Author: gmcd

Using Natural Light for Video

By Bylinegmcd on

Using Natural Light for Video

Quite often using natural light for your documentary video production is your only option. Bringing in lights and a lot of equipment and taking time to set everything up just isn’t feasible on many documentaries or docuseries.

That’s true for both feature documentaries and business docu-style videos where you’re filming interviews with busy executives and/or customers and you have a very short window of time to get your shot so you better move quickly! In these situations it’s essential to master the art of ‘using what you got’ which means making the most of natural light.

I seem to do a lot of shooting in natural light. Check out some of my photography.

Making use of window

There are many aspects of using natural light, each deserving its own post. So in this article I’m going to focus on using window light. Why? Because a docu-style video is probably the most common and widely produced format of business videos. And what do just about all of them involve? Filming interviews in a room with a window!

3 different looks with window light

Depending upon where you place your subject and camera, you will be able to get 3 different looks using the light from the window. No matter the look you’re going for, you usually don’t want direct sunlight. That is, sunlight that comes through the window and directly shines on the subject. Unless of course, you’re going to use direct sunlight for a specific look.

Generally speaking though, you want indirect light which will give you the most pleasing results and provides more versatility, not to mention no additional exposure issues. The three lighting setups below are based on indirect lighting.

Side light

Side light enables you to create more form in the image as it produces the most shadows.

A man gives an interview to camera in a corporate documentary style video
Subject is lit by a big window on the right and is augmented by a soft light. An edge light is added on the left behind the interviewee

The subject has one side toward the window with the other side away. Depending upon the amount of light and where exactly the subject is placed will determine the amount of shadow.

Rotate the subject from 45° toward the window to parallel with it to 45° away from the window to attain the degree of drama you’re looking for.

Related: Hemp Already video docuseries.

a candid photo of a redheaded woman after getting her makeup done
In this shot, the window is on the left side with heavy shadows on the opposite side

Front light

When front lighting, the subject faces the window. The cinematographer or photographer has their back to the window, In other words, you’re between the window and the subject.

This set up creates very few shadows on your subject. When facial features aren’t defined by shadows it’s called “flat” lighting. Flat lighting may sound like a negative but it’s often a desired look like in beauty videos so you can see the makeup clearly. It’s also desirable in a corporate video production that wants a bright and happy feel.

Flat lighting is created when the subject faces diffused window light that is directly behind the camera

Backlight

In backlit set ups, the window light is behind the subject and the camera faces it. This often results in the window light being blown out in the final image as the window light will be much brighter than the subject.

You can easily fix this by either bouncing light back on the subject with a reflector or by using a light. For interviews I usually don’t use a backlit set up and if I did, I would only do so when a more subtle backlight could be achieved.

Related: how to shoot beauty at the beach.

However, backlit shots are great for b-roll or other footage or images needed in your project. I certainly make use of them when the opportunity presents itself. For example, in the frame below we were filming a documentary video production about a musician at magic hour. The sun created a beautiful backlit scene for the conversation that was taking place.

The sun is behind the subjects and to the right, backlighting the scene and creating cool flares

So there you have it. Next time you’re scrambling to film your corporate video production with busy interviewees use the situation to your advantage and make use of natural light for your documentary video production.

The Shortest Horror Movie In The World

By Bylinegmcd on

The Shortest Horror Movie In The World

I give you – The Shortest Horror Movie In The World.

It’s got everything; an identifiable character, a universal theme, tension, mystery and a surprise ending that doesn’t spoon feed you the answer, leaving the interpretation up to you. All in 25 seconds. Only a slacker would need 2 hours to tell a story.

A silly spur-of-the-moment video I made while I was out location scouting although I’ve been told it’s better than the Blair Witch Project.

After my encounter in the desert, I’m happy to say I’m doing fine. It was a close call but I came out the other side. A little roughed up but okay.

A lot of hard work went into making this film and I’m very proud of the result. I think this is the one they’ll remember me for. It’s a pinnacle, a zenith, a high bar and a tough act to follow but I’m up for the challenge.

Related: using natural light for video

You never know what you’ll find location scouting

I was location scouting in the high desert for my short, Nowhere In The Universe when I shot this. It won Best Comedy Film and the Audience Choice Award at the LA Film Forum.

Scouting locations in the desert is always a good time for me. Strange, cool and/or creepy things always seem to to pop up.

Related post: watch my after party interview at the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festiva.

On this trip, I not only found the locations where we later shot the film at (where I made this video was one of them) but I also found several other locations that might be good for something some day.

Several broken down abandoned buildings and an interesting dry river bed stood out as places to make note of for future shoots. I also found a military zone as seen in the photo below.

Military zone with unexploded devices in the area

The sign says there are unexploded devices and dangerous weapons in the area and not to touch anything. No prob, you had my attention at ‘unexploded devices.

They don’t make motels like they used to

It was somewhat of a surprise to come across Roy’s Motel and Cafe on this trip. I had seen photographs of Roy’s before but wasn’t sure where it was. It’s located in Amboy, California on old Route 66.

The motel has long been out of operation and only a small gift shop is open inside the old gas station. However, I didn’t venture in. It looked like it was filled with the typical tourist crap you can find anywhere.

There’s a vacancy at Roy’s Motel & Cafe.

Although not in operation, the old motel rooms are open for people to walk in and check out. Helpful tip for when asking a tourist to take a photo of you: make sure they speak the language you do.

I asked this woman who got off a bus full of tourists if she could take a photo of me in front of the Roy’s sign. I said, “make sure you get the whole sign”. She nodded and trained my cell phone at me.

After snapping a couple of pics she handed my phone back to me and off she went to join back up with her tour group. I looked at the photos and this is what she took.

I asked her to make sure to get the whole sign. She smiled and nodded.

Well there’s my origin story on how the shortest horror movie in the world came to be.

Related: alien makeup timelapse.

Hemp Already Video Series

By Bylinegmcd on

Hemp Already Video Series

I’m very excited to announce my new show is up and online! The Hemp Already video series is an episodic docuseries about all things hemp.

It features the innovators disrupting the status quo and helping to save the planet by making products with sustainable and environmentally friendly hemp rather than resource depleting and often toxic traditional materials.

Hemp materials can be used to make tens of thousands of products. Construction materials, paper, plastics, clothing, textiles, biofuels, food, health products and more can all be made from hemp.

The series features the companies and people behind them that are leading the hemp movement.

Watch the first episode and subscribe to the Hemp Already youtube channel.

two people inspect a hemp plant on a farm in the video series Hemp Already
Erica Halverson of TINY e PAPER CO & Jonathan Payne inspect a hemp plant.

Why a hemp video series?

Everyone needs to know about hemp. 

Hemp is a sleeping giant and there’s a ton of excitement around the plant. Its renaissance has begun and people are using this miracle plant again to build all kinds of things. I want to bring the stories of these hemp innovators to the world to see!

Hemp is the most versatile, sustainable, renewable, carbon negative, deforestation saving, eco-friendly plant in the world.

It grows in 3-4 months, can grow almost anywhere – wild hemp grows in all 50 states, it uses less water than other crops such as corn or cotton, produces more fiber than cotton and more biomass than corn, doesn’t need herbicides or pesticides (or very little), regenerates the soil and has numerous other benefits. It truly is a miracle plant.

I want people to see there are alternatives to fossil fuels and resource depleting materials that can be used today. We’re not talking about far off, future technologies that may or may not ever come to fruition. Using the hemp plant can help save the environment and create new jobs and change industries right now.

Related: using natural light for video

hemp hurds for making hempcrete in episodic series Hemp Already
Hemp hurds, from the woody core of the plant.

Why did the hemp industry die out?

The first use of hemp dates back about 8,000 years ago. Hemp has been used for thousands of years for many products and was one of the largest agricultural crops up until the late 1800’s. Until then, most paper was made from hemp.

With the signing of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, lumping hemp together along with cannabis, it effectively killed the industrial hemp industry.

It’s such an efficient source material for so many things including timber and petroleum based products that it posed a major threat to those industries which played a part in the plants demise – hey, it’s competition so we need to squash it!

Related: No Words, a video poem about nature and our destruction of it.

What can be made from hemp?

There are tens of thousands of products that can be made from the plant instead of the unsustainable, greenhouse gas emitting, toxic and fossil fuel based materials that are being used now.

hemp plant with wood frame house
Hemp plant at a hempcrete build site.

The list of things that can be made from the hemp plant seem endless: negative carbon construction materials like hempcrete used in residential houses and commercial buildings for walls, ceilings and flooring, hemp insulation, hemp wood, fiberboard, carpets, paints, varnishes, inks. Any paper product can be made from hemp instead of trees.

Supercapacitor batteries (yes batteries!), plastics and bio composites (nearly all European car makers already use it for car parts), biofuel, diapers, mulch, animal bedding, all kinds of clothing (much more environmentally friendly than cotton), rope, canvas, beauty products like soaps, lotions, makeup, nail polish, shampoo and it can feed people and animals with a whole bunch of food products and can help us with our health and wellness with cannabinoid extracts.

This is just a short list of things that can be made from hemp. The Ministry of Hemp lists 82 products being made today from hemp. That’s just the beginning. Some estimate that there are 25,000 products that can be made from it while others estimate 50,000! Whatever the actual number is, its large.

Can you make paper from hemp?

Yes, you most certainly can. There are many benefits of hemp paper over tree paper. Episode 1 features hemp paper company TINY e PAPER CO of Long Beach, California and founder Erica Halverson.

a close up of a coffee cup holder made out of hemp paper in the video series Hemp Already
A coffee cup sleeve made out of hemp paper

TINY e PAPER CO is a startup that makes hemp paper out of hemp fiber and the left over plant materials or biowaste from CBD extractors.

Their mission is to get the world to switch over from tree to hemp paper, thereby putting a stop to world deforestation. We love people that think big and think you will too.

Be sure to check out episode one of the Hemp Already video series to see what a tiny company that thinks big can do!