Recreating night time?

[GingeUK]

I have been messing around with the few gels that I have managed to get hold of to recreate night time (Schedule is set so the scene cannot be shot at night) and am having a few troubles with it.

No matter what gels I use out of my set I cannot seem to get the right look and have the set looking more blue than night (if that makes sense)

Anyone able to help me out? Do you have a certain technique, either with day for night shooting or certain gel combos to achieve it?

I have the ability to get hold of more gels its just that my tests were held when other people had taken quite a few.

[Matty2phatty]

In my experience the key is being selective in where the light will fall.

During the day everything is pretty evenly lit. This isn't true at night, and so you have to simulate having light areas and dark areas, and by dark i mean near black.

Without doing that it will just look like you filtered it.

[sn-films]

Any chance of posting a sample pic? That might help you get more specific suggestions.

[Tasty Fish Lips]

What kind of night?

Only moonlight? Are there street lights? Is it indoor or outdoor? City, suburban, rural?

What are the motivated light sources?

Perhaps you should spend some time at the set at night and take notice of all the characteristics of the light.

[GingeUK]

Due to scheduling we are unable to get the actor at a time when night is actually upon us so am having to recreate it artificially.

The scene involves a man who wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. It's interior so no motivated light other than that which is coming in through the window. No outdoor lamp, although I am thinking of maybe putting a small bedside lamp in the scene to add more definition to his face when he addresses the camera if I can.

Tried blacking out the windows but it just seems like he is locked in a cupboard than anything else.

[Matty2phatty]

assuming you're not shooting DV, that's perfect. Just get your light rig high enough to shoot down into the window to simulate moonlight (it's ALWAYS brighter and bluer in the movies)

Ofcourse that's going to create a very flat scene, so perhaps you could also have a dim light coming from his doorway or something.

[GingeUK]

Sadly, I am shooting on HD [img]confused.gif[/img]

[Matty2phatty]

that should still be ok depending on your compression. Its the detail in your blacks and whites that is of concern with digital

[emjen]

get some bloody black cutrains and block all incoming light. Then let him switch on a bed lamp or whatever. And maybe a little blue.