKuQIVs/mqdefault.jpg)
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.
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.
Wow that’s really cool!
Civilian😂
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.
Civilian? Are you not civilian as well?
@@the_philosopher_o_philosophos like he's military camera man 🤣
Bro this is a banger!!!!
bangers and mash
Editing and graphics are BANGER in this! Well done!
Editor Santi came through tough on this one! 💪
I was blown away by the lighting in John Wick 4 and Bullet Train. Definitely makes me look at light differently.
Fantastic video Mark!
This video is next level. Feels like you unlocked some secret door to Hollywood filmmaking
This helped me a lot thank you man!
Thanks Mike! You’re most welcome!
I have learned so much and because of this video I WILL sign up for the course.
I totally concur! This is a great promotional video!
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.
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!
yeah this is a great exercise!
can you elaborate a little more on it
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
genius idea
Thank you for this educational video!
Best video explanation Ive ever heard of lighting. Thanks
This video was LEGIT… great information while still looking stylish!
This video was so USEFUL, thanks!
bravo Mark!
Bro i just love you, thank you for creating these videos!
My pleasure!
Absolutely fascinating. It's clearly an art form which requires years of experience.
My man, great presentation. Good tempo, highly knowledgeable, easy for a rookie to digest.
How you chose the music, blend, mix into this edit is a masterpiece!
Very educational, thanks for the knowledge!!
My pleasure!
Another fantastic vid mark, thankyou! 🙏
this video was so great, informative and happy to watch and contine to learn!
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.
Fantastic Breakdown !
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
Seeing frames from LOS(t) SUENOS in the intro made my day haha! Great video and looking forward for ''The Cinematic Eye'' course man!:)
Great video as allways!
This is the first video I've seen on your station, and I learned a ton. Thanks man.
Lighting is Hollywoods biggest kept secret. You'll never really see BTS on lighting setups.
Amazing video man ! Keep up the good work
thank you!!
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
Great as always !! Thanks for sharing
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👍👍👍
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’.
Absolute great breakdown. New photographers and cinematographers pay attention!
Thanks brother!
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.
best lighting tutorial on TH-cam !!
This is really well presented and created. Certainly be watching this again.
Awesome video!!!
Thanks!!
always thankful for the insight and how in-depth you get in your videos
Had to hit the like button after the first minute. Quality content is always appreciated.
That was super interesting, thanks Mark!
Looking forward to the course:)
In Historic movies I like bright lights cinematic. Action, adventure, also, too much dark is boring.
I remember Old movies , are still love it.
Such awesome info...sooo nicely explained...you're awesome
🤍
I'm really excited to see this light and color in your videos! Thanks!
Thanks Marc, very Interesting 🙏🙋🏼♂️ greetings from Germany
Eye spy Saul Williams in Maya's film. That's exciting. I need to look that film up.
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 :)
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.
That was amazing. Thanks for sharing. I got a lot from this one video. Cheers.
Always blessed and bettered by your work, Mark. Thank you.
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.
Really good content!
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!
Really expanded my awareness of lighting. Very cool. Thanks.
Loved this video!
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
Love the Intro on this video. I really feel like it could appeal to a much wider audience, the way you did it! Keep up the good work!
Thanks Max!
Well done Mark!
Very excited for the new course
heck yeah! me too!
Very illuminating! Well done and super helpful.
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.
Great video
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..
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.
Gold! Thanks for the video
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.
Thank you algorithm 🙏🏻
Nice work sir. Not even a cinematographer here. Just a regular stills guy and I found your video exceptional!!
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 🤙🏻
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!
Then there is subjet it self - reflection, absorb, roughness, illumination. Same light setup with different object gives different light. Like you hat, now its burn out.
What an insanely brilliant video. I learnt a lot. Thank you.
Marvelous!!!!
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
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 😂
what else can I say...but a big thank you.....this clip brought about a shift in my creativity and art directing .....
Having that cinematic lighting eye is such a blessing and a curse. When I watch movies and shows, it's all I can think about now.
yes - I feel the same!
me too haha! but life looks way more interesting
This was very informative. Thank you!
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.
Leveled up on your TH-cam game! Love the graphics and edit
Thanks!! My editor Santi crushed it on these GFX
Love this breakdown, thank you Mark!
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 for such an informative and easy to understand video
really helpfull keep up the good work
Glad it helped!
Great video, Well explained. ❤
10 minutes for a million dollars worth of game
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 thank you
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.
Wow, what a great and informative video! Sub earned!
You hooked me! Thank you.
Well done! Bravo !
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
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)
loved the video so much valuable!!!
Excellent!!! Thank you!!!!
This just shows me that it's the know-how that makes the grade...and not necessarily the hardware.
Lighting is so important as a photographer, cinematographer, or content creator 😎⚡️🤙
Great video - thanks!