Always back light in video music?

[Grégory LEROY]

Beginner question: Why is there systematically big back light source in most of music videos?

Is it only for back ground separation? I suppose there's some key light in front of the band in addition to the back light right?

Don't hesitate to share your experience.

[Geoff CB]

Easy way to outline the talent and make them seem "big". Lights up the environment and invokes the feeling of a real life concert performance.

[tupp]

2 hours ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Why is there systematically big back light source in most of music videos?

Is there?

 

Most of the music videos on which I have worked were basically a bunch of flashy images cut together frenetically.  Unless one is shooting a narrative music video, there is no "motivation" for the lighting, so anything goes.  That is the fun of shooting music videos.

[noone]

If you mean in music videos with bands playing live, that is often what there is.

I shoot live music at seven different usual venues and some are lit by the venue, some are lit by the band and some are a combination.

One in particular has a lot of lights shining straight into the camera often (the lights change a lot but often incudes severe back lighting).     Even the best venues can have it.

I mainly shoot stills but also do videos of songs when I can.

This is at a new venue I have started going to and I love the place.

[jcs]

You need background lights pointing into the camera to get cool flares and glows, especially fun when the singer moves back and forth in front of the light(s). Dust/smoke enhances the effect, as does using a diffusion filter on the camera.

[jcs]

Example of backlighting with musicians moving in/out of light (really just an excuse to post this awesomely bizarre video from yesteryear):

And the making of:

[kaylee]

17 hours ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Why is there systematically big back light source in most of music videos?

because backlighting is awesome – theres no easier way to make people look great

[webrunner5]

10 hours ago, jcs said:

Example of backlighting with musicians moving in/out of light (really just an excuse to post this awesomely bizarre video from yesteryear):

And the making of:

Les Claypool has got to be one of the strangest bass players to ever live, Thank God!! 

[jcs]

1 hour ago, webrunner5 said:

Les Claypool has got to be one of the strangest bass players to ever live, Thank God!! 

They don't make 'em like they used to haha  (except for maybe the creators of Rick & Morty!)

[funkyou86]

Backlight separates your subject from the background, makes it pop out, and the image won't look so flat. You can than mess with color temperatures, like lit your subject with warm (3500K) light, than give him a cool (6000K) backlight (on the hair for example).

Les Claypool is out of this planet, absolutely favourite, thanks for sharing!

[webrunner5]

7 hours ago, jcs said:

They don't make 'em like they used to haha  (except for maybe the creators of Rick & Morty!)

Well don't get much crazier than Beavis and Butt-Head was. I sort of hated them, but really like them LoL. My son was the one that watched them a lot not me! I was old at the time. Probably mid 40's.

[Grégory LEROY]

Thank you guys for your advice. On my last video, I used a 5500K LED light (no modificator) as backlight. I put my camera WB as  tungsten so the LED turns blue . For the key light, I use a larger 3300K LED light with an umbrella (softer light). It's a pretty amateur and inexpensive set up, but what do you think of it? What should I modify?

For my next video, I plan to shoot people having fun in a restaurant. Are back light relevant? Are LED light relevant as back light? I don't like to gel them cause they look inesthetic when on fields.

Here is a video of my last presentation (light set up at 2:42). I plan to put some led light on fields next time. Shot with Nikon D5500. Activities 100% legal. Don't hesitate to give me some tips to improve. Thank you.

 

[webrunner5]

4 hours ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Thank you guys for your advice. On my last video, I used a 5500K LED light (no modificator) as backlight. I put my camera WB as  tungsten so the LED turns blue . For the key light, I use a larger 3300K LED light with an umbrella (softer light). It's a pretty amateur and inexpensive set up, but what do you think of it? What should I modify?

For my next video, I plan to shoot people having fun in a restaurant. Are back light relevant? Are LED light relevant as back light? I don't like to gel them cause they look inesthetic when on fields.

Here is a video of my last presentation (light set up at 2:42). I plan to put some led light on fields next time. Shot with Nikon D5500. Activities 100% legal. Don't hesitate to give me some tips to improve. Thank you.

 

I think a restaurant, bar is about the worse place I have ever tried to shoot video in. I bet @noone can chime in here about that. Lighting is All over the place Kelvin wise. Unless you set up a section that you can Stage a shot in, maybe other than where the cooks are, which seems pretty consistent lighting wise, you are asking for trouble. Plan ahead, is all I can say. And use a camera that has a Ton of DR, you will need it.

The booths are dark as heck, the bar is light as hell, reflections on mirrors at the bar, TV's suck to film, can't use 24fps, waitress opening doors in and out, maybe people lighting cigarettes, going to the restrooms, etc, Wow, is all I can say. And if you have a lot of different nationalities involved in there, Oh boy, that is fun in dark areas.

Hint, Hint, take a LOT of footage so you can salvage some of it!

[jcs]

3 hours ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Thank you guys for your advice. On my last video, I used a 5500K LED light (no modificator) as backlight. I put my camera WB as  tungsten so the LED turns blue . For the key light, I use a larger 3300K LED light with an umbrella (softer light). It's a pretty amateur and inexpensive set up, but what do you think of it? What should I modify?

For my next video, I plan to shoot people having fun in a restaurant. Are back light relevant? Are LED light relevant as back light? I don't like to gel them cause they look inesthetic when on fields.

Here is a video of my last presentation (light set up at 2:42). I plan to put some led light on fields next time. Shot with Nikon D5500. Activities 100% legal. Don't hesitate to give me some tips to improve. Thank you.

 

Shot from just past 2:42, skin tones look a bit off:

Adjusted by reducing color temp and magenta (Adobe Camera Raw as a filter),

Adding a warming filter (not perfect but looks more natural to me than original):

Are you guys shooting full metal jacket indoors (to keep lead out of the air)?

[Orangenz]

piece of blank white paper good for white balance as "tungsten" quite likely to miss the real temp (which I have done, oops). Auto is probably better. On the other topic, the number one highschool musical lighting problem is not having backlighting. All the actors just disappear into the background. 

[jonpais]

6 hours ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Thank you guys for your advice. On my last video, I used a 5500K LED light (no modificator) as backlight. I put my camera WB as  tungsten so the LED turns blue . For the key light, I use a larger 3300K LED light with an umbrella (softer light). It's a pretty amateur and inexpensive set up, but what do you think of it? What should I modify?

For my next video, I plan to shoot people having fun in a restaurant. Are back light relevant? Are LED light relevant as back light? I don't like to gel them cause they look inesthetic when on fields.

Here is a video of my last presentation (light set up at 2:42). I plan to put some led light on fields next time. Shot with Nikon D5500. Activities 100% legal. Don't hesitate to give me some tips to improve. Thank you.

 

I enjoyed your video, but I'm wondering - where did the detail of his face go? It looks like it was photo shopped or something...

Edit: I see jcs just pretty much nailed it. I really like to see skin texture, let alone color.

[Grégory LEROY]

18 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

I think a restaurant, bar is about the worse place I have ever tried to shoot video in. I bet @noone can chime in here about that. Lighting is All over the place Kelvin wise. Unless you set up a section that you can Stage a shot in, maybe other than where the cooks are, which seems pretty consistent lighting wise, you are asking for trouble. Plan ahead, is all I can say. And use a camera that has a Ton of DR, you will need it.

The booths are dark as heck, the bar is light as hell, reflections on mirrors at the bar, TV's suck to film, can't use 24fps, waitress opening doors in and out, maybe people lighting cigarettes, going to the restrooms, etc, Wow, is all I can say. And if you have a lot of different nationalities involved in there, Oh boy, that is fun in dark areas.

Hint, Hint, take a LOT of footage so you can salvage some of it!

thanks for you opinion. I've booked the vip part of the restaurant + the ambiant light is very dim, I think it be easier.

18 hours ago, jcs said:

Shot from just past 2:42, skin tones look a bit off:

Adjusted by reducing color temp and magenta (Adobe Camera Raw as a filter),

Adding a warming filter (not perfect but looks more natural to me than original):

Are you guys shooting full metal jacket indoors (to keep lead out of the air)?

Thanks for your color grading advice. Can I find this warming filter on premiere?

15 hours ago, jonpais said:

I enjoyed your video, but I'm wondering - where did the detail of his face go? It looks like it was photo shopped or something...

Edit: I see jcs just pretty much nailed it. I really like to see skin texture, let alone color.

Strange, I think it'soversharpen caus I forgot to decrease the sharpening to 0 when shooting. But Nikon 1080p is a bit soft, I agree

[jcs]

16 minutes ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Thanks for your color grading advice. Can I find this warming filter on premiere?

Strange, I think it'soversharpen caus I forgot to decrease the sharpening to 0 when shooting. But Nikon 1080p is a bit soft, I agree

This should work, from: https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/913091

"You can mimic the Photo filter effect in Premiere by making a colour matte with the same colour of the photo filter, super impose, set Blending modes to Hue and drop opacity to 25%."

[webrunner5]

56 minutes ago, Grégory LEROY said:

thanks for you opinion. I've booked the vip part of the restaurant + the ambiant light is very dim, I think it be easier.

Thanks for your color grading advice. Can I find this warming filter on premiere?

Strange, I think it'soversharpen caus I forgot to decrease the sharpening to 0 when shooting. But Nikon 1080p is a bit soft, I agree

Yes you can overcome just about Any lighting condition as long as it is Consistent. That is the trick. Your VIP section sounds like a good plan. It is not going to be an easy task as you well realize. Just come prepared, that is 3/4 of the battle, be ready for any need. Big trouble is that having a very fast lens leads to OOF footage. Probably not as bad as it used to be when I shot, better higher ISO in cameras now help you out a bit. Heck even better controllable lighting also now.

But you want to try to make it look as normal as it is. You are in a Dark restaurant, you Need to try to keep it looking that way. No easy task, but you are not the first one to have to shoot in this situation, Just take a deep breath and say it has and can be done LoL. Some restaurants have the ability to dim or brighten the lighting, you might luck out if they do.

Positive thinking, a fair amount of talent, and a bit of luck thrown in, and you can accomplish just about anything. Words you just about Have to live by to make money shooting.

[noone]

19 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

I think a restaurant, bar is about the worse place I have ever tried to shoot video in. I bet @noone can chime in here about that. Lighting is All over the place Kelvin wise. Unless you set up a section that you can Stage a shot in, maybe other than where the cooks are, which seems pretty consistent lighting wise, you are asking for trouble. Plan ahead, is all I can say. And use a camera that has a Ton of DR, you will need it.

The booths are dark as heck, the bar is light as hell, reflections on mirrors at the bar, TV's suck to film, can't use 24fps, waitress opening doors in and out, maybe people lighting cigarettes, going to the restrooms, etc, Wow, is all I can say. And if you have a lot of different nationalities involved in there, Oh boy, that is fun in dark areas.

Hint, Hint, take a LOT of footage so you can salvage some of it!

Sorry not me.

I take whatever lighting I get on a stage and sometimes backlight can help but away from the stage I will do whatever possible to avoid it.

My video is pretty basic and not much beyond recording songs live.          I doubt I would even try and light a dark restaurant and would also just take what I got.

Since I am mainly shooting stills, I hate back lighting generally.