I'm planning a short film where the lighting starts out with a warm orange hue and saturated colours, and gradually progresses to a blueish hue with washed out colours. Should I just light the scene well and do the colour adjustments in post, or should I light the scene directly during the shoot?

I've done plenty of colour correction to know what can be achieved in post, but I've never done specialized lighting to that level before, so I'm unsure of the pros and cons.


J.

In some ways it depends on whether you want it as a uniform look across the entire picture, or as an element.

If every object in the frame is to become washed out, fix it in post from a standard color balance.

If you want the characters to exist distinctly, but inside the changing look, use your background lighting to create the proper mood.

Thanks Bill, makes sense. I'll have to discuss this with both my lighting technician and the make-up girl, depending on which option I go with. I'll do tests during rehearsal.


J.

My view is that you shoot a clean plate and adjust in post.
If you tint your scene and do not like the result you have less options than if you start with a clean image. YMMV

Bill

To be honest, the other Bill advises the way I normally shoot. As the head honcho from Sony HDCam told us in the orientation seminar, you can do a lot in the menu to change the look of the camera. However, many of those changes are nearly irreversible in post, if you end up not liking the look.

At the same time, he opined, there is hardly a look in the camera that you can't do as well or better in the controlled environment of the edit room. So his advice: find a nice, good looking middle of the road picture setting, use it, and play in post when necessary.

Hard to argue with that...although I do like playing with the lighting, I must admit.