How to Shoot Day for Night in Camera [BMPCC 6K]

00:05:14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26x1KvkQdB8

Summary

TLDRThe video, presented by Gavin from Peppermint Films, instructs on achieving a 'day for night' look—a technique in cinematography that simulates nighttime during daylight hours. This is particularly useful when it's impractical or costly to shoot at night. Gavin outlines a setup involving two key lights (Amaran 200x with softbox and Aputure 300D with spotlight) and adjustments to camera settings such as white balance and ND filters to achieve the look. These changes help make natural daylight appear as moonlight or streetlight. He emphasizes the importance of fine-tuning each element to achieve a convincing night scene and mentions post-production adjustments like grading to enhance results. Gavin encourages viewers to try the technique themselves and share their results.

Takeaways

  • 🔧 'Day for night' mimics nighttime in daylight scenes.
  • 💡 Use two lights strategically for effective lighting.
  • 📷 Adjust camera white balance for a bluish tint.
  • 🕶️ ND filters help control brightness to simulate night.
  • 🖥️ Fix further lighting issues in post-production.
  • 🌓 Balance natural and artificial light carefully.
  • 🎥 Useful for budget or time-constrained projects.
  • 🎛️ Fine-tuning is essential for convincing results.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:14

    Gavin from Peppermint Films explains the technique of achieving a 'day for night' look in filmmaking, which involves making daylight appear as nighttime on screen. This is often used when shooting at night is impractical. The method includes using specific camera settings and lighting setups. For example, in a recent project, they used this technique by balancing natural daylight with indoor lighting and adjusting the camera's ND filter and white balance to create a nighttime effect. They suggest manipulating light sources and possibly correcting in post-production to enhance the effect. Gavin encourages viewers to experiment with this method.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is 'day for night'?

    'Day for night' is a technique used in cinematography to make daylight appear as nighttime on screen.

  • Why use the 'day for night' technique?

    It is often used when it is impractical to shoot at night due to budget constraints or scheduling issues.

  • What is a common method for achieving 'day for night'?

    The method involves adjusting camera settings, covering up windows, or using specific lighting techniques.

  • What camera adjustment is suggested for 'day for night'?

    Adjust the camera's white balance and use ND filters to create the desired lighting effect.

  • How many lights were used in the setup described in the video?

    Two lights were used: an Amaran 200x with a softbox and an Aputure 300D with a spotlight attachment.

  • What role does white balance play in 'day for night'?

    White balance is adjusted to make the sky appear more blue, mimicking moonlight.

  • Can 'day for night' issues be fixed in post-production?

    Yes, digital editing can further adjust lighting to enhance the nighttime effect.

  • What is a sign of an improper 'day for night' setup?

    If the lights aren't powerful enough, the setup may not convincingly look like nighttime.

  • What should be adjusted if the brightness levels aren't right?

    Adjusting ND filters, white balance, or internal light levels can help.

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  • 00:00:05
    [Music]
  • 00:00:06
    hey guys my name is Gavin and I'm the
  • 00:00:08
    cinematographer here at peppermint films
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    and today I'm going to be going over how
  • 00:00:13
    to achieve a day for night look on a
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    budget using a simple little trick what
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    is day for night you might ask well it's
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    basically the process of making daylight
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    on screen look like nighttime sometimes
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    it's not always practical to do a shoe
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    overnight so sometimes you just have to
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    fake it whether that's you're covering
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    up the windows or you're adjusting some
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    of your camera settings which we'll get
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    into in just a minute one of the most
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    recent times that we've done this is on
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    our spec ad that we just completed for a
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    little vocabulary app we had to do the
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    whole shoot during the daytime but one
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    of the scenes the main scene takes place
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    at night so we had to figure something
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    out and good thing we've done this
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    before one of the most prominent being
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    our short film a laughing matter we used
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    day for night on that project in the
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    same way where we just kind of didn't
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    have the time or scheduling to be able
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    to complete these at night so we just
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    kind of have to go through and fill in
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    the blanks with some day for night shots
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    it's a great great trick to kind of save
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    your time and manage time a little bit
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    better if you if you know you can get
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    day for night for the same shot then you
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    may as well do it cuz it's better than
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    shooting at night let me tell you how a
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    dolly with a trod how a dolly with no
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    problem okay then explain how you do it
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    don't do
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    this like this is horrible actually all
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    right so for this first shot here where
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    she's kind of just doing some work on
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    her computer late night burning the
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    midnight oil we had a pretty simple
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    setup we just had two lights one being
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    the amaran 200x with the softbox on it
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    which is lighting me here and then we
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    also had an aperture 300D with a little
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    amaran Spotlight SE on it kind of
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    providing a a little Edge light a little
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    hair light on her from camera left just
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    to kind of separate her from the
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    background a little bit more make it a
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    little more interesting so we got the
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    Moonlight we got our lamp our real lamp
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    and then a nice hair
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    light I recommend this
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    app and through the window in the back
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    there that is all just natural
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    daylight
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    clearly very bright outside and the way
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    that we achieved this to kind of make it
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    look like maybe it's Moonlight maybe
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    it's a little street light coming
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    through at night time is we just stopped
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    down our camera we had a little ND on
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    the front and just adjusted it until we
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    get the desired dimness that we want
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    okay so how much have we stopped down
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    that like
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    d 22 well we're at one7 and then four
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    stops I think the couch needs to go back
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    further still and then since we have the
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    two lights inside we can kind of just
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    raise those to compensate for the level
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    that we lost in the foreground you kind
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    of just fine tune it for a a little bit
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    until you get something that looks
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    balanced something that looks somewhat
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    close to nighttime and then the next
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    thing that we did is just adjust the
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    camera's white balance I think I had it
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    set around
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    3200 so with the camera at 3200 and then
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    the natural Skylight being like
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    5600 it's going to make the sky appear a
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    lot more blue than it actually is kind
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    of selling that Moonlight nighttime look
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    and then for the inside we had our
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    practicals and our key at like 20 2600
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    2700 Kelvin so those are still
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    relatively warm on camera it's all about
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    just kind of playing around with it and
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    fine-tuning it until you get a look that
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    you want whether that's adjusting your
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    white balance adjusting your ND
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    adjusting your iris all of these things
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    kind of play into creating that
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    nighttime look it takes a little bit of
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    time to kind of find the right look and
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    it doesn't always sell the right way
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    especially if your lights aren't
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    powerful enough it's not always going to
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    work perfect
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    even with what we had ran into a few
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    complications we just couldn't really
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    get the daylight super DM outside so you
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    just kind of find a nice Middle Ground
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    where it looks believable enough to look
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    like Moonlight and then the rest kind of
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    just falls into place and you can always
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    fix this in the grade too whether it's
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    adding like a little power window on the
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    window just to make it a little bit
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    dimmer um raising the inside levels a
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    little bit that's the joys of doing
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    things
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    [Music]
  • 00:04:39
    digitally I didn't really point a
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    camera so that about wraps up today's
  • 00:04:45
    video hopefully you guys were able to
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    take something from this and if you do
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    and if you want to try it out on your
  • 00:04:49
    own please send us some screenshots of
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    whatever you do I'd love to check it out
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    if this is your first time doing like a
  • 00:04:55
    day for night thing or if I taught you
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    something different i' I'd love to see
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    it so thank you guys hopefully you have
  • 00:05:01
    a great rest of your day have a good one
  • 00:05:08
    [Music]
  • 00:05:13
    bye
Tags
  • cinematography
  • day for night
  • lighting
  • camera settings
  • budget filmmaking
  • ND filter
  • white balance
  • night simulation
  • post-production
  • Peppermint Films