Cinematography-Theory-And-Practice

Day-for-NightDay-for-night was an important technique when it was very difficultto actually shoot at night on location. With the advent of highspeedfilm and HD video cameras which can operate at very highISOs, high-speed lenses, high-efficiency HMIs, and sunguns, dayfor-nightis not done as often. In black-and-white, infrared film canbe used for night effects, generally in conjunction with a filter suchas a Wratten #25 (Figure 16.15).Traditionally, day-for-night is done at mid-day, since long shadowswill give away the fact that it is day. Of course, showing the sky isstrictly forbidden. In color (both film and video), it is possible toachieve a reasonably convincing effect by underexposing from 1-1/2to 2-1/2 stops. Moonlight blue can be simulated by removing the 85filter with tungsten balance film or white balancing the video camerafor tungsten (see Figure 9.43 in the chapter HD Cinematography).Harrison and Harrison makes a series of day-for-night filters. The#1 is blue-red; the blue gives the night effect, while the red componenthelps hold the skin tones in balance. The #2 is the same colorbut also lowers the contrast, which can help maintain the night illusion;the #3 filter offers a greater degree of contrast control. Theyhave an exposure factor of 2 stops. In other parts of the world,day-for-night is often named for the place where it was presumablyinvented and is known as American nigh: in fact, the original Europeantitle of Francois Truffaut’s film known in the United States asDay For Night is La Nuit Américaine.Moonlight Effect widely accepted convention that moonlight is blue. The use of bluefor moonlight varies from cinematographer to cinematographer —some feel it is simply unrealistic, and people purists insist on usingno more than 1/2 CTB for the effect. More common is full CTB ordouble blue. Of course, these are all in addition to whatever blueis used to establish basic color balance. Some people also add just atouch of lavender for a romantic look that is slightly more pleasingto the skin tone of the actors. As we saw in Figure 12.18 in the chapterColor Figure 16.12. A Mole Beam Projectercreates the sharp shadows of theblinds, but you wouldn’t be able tosee them without the smoke effect.Figure 16.13. A multifunction flickerbox. (Photo courtesy of McIntireEnterprises.)technical issues323