I love Deakins’ approach to compositing or CGI for his visuals. He uses it as a real tool to make something possible where CGI is the only reasonable option to make it work. It’s not meant to show off but rather to blend in nicely into the scene and the story
That's not cgi, that is composting. they basically cut the actor's part, and paste it into the other shot which has lighting in it. it's pretty much just basic editing illusion
@@Jsjsjjssjs The face, yes, is composited. But there's a CGI fireplace with major color correction going on and indeed a whole CGI burning building in these shots.
In this sea of 'whats-up-guys-it's-ya-boi' bro-youtuberness your videos are like a nice little beach island with these quality insights, and just the right amount of memedog sprinkled in. Keep doing what you're doing Lewis. P.S. if you ever want to graduate from library music, I'd be delighted to write some music for you sometime. ;)
Freaking thank you so much for talking about The Covenant. Not nearly enough folks have seen or even heard of that movie but it really is a great time and very well made! I never would have thought all that work goes into such a simple dialogue scene!
Agreed! I mentioned to my junior tech that he should look into seeing it and gave him a little backstory about the civilizians roles in helping the US military for a carrot that had no intention of falling off the stick.
dude, you’re the only RUclipsr who has an audience who doesn’t actively skip their sponsor messages. I actually rewatch them. You’re a genius mate, you’ve cracked the code
Listening the Deakins podcast is always an excellent lesson to learn and in a way that not everybody could explain better. Now this video it's perfect for fans, Deakins fans and your channel fans. Excellent timing, content, and themes with incredible visuals. That's why we subbed!
I really appreciate your breakdowns of these setups. It takes the mystique and magic of lighting and breaks it down into digestible pieces I can try and apply to my own shoots.
I would really love to see more breakdowns like this for more movies. I work in the grip & electric departments and I thought this breakdown was super helpful!!
I love these techniques. They are probably my favourite things about VFX, but they can be very picky and touchy to do. As it needs to be seamless, they push every pixel to perfection, but the end result is amazing.
Great video as always Lewis! I remember watching that scene in 1917 in the theatres and thinking, how in the hell did he pull this one off?! Fascinating bit of info!
Do we really have a "well actually it's cold here but it's supposed to be the desert so our lead's only wearing a combat shirt but since they're just human here's a don't freeze" jacket at 8:02?
00:39 - I seriously think pros should use the term "CGI" only where it's relevant, and in this case it's really called a "composite". CGI means something literally generated and pixel produced inside a 3D program. CGI is really misused all over the place particularly by those who don't do FX.
I’ve comped out shadows like this many times. You basically take a still frame, track it on top with a mesh warp or smart vector warp with a lighten merge, and fade between the still frame at the beginning and at the end.
The difference bewteen deakins approach and many others is so incredibly simple BUT on a scale higher. I love deakins he just makes every shot look so great
hey lewis i know you probably won’t see this but i REALLY fucking love and appreciate your videos dude. everything you make is so entertaining and informative and you’re honestly one of my favorite youtubers. keep up the great work.
1917 is a masterpiece obviously so that was interesting but The Covenant completely flew under the (my) radar and this is the first I've heard about it. The work that goes into lighting is incredible. It's basically a professional photography shoot but for a moving picture which makes it exponentially more complex. With reverse shots, multiple angles and moving subjects things get complicated fast. I wonder how much they plan beforehand, lighting wise, and how much is done on the day. I suppose for exterior shots a lot is improvised to make use of natural light and obviously interior shots can be planned out more beforehand. The extra light they needed for that large hangar shot was nuts. You don't even think, "Hang on, that should actually be pretty dark in there", which is of course the director's intention. Very interesting mate. Definitely subbed
The other thing I noticed about the light panel in the indoor scene was (at least in the BTS) that it was relatively white. So besides all the other issues with fire on set, they also appear to have filmed with whiter light and colour-graded warm, rather than filming warm (or even having the light panel set to "fire tones")
That or the behind the scenes photography is balanced to white. I don't know if shooting with white light and balancing later gives any benefit from just shooting with warmer light, but considering the light from the burning building is the same temperature in pre-vfx footage I'd be more inclined to assume it's the same case here.
@@IsraelStorey Yep, different white balances on the cameras. Also, directly shooting at the panel, it's going to appear more bright/white than it actually is...
That explains the bit of uncanny valley I get during that shot. Something’s just off about his face, and it being composited in from two shots done at different distances makes sense.
Excellent as always. There is so much replacement and masking done in post. Removing stands fixtures its insane. Meanwhile in the real world im sure you have probably mentioned it somewhere but a simple trick to understand what is happening with lights is to look at the eyelight and how it changes. It literally tells you everything there that is making a difference camera side. The bigger lighting effects like back light and wrap are often pretty obvious in that they will create a clear light source effect and will involve a massive upstage key and a soft grid filling in and it is great to see the monitors and the false color to see what they are aiming for. A great film to try and get your head around is first man. Most scenes look unlit but for practicals but that exaggerates the source as eyelight. In general i find lighting super simple but for the details when it comes to eyelight and the effort that often goes into that. Usually a grip walking with a light on a moving shot but it gets really interesting when directors like to shoot with multiple cameras. As the lights on the face get softer its easy to lose the clarity of the catch light. Be interested to know how important and how much effort you think is justified to get the eyes to pop. I know it can be done in post too but maybe its down to the motivation of the shot. Looking at shotdeck can be helpful but so many scenes will have actors turn into there final lit position that its hard to know how much effort and hollywooding goes on with a last minute reflector push in as withe the helicopter shot. Thx as always
LOL I can't believe you caught the mirror shot!!!! They did not retouch it. I love it. You got a keen eye. Btw. this movie looked amazing and was such a good time.
So clear and informative - examples which we can actually try out without expensive gear. This is a gift, thank you! Also - how to put this concisely...The fact that you're using Epidemic Sound makes the world of difference to the way you present it to us. It's rare for me to watch a sponsor segment but the way you did it here, it was really interesting and no longer than it needed to be. As a result of seeing this promo, I'll be looking into the product. This is definitely the way to go.
Loved The Covenant! I don’t think the audience knows how much work goes into getting all of the extra shots for every piece of Guy Ritchie’s montages. Especially in this film with all the flashback shots of him getting dragged through the desert.
Lewis, are you aware how much you look and "feel" like deakins?)) you are almost the same person in voice, mannerisms etc. it's so funny, like it's time travel
You are a pure legend bro. Your content is always super interesting and I just enjoy in every video. I learned so much from you. Massive respect from Bosnia.
When we did a "zero budget" film project in Uni we used literal neon tubes and had them shine through either opaque white (cold light) or brown/golden (warm light) paper. Cost us something like 20€ for a "light setup".
It's so funny you're the only person (except me) to question this 1917 scene since the movie came out. I, too, have listened to the Blu-Ray commentary and was still confused by his explanation. Even though he breaks it down.
Dimming different lights as the camera moves around the imaginary "fire" to give it a natural glow and movement is so genius. When you say it out loud, it seems like such a basic idea. Yet it has taken how many years for someone to figure out how to use it like *this?*
What's not clear to me in the first example if if they went back, reshot the scene, and then composited over the one with the shadow, how did they get the actor's expression in both shots to match up so perfectly? Maybe they only composited a partial side of his face with the light, not his actual facial expressions..?
I'm guessing they tracked the facial features, matched the re-lit shot and only applied the lighting of the re-shoot to the original take. Since it's just a couple seconds, you can kinda morph and rotoscope it by hand without it being too noticeable. Having the face lit correctly while the camera orbits around it makes it so much easier than trying to paint on light by hand.
Good stuff, your lighting plots and ideas are legit. I LOVEHOW YOU POINT OUT the excess8ve use of Arri Max 18k's on condors wity a man in each bucket. Thats par for the course on big budgets. I LOVE Deakins and his subtle overkill and blatant inclusion of lights in scenes. Notice how he hasnt littered his films with 4ft Led lights like every damn music video amd sci fi movie.
Thanks lewis. Me encantaria que hiieras mas vdeos como este, desglosando la peli y sus aspectos tecnicos. Posdata: me gusta esa forma simple e ironica con un toque de humor negro que le imprimes a tus videos. Un abrazo bro!
6.18 thats probably arri sky pane 360 bsed on the size. looks like a 1/2...1/4 silk? everything is boxed up with muslin and the open end scrims would bee double and a single scrim pretty mobile and chea setup apart from 18k's theres actualy a better option for that rig outside. Witch is suprising. Thanks for your videos!
The Tokina Vista primes look amazing to me. I’ve learned repeatedly that I have expensive lens tastes (that I cannot afford) in “blind” comparison tests. I came across Tokina Vistas in a “blind” comparison and I chose the Tokinas. Then I looked up their price tag. 🥵 They have a price tag that matches their look. But they are more “affordable” than some other lenses on the market. Great video! 👍
I felt the same seeing the vista prime price tag and went down a comparison hole for weeks until landing on the dzo vespid primes for their unique look and small form.. and price. If you haven’t already; give em a look! I love them on the komodo.
there's cons and pro of RUclips algorithm. Pros its cool when it recommend a new channel based from my interest. cons: how come ive only discover this channel!?!?? 🤣 ngl be seeing ya in 250K
Hey Lewis . I got an doubt . In the army scene u showed the convo scene . The iso on that camera was set on 500 . Why a 500 iso tho . Can’t they just keep it at 100 ? Arent the lights they use powerful and also tunable as per their wish ? Why a 500 iso tho ? @lewis
Filmmaking is not like photography where you would try to get the ISO as low as possible. They shot this on the Sony Venice, which has a native ISO of 500 (and 2500). This means the camera would capture the most 'dynamic range' at this ISO. For the cleanest image this would be a great starting point.
I love Deakins’ approach to compositing or CGI for his visuals. He uses it as a real tool to make something possible where CGI is the only reasonable option to make it work. It’s not meant to show off but rather to blend in nicely into the scene and the story
This wasn't CGI though, it's a composite of real shots
You mean “compositing”, not “composting”.
That's not cgi, that is composting. they basically cut the actor's part, and paste it into the other shot which has lighting in it. it's pretty much just basic editing illusion
@@v-trigger6137 that’s why I also said „compositing“
@@Jsjsjjssjs The face, yes, is composited. But there's a CGI fireplace with major color correction going on and indeed a whole CGI burning building in these shots.
I swear half my film degree is just coming back to your channel and watching this video series. Top notch every time 👌
What films are you doing?
Just as RUclips gets boring... you post a new video. Thanks man, I really enjoy your style of sharing!
Thanks man!!
In this sea of 'whats-up-guys-it's-ya-boi' bro-youtuberness your videos are like a nice little beach island with these quality insights, and just the right amount of memedog sprinkled in. Keep doing what you're doing Lewis.
P.S. if you ever want to graduate from library music, I'd be delighted to write some music for you sometime. ;)
My brain is still melted by Deakins explanation.... I think I understand but also think I don't !
I love this style of content - not too busy with animations, shouting, rambling or begging for subscribers. Thanks very much.
Freaking thank you so much for talking about The Covenant. Not nearly enough folks have seen or even heard of that movie but it really is a great time and very well made! I never would have thought all that work goes into such a simple dialogue scene!
Agreed! I mentioned to my junior tech that he should look into seeing it and gave him a little backstory about the civilizians roles in helping the US military for a carrot that had no intention of falling off the stick.
dude, you’re the only RUclipsr who has an audience who doesn’t actively skip their sponsor messages. I actually rewatch them. You’re a genius mate, you’ve cracked the code
i skipped over it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Listening the Deakins podcast is always an excellent lesson to learn and in a way that not everybody could explain better. Now this video it's perfect for fans, Deakins fans and your channel fans. Excellent timing, content, and themes with incredible visuals. That's why we subbed!
4:23 enjoyed this film and your breakdown
Genuine happiness when I see you've uploaded a vid.
I really appreciate your breakdowns of these setups. It takes the mystique and magic of lighting and breaks it down into digestible pieces I can try and apply to my own shoots.
Lewis, iI appreciate these commentaries you do brother!
I would really love to see more breakdowns like this for more movies. I work in the grip & electric departments and I thought this breakdown was super helpful!!
I love these techniques. They are probably my favourite things about VFX, but they can be very picky and touchy to do. As it needs to be seamless, they push every pixel to perfection, but the end result is amazing.
Great video as always Lewis! I remember watching that scene in 1917 in the theatres and thinking, how in the hell did he pull this one off?! Fascinating bit of info!
Thanks man! Yeah that audio commentary is a great listen
I’m a simple man, I see Lewis Potts, I like and watch.
I concur.
@@BryceMiguelWilliamsas do I
Indubitably
(1)
In that order
You have no idea how much im learning with you Lewis. Thanks for this
Insightful as always, love the way you link these up and run commentary on them.
Do we really have a "well actually it's cold here but it's supposed to be the desert so our lead's only wearing a combat shirt but since they're just human here's a don't freeze" jacket at 8:02?
00:39 - I seriously think pros should use the term "CGI" only where it's relevant, and in this case it's really called a "composite". CGI means something literally generated and pixel produced inside a 3D program. CGI is really misused all over the place particularly by those who don't do FX.
Thank you so much for this. Lighting breakdowns are so helpful and informative, I could watch videos like this one for hours.
I’ve comped out shadows like this many times. You basically take a still frame, track it on top with a mesh warp or smart vector warp with a lighten merge, and fade between the still frame at the beginning and at the end.
This is incredible. Light is so important, and you've done an exceptional job making this approachable.
Appreicate your breakdowns as always. Lovely insight on what it means to light !
The difference bewteen deakins approach and many others is so incredibly simple BUT on a scale higher. I love deakins he just makes every shot look so great
hey lewis i know you probably won’t see this but i REALLY fucking love and appreciate your videos dude. everything you make is so entertaining and informative and you’re honestly one of my favorite youtubers. keep up the great work.
Love the style of your videos and your sense of humor keep going.
Yesss always excited to watch your videos!
nice job as usual Lewis. Thanks for putting time, thought and effort into your videos
1917 is a masterpiece obviously so that was interesting but The Covenant completely flew under the (my) radar and this is the first I've heard about it. The work that goes into lighting is incredible. It's basically a professional photography shoot but for a moving picture which makes it exponentially more complex. With reverse shots, multiple angles and moving subjects things get complicated fast. I wonder how much they plan beforehand, lighting wise, and how much is done on the day. I suppose for exterior shots a lot is improvised to make use of natural light and obviously interior shots can be planned out more beforehand.
The extra light they needed for that large hangar shot was nuts. You don't even think, "Hang on, that should actually be pretty dark in there", which is of course the director's intention.
Very interesting mate. Definitely subbed
I love these videos!! thanks Lewis!
It's always so cool to watch your breakdowns, it really feels like magic
love me a new Lewis Potts video!
these are always so fun and a great opportunity to learn! thank Lewis!
Wow, Commander Waterford is a badass
The other thing I noticed about the light panel in the indoor scene was (at least in the BTS) that it was relatively white. So besides all the other issues with fire on set, they also appear to have filmed with whiter light and colour-graded warm, rather than filming warm (or even having the light panel set to "fire tones")
That or the behind the scenes photography is balanced to white. I don't know if shooting with white light and balancing later gives any benefit from just shooting with warmer light, but considering the light from the burning building is the same temperature in pre-vfx footage I'd be more inclined to assume it's the same case here.
@@IsraelStorey Yep, different white balances on the cameras. Also, directly shooting at the panel, it's going to appear more bright/white than it actually is...
“Don’t worry, when you add them all up, they’re not too expensive”😂💀
I know nothing about film. This was super interesting to learn about.
That explains the bit of uncanny valley I get during that shot. Something’s just off about his face, and it being composited in from two shots done at different distances makes sense.
Bro. Your humor. On point.
I had to pause to laugh out loud at the 10x18k's in the B&H shopping cart.
Thank you.
You’re a seriously good teacher Lewis. 🤘🏼 Keep em comin 🤘🏼
Excellent as always. There is so much replacement and masking done in post. Removing stands fixtures its insane. Meanwhile in the real world im sure you have probably mentioned it somewhere but a simple trick to understand what is happening with lights is to look at the eyelight and how it changes. It literally tells you everything there that is making a difference camera side. The bigger lighting effects like back light and wrap are often pretty obvious in that they will create a clear light source effect and will involve a massive upstage key and a soft grid filling in and it is great to see the monitors and the false color to see what they are aiming for. A great film to try and get your head around is first man. Most scenes look unlit but for practicals but that exaggerates the source as eyelight. In general i find lighting super simple but for the details when it comes to eyelight and the effort that often goes into that. Usually a grip walking with a light on a moving shot but it gets really interesting when directors like to shoot with multiple cameras. As the lights on the face get softer its easy to lose the clarity of the catch light. Be interested to know how important and how much effort you think is justified to get the eyes to pop. I know it can be done in post too but maybe its down to the motivation of the shot. Looking at shotdeck can be helpful but so many scenes will have actors turn into there final lit position that its hard to know how much effort and hollywooding goes on with a last minute reflector push in as withe the helicopter shot. Thx as always
You have an eagle eye for spotting bits of information in BTS clips or stills.
LOL I can't believe you caught the mirror shot!!!! They did not retouch it. I love it. You got a keen eye. Btw. this movie looked amazing and was such a good time.
So clear and informative - examples which we can actually try out without expensive gear. This is a gift, thank you!
Also - how to put this concisely...The fact that you're using Epidemic Sound makes the world of difference to the way you present it to us. It's rare for me to watch a sponsor segment but the way you did it here, it was really interesting and no longer than it needed to be. As a result of seeing this promo, I'll be looking into the product. This is definitely the way to go.
Love these videos, dude! Thanks for making cool stuff
Love your channel! Keep it up dude
Loved The Covenant! I don’t think the audience knows how much work goes into getting all of the extra shots for every piece of Guy Ritchie’s montages. Especially in this film with all the flashback shots of him getting dragged through the desert.
you taught me something today. thank you
Another banger of an analysis vid!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Lewis, are you aware how much you look and "feel" like deakins?)) you are almost the same person in voice, mannerisms etc. it's so funny, like it's time travel
You are a pure legend bro.
Your content is always super interesting and I just enjoy in every video.
I learned so much from you.
Massive respect from Bosnia.
So much efforts for details.
Man I love this videos, thanks for making them
"This Guy" name sir, is...HOMELANDER!!! Great video though, thank you.
In the Last one, there is also an 8x8 ultrabounce to the left, bouncing in some light from the side, probably more fore when he walks up to the heli.
Great content and analysis..keep'm coming! Thnx
When we did a "zero budget" film project in Uni we used literal neon tubes and had them shine through either opaque white (cold light) or brown/golden (warm light) paper. Cost us something like 20€ for a "light setup".
Excellent!! Thank you so much for this important material.
In that final shot you can see there's an 8x8 way off to the left of the helicopter, I assume acting like a kind of ambient bounce as well.
this was awesome - you are a fantastic detective! looking forward to more :D
Lewis! Can u do a breakdown of your camera kit/AC kit/tool kit??
I learn more in these videos than I did studying filmmaking at university
Thank you
So happy you edit in DaVinci Resolve.
freaking brilliant. Ran into this recently and and wish I'd known about this
Regularly watching your videos. Recently watched that flip flop video which was great
More useful than my university degree, and only cost me a like (because I wanted to). Another wicked video man!
I like this a lot
It's so funny you're the only person (except me) to question this 1917 scene since the movie came out.
I, too, have listened to the Blu-Ray commentary and was still confused by his explanation.
Even though he breaks it down.
great video as always man!
They make it look so easy...
no wonder movies cost so much and here I am thinking digital cameras should cut cost because they don't use film 😅
i just ordered 6 NEEWER sky-jacks
Great choice
As a muso, that segway makes me hope all films can be done with stock footage.
one reason we go to set with full length pants is for reasons like this, having to kneel down on gravel or something rough to be a light stand 🤣
hahaha when you put the png of the trinity over the boom pole... I lost it 🤣
Dimming different lights as the camera moves around the imaginary "fire" to give it a natural glow and movement is so genius.
When you say it out loud, it seems like such a basic idea. Yet it has taken how many years for someone to figure out how to use it like *this?*
jake gyllenhaal is such a great actor .. literally thinking as i was watching ... every role he gets he absolutely smashes!
Love every video! Thanks a lot!
What's not clear to me in the first example if if they went back, reshot the scene, and then composited over the one with the shadow, how did they get the actor's expression in both shots to match up so perfectly? Maybe they only composited a partial side of his face with the light, not his actual facial expressions..?
I'm guessing they tracked the facial features, matched the re-lit shot and only applied the lighting of the re-shoot to the original take. Since it's just a couple seconds, you can kinda morph and rotoscope it by hand without it being too noticeable. Having the face lit correctly while the camera orbits around it makes it so much easier than trying to paint on light by hand.
Using a crew member as a light stand AKA "Hollywooding it"
Good stuff, your lighting plots and ideas are legit. I LOVEHOW YOU POINT OUT the excess8ve use of Arri Max 18k's on condors wity a man in each bucket. Thats par for the course on big budgets. I LOVE Deakins and his subtle overkill and blatant inclusion of lights in scenes. Notice how he hasnt littered his films with 4ft Led lights like every damn music video amd sci fi movie.
I didn't realise the first film featured was 1917! Luckily I found it in the comments.
very cool information, I really liked it, I will wait for new videos from you
Thanks lewis. Me encantaria que hiieras mas vdeos como este, desglosando la peli y sus aspectos tecnicos. Posdata: me gusta esa forma simple e ironica con un toque de humor negro que le imprimes a tus videos. Un abrazo bro!
Thank you 🙏
BAAAAAAAAAABBBEEEE POTTS POSTED
6.18 thats probably arri sky pane 360 bsed on the size. looks like a 1/2...1/4 silk? everything is boxed up with muslin and the open end scrims would bee double and a single scrim pretty mobile and chea setup apart from 18k's theres actualy a better option for that rig outside. Witch is suprising. Thanks for your videos!
5:03 to be honest, I don't understand what was the point of these complex lighting installations for these frames.
The Tokina Vista primes look amazing to me. I’ve learned repeatedly that I have expensive lens tastes (that I cannot afford) in “blind” comparison tests. I came across Tokina Vistas in a “blind” comparison and I chose the Tokinas. Then I looked up their price tag. 🥵 They have a price tag that matches their look. But they are more “affordable” than some other lenses on the market. Great video! 👍
I felt the same seeing the vista prime price tag and went down a comparison hole for weeks until landing on the dzo vespid primes for their unique look and small form.. and price. If you haven’t already; give em a look! I love them on the komodo.
Roger Deakins is poggers
there's cons and pro of RUclips algorithm.
Pros its cool when it recommend a new channel based from my interest.
cons: how come ive only discover this channel!?!?? 🤣
ngl be seeing ya in 250K
Is "dimmed up" the correct phase? I googled but it was inconclusive.
1917 is my favorite film.
Hey Lewis . I got an doubt . In the army scene u showed the convo scene . The iso on that camera was set on 500 . Why a 500 iso tho . Can’t they just keep it at 100 ? Arent the lights they use powerful and also tunable as per their wish ? Why a 500 iso tho ? @lewis
Filmmaking is not like photography where you would try to get the ISO as low as possible. They shot this on the Sony Venice, which has a native ISO of 500 (and 2500). This means the camera would capture the most 'dynamic range' at this ISO. For the cleanest image this would be a great starting point.
@@oNMeso This
Put Lewis in the prison for using broom as the trinity 😂😂😂😂😂
Wow, that was amazing, thank you
It's too bad you have to hold that lav mic, if only there was a way to clip it to your collar!