Yes, we still hand draw out storyboards.

A recent commercial video production for a karate school found us mixing a creative combination of lighting, frame rates, and camera movement to capture a dynamic  “anthem” style promotional video, destined for youtube.

The Setup

The camera had to be rotated around the subject, isolating the movement to one axis. A lightweight dolly on a 360 track was the tool of choice here. We also needed a punchy-contrasty look, so we decided to go with one simple overhead light source. This  provided a soft Rembrandt lighting setup with a deep contrast. The entire sequence needed be shot at 60 frames per second, so that we could utilize speed ramps. This was necessary to slow some of the action and speed through some of the slower subject movements. The speed ramps add a dynamic element to the finished piece. All good for this youtube promotional video shoot – but we did run into some challenges.

When considering the lighting for the location, we knew we were going to have to play around with flags and large pieces of blackout fabric. We managed to knock out all of the outside light except the light that spilled in through the giant warehouse cutout doorway. The spill was confined so that it really only affected the background brightness, which we were able to minimize with some blackout fabric. The challenge here was keeping the background brightness consistent through the full rotation of the camera (accounting for the varying heights of the talent – of which there were many!).

BTS images below (courtesy of Jeff Morgan). Final video to follow, in time.