I had a horror job the other day.
I knew what it was (2 head, weekly presentation to camera), when it was (2pm on a bright spring day) and thought I would have some small amount of control of where it would be (at the school I regularly work at, which I have mapped out in my head over the years).
I packed for decent sound with backup, chose the right tripod to fit into the limiting space provided by the teleprompter unit, a small camera and standard lens that would fit that tunnel vision dynamic.
We had time, we had prior knowledge, we had familiarity, yet one choice mixed with some inflexibility and me packing for any “reasonable” situation, not any “possible” situation, made it a nightmare.
To be fair to myself, this job was back to back with another two, so I had to pack a stills kit for a drama rehearsal, a mobile video kit for a creative piece and then the right gear for this, all in a man carry-able form.
When I arrived, still even a little early, the space had been selected by the head of comms for the school. That is a role that does not usually handle these jobs, being more concept than implementation, but two staff absences forced a cobbled together team.
It was a balcony facing out over the school sport grounds and conceptually, it was nice.
The reality was it was shooting from deep unlit shadow to bright sunlight, with minimal room to move and no lighting on hand.
I was in one of the “never do this” situations in videography.
Silhouette time?
The space was cramped, only just enough room to cram the two subjects into the frame. The teleprompter forces them to be close to the camera, but there is usually still enough distance to give them and me a little head room. Usually shot in 4k and delivered 1080, I can drift around the frame a little, but not this time, the frame was full.
Sound was decent.
We were potentially in a sort of wind tunnel as the prevailing wind came lengthways down the balcony and is surrounded by tall trees, but we lucked out this time. I managed to get a good track with my MKE-400 into the F2, a good enough backup into the H1n and even the camera (S5II) sound was decent enough (and that was under the teleprompter cover).
Exposure was where it fell apart.
You have a choice in this space without lights. Shoot for the subject and blow out the highlights, or shoot for the background and put the subjects into deep shadow. Neither is great, but the answer is obvious, lean into the subjects and do all you can to light them, so the background can be saved.
The HoCom’s did me a solid and went and grabbed one of the schools old Neewer 660 panels, but the old 570 batts were useless. I luckily had a few fresh 970’s and it came to life ……. just.
A 660 panel into strong sun, even with a dark work area, is like throwing a small fire cracker into a river to catch fish. All that happens is everyone gets annoyed. If I had packed fully, I would have at least had 3x 176 Neewer panels (almost as bright each), that I can join to make a super panel and a reflector or two, but even they are for indoor, not outdoor use.
The reality is, the only cheap and easily carried option is a reflector, using the sun itself and in this space, the sun was out of the picture, above and behind us. I had a 1.8 mist filter with me, which can reduce contrast a little, then I found a piece of white foam core, which also helped a little, and we were done.
The lens was the 35 Lumix 1.8 in APS-c mode. This allowed me to carry it as a 35mm for the earlier project and a 50mm for this, about the only focal length that fits the needs of the teleprompter.
Not too bad considering the image I was presented with at the start.
Just another day in paradise I guess.