Filming in Nightclub - UV Party

[John Knight]

Hi guys,

I've been asked to film a rave gig - it's using UV cannons (blacklight), everyone in white t-shirts, glow paint etc. Has anyone done this before - any tricks with exposure settings I should be aware of?

Using Sony Z7 - and no chance of testing beforehand.

Also, do I have to be careful IF club uses strobe and/or laser?

[Chad Nickle]

You are probably gonna have to use tons of gain with a z7, check out the plugin neat video, it will make your footage usable at least.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

strobe or laser won't affect camera much (if you're talking about the electronics), but it will affect how footage looks depending on what frame rate your record in. 60fps might be useful, but at least get there early and run a few tests.

You are aware that you might lost exposure on faces if it's really dark and you don't have a flash, right?

Anyhow, would love to see shots of final footage once you're done! Good luck.

[Chip Thome]

I did a wedding reception recently where the dj stand had a blacklight on the front of his rig. I was set on a white balance preset of 3.2k and everything white that wasn't in direct standard 3.2k light, but in line with the blacklight, came off as the purple you would expect. That's my only experience with it.

If there are strobes, those will screw with your video, depending on where they are aimed and how "in line of sight" with your cam they are. You may want to see where they are located and aimed when you arrive, and plan accordingly.

[David Schuurman]

if it's really intense blacklight then expose for the shirts and stuff, who cares about the ravers faces, the club promotors will most likely want you to portray the effect they're going for, which is probably something like this... YouTube - all day every day -intro

I think you'll probably get away with very little gain applied.


but nothing like being there and shooting it for you to know for certain!


Mke sure you're wearing clean clothes and watch what you wipe on your jeans.

[John Knight]

Hi David - thanks for the link.

Yes - I think that's the effect that will be at the club, and just exposing to capture the effect would be the way to do it. I'm assuming what I see through the viewfinder will be what I'm recording? UV isn't "invisible" to the camera or anything weird?

I usually also record interlaced, but maybe progressive might be better if there are strobes?

Will clean my jeans!

[David Schuurman]

No it's not invisible! and probably what you see through the viewfinder is what you are recording, be careful of clipping your highlights because there will be ALOT of potential things to overexpose.

[John Knight]

Cheers David. Can you expand on 'clipping highlights' and how I avoid that? Thanks

[David Schuurman]

yeah, your bright areas will be REALLY bright and so lots of times you set an overall exposure that looks good generally but you have to pay special attention to all the white areas that're glowing and make sure they're not so bright as to blow out and lose all the information.it might mean stopping down a tad more.

[David Schuurman]

you have a full night to get it right anyway so try a bunch of different things!

[John Knight]

Cheers David - will do. So I'll white balance to 3200 - set zero gain, zoom in tight to somebodys white shirt and expose so there is some slight detail visible - no blowouts. Lock exposure. Zoom out. Hope I don't get covered in lager. ;)

[John Knight]

Oh my God, I never want to do that again! The place was a nightmare - drunk kids throwing drinks everywhere and trying to start fights. The trapeze artist wanted me right in the crowd filming upwards - LIKE HELL - in the end, I climbed onto a lager covered bar and handheld the Sony Z7 - locked the focus, chucked everything else into AUTO. Viewfinder was fogging up - people were knocking my legs for a joke. Never again. Here is the footage. No post work done at all - music and fake crowd noise dubbed afterwards as the mic completely blew out with the pumping base. I'm off to bed....

YouTube - Trapeze @ NZ White Out Tour

[Tom Bostick]

Originally Posted by John Knight

Oh my God, I never want to do that again! The place was a nightmare - drunk kids throwing drinks everywhere and trying to start fights. The trapeze artist wanted me right in the crowd filming upwards - LIKE HELL - in the end, I climbed onto a lager covered bar and handheld the Sony Z7 - locked the focus, chucked everything else into AUTO. Viewfinder was fogging up - people were knocking my legs for a joke. Never again. Here is the footage. No post work done at all - music and fake crowd noise dubbed afterwards as the mic completely blew out with the pumping base. I'm off to bed....

YouTube - Trapeze @ NZ White Out Tour

wow ,that stinks man ,people can be jerks sometimes ,especially drunk ones ,but for what its worth i thought you did a nice job covering it
maybe if you ever go back take some underwater housing :p