"La La Land" seems to be Hollywood's favorite film of the year. From the extraordinary opening dance scene on a Los Angeles freeway junction to the final dream sequence, it is doubtless an example of some of the best cinematography this year. If you're wondering how some of it was pulled off, check out these short behind-the-scenes clips to see how Hollywood really works its magic these days.
I have to give a nod to everyone involved in "La La Land." It really is a masterpiece in many ways. Still, part of me wanted to hate it – its trying-to-be-normal-but-still-cheesy dancing, the less-than-stellar singing, the way the first half was actually more of a musical, but left the second half more as a conventional film... And yet, the cinematography was superb, the story astounded, and the acting (once everyone stopped singing) cut through the projection and came straight into the theater – Emma Stone in that one-on-one dinner scene, anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYzlo4aApuA
I felt quite vindicated with the New York Times article that put my feelings into words at which I couldn't quite arrive until I read them online. I will certainly be sharing that one with the rest of my family that wasn't as hung up as I was on the lack of musical quality throughout the film and chalked it up to a desired effect to make it all seem more real and life-like (a sort of cute charm of imperfection, if you will).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUpv-DhEDQw
I still loved "La La Land" for the story, of which the films final "alternate ending" dream sequence was certainly its pinnacle. Without the excellently executed cinematography throughout the entire film leading up to this sequence, however, this scene would have simply outdone the entire film to such and extent that it would have been more jarring than amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rVs1tSBLgY
[via NoFilmSchool]
Why don't they make feature BTS movies or TV shows that show how movies are made. I would seriously enjoy watching that more than the movie.
That's such a good question. You always see big shows and movies do some BTS stuff, but mostly on-set with actors and in extremely limited capacities. You'd think they'd see the incredible marketing benefit of including as much as possible. People would kill for even a full-length version of those VFX breakdowns that would run the length of the movie.
I wish Hollywood was a little smarter about this. Good point.
BTS stuff only seems to make it to DVD and Blu-Ray extras. As much as I find that interesting, ironically I don't want that stuff on my discs. I'd prefer bandwidth being maxed out to maximize image and audio quality, which can vary dramatically.
I'd be remiss if I didn't share this timely photo entitled "Lie Lie Land"
via: https://www.instagram.com/p/BQvYHs_hpSf/?taken-by=mnml.me
I grew up loving musicals and still like those old ones enough to own many of them on Blu-Ray. I just can't get myself to watch a modern day one in their entirely. Looking at some of those dance scenes for this movie, for example, has me believing something special is missing.
These camera movements are amazing, really cool BTS of the La La Land set
I am new to cinematography. This is just my understanding. Please go through the following.
Goal: To get a blue cast in the final output (the best look).
Lighting Source: LED or Flourscent Light (tempearture 5500K)
Procedures:
1. Adjusting the color in-camera (changing color temperature) :
To Do: Temperature in camera should be chosen to Tungsten or below 3200K
2. By using lighting (Gels)
To Do: Temperature in camera should be chosen to Daylight and use CTB Gels on top of it.
3. Completely doing in post (color grading).
To Do: get a balanced flat video in-camera with out any color cast. Temperature in camera should be chosen to Daylight
What is the best approach from the above or is there any other best approach?
All of these options are possible ways to change your the color of various parts of your films. Keep in mind that any changes to lighting (via different lights or gels, etc.) will only change the color of objects/parts of your frame upon which that light falls. The objects in the rest of the image will keep the same color (and additionally, the relationship of color between ALL objects in the image will change in relation to one another.
It sounds as though you're trying to get you films to have a cinematic look (one type of which is the ever-common blue/yellow tone). In this case, color grading is really what you want to look into in order to change your entire frame evenly. I would think of changing the color temperature of your lights in situations in which you're trying to match other light sources, but need better exposure for certain areas of your frame (unless, of course, you're going for something very stylized...but even then, that stylized bit will probably match whatever scene you're going after...i.e. neon lights in a club, green-lit hallway, etc.).