Magic Hour Coverage

[kaos1000]

Mr. Mullen,
I realize that without a specific scene in mind, this might be difficult to answer. But, what the heck.

How much work do you try to get out of a single magic hour shoot?

Do you shoot the master on the first day, and then move like lightning every subsequent evening to grab as much as you can?

One set up per magic hour period?

Shoot the reverse in the morning magic period?

Thank you very much,

kaos

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I'm trying to do that right now on my current feature, shoot a car chase sequence as a series of dusk shots so I don't have to light miles of highway at night. It's a nightmare. Dusk here in New Mexico lasts only ten minutes, which generally gets you one shot, maybe two if you do only one take of the first. So you have to be set-up & rehearsed well before the sun sets to be ready.

 

[Lazlo]

yeah, recently this script I was shooting had about half of its scenes during "magic hour." It was my first experience with extensive shooting during this time, and I overestimated how much time I would have. Was sort of a disaster, tried to shoot too much in too short a time frame, learned that it lasts for about ten minutes... Wasted production days. Ended up just shooting it late afternoon. Once the sun goes down, everything starts to look pretty bad... and dark.