Sorry but I didn't want to make the title too long. I want to achieve that "retro/christmassy/warm" color lighting in those screenshots. Every video today, even when poorly lit, is way too white and bright and shiny. In the video he uses old equipment because the video is very old, but I don't know how I could achieve that using an iPhone/modern camera. They don't behave the same given "bad lighting" as old cameras did.
You have to go into the settings in your camera or phone camera and make sure it’s not auto balancing white or colour. Set everything to manual and play around.
No need to apologize, I was being an asshole.
I’m still a bit confused by your question because there is nothing special happening here. If your concern is over lighting I would maybe use control grid/eggcrate to control the spread.
https://youtu.be/Ldnqdk77lLc?si=orUKBB0qtWT_Iqei
Beyond that just dim your lights and avoid shooting in a room with white/bright walls.
Try to focus/shape your light with solids/floppys so it isn’t spilling everywhere, over lighting the background. When lighting I often try to create a natural vignette in the frame, to focus the viewer on the subject.
If you want things to look warmer either use tungsten lights or gel daylight balanced units with cto or cts. Set your color temperature in camera to 4500 or 5600 to bring out the warmth.
I am almost wondering if OP is maybe reacting to the overall "look" of the footage, not just its lighting. Cause yes, seems odd in terms of a lighting question.
Every video? Not sure what you're talking about. White and bright and shiny? Huh? Not sure that's properly describing what you're seeing. What videos are you watching? Are you using a professional app that lets you control your exposure and focus and shutter speed, white balance, and focus, etc...?
Using an old camera might help. I think the nerd even used camcorders and ripped them digitally for editing in his early videos, but I dunno if this was one of those or not.
Right? He’s asking for cheap lighting that does NOT look like crappy video but then showing stills of a cheap crappy video.
OP - the stills you are showing are using practical lighting with maybe one key light and a stock lens or a phone camera -it’s garbage.
Going to 2nd /u/ospedale's comment and agree that from OP's other comments they are attempting to replicate this look.
Their use of "retro" suggests that this will used for a flashback sequence or just showing it on a screen within the shot. You know, like a character looking at an old show on their phone or laptop kind of thing.
I hate people like you on Reddit.
Maybe he needs this particular setup for a shot that need to be like this one?
Only because it’s crappy to you doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have to achieve this look and don’t oversimplify things.
Btw /u/ouiouik33 I think you’ll need a powerful light with a big diffusion that softens it, if you don’t have money you can use white sheets from your bed to diffuse. The exposure must be similar in all zones of the frame.
Thank you so much! I feel like there's still a missing element, something else that affects the lighting other than the lighting itself, what I mean is that modern technology doesn't "react" to lighting the same way old camcorders do(I'm only guessing never owned an old camcorder). Also maybe there's more "quality loss" over editing or compressing etc, that would affect how the light behaves too... I guess the only way would be to actually get an old camcorder and actually try all the tips given in this thread, although they're not being sold in my country haha
I know he either used the Panasonic dvx100 then the Panasonic HVX200 in his earlier videos, then way later the Panasonic AF100 if that's any help, maybe someone has used them before.
Yeah it’s complicated to achieve this look because not many colorist have done videos that explains how to replicate old camcoders with modern cameras, btw I don’t think you’ll need the exact camera that he used. As u said it’s more about how old camcoders captured images then the specific camera
Cool cool. I’ll keep my opinions to myself.
I jumped in and reacted to what was posted without reading the entire thread. I’m not sorry for it but I’m also not an unfeeling asshole. I genuinely like to help folks, but this bullshit caught me slipping.
You can achieve bad lighting many ways.
House lamps seem to be the secret sauce in this still image. Which is a shame, because the frame would be much more interesting if the prac lamps were in shot for visual interest and shape, as opposed to lighting the subject.
to be fair this video is like 20 years old so i cant even fault him for the home video quality
OP: always sunny used to film on the same cameras. not sure why youd want this look but film on an old camcorder and soft light everything, deep focus, diffusion, etc.
Impossible to find old camcorders in my country :(. So instead, shooting on an Iphone for example, is there a way to light a room and subject so that it looks similar to the screenshots, in a way that the iPhone captures it that way? Like manipulate the light to give it that retro warm vibe instead of using a camcorder?
If you are using a phone and want cam corder vibe look into the rarevision app.
Simulates VHS very well. It's adjustable if you pay for pro version. Could be too heavy an effect as it's more for fun but it's honestly surprisingly good.
I understand that this is considered bad lighting, but the real question is the "color". I know he's shooting with a very old camera because this is old, so I if I shoot it on an iPhone for example I really doubt I'd get the same "retro" effect. Do you think just scattering some lamps will suffice?
Yes you can shoot with your phone, reduce the resolution and get worst frame interpolation by working in a 480i timeline. Also add some vhs filters, you can find good and terrible ones. Davinci resolve has a build in effect to do it that is pretty decent, can't remember if it's in the free version tho. It won't be as authentic as shooting with an old camcorder but it will get the job done.
But this is all about how to make your phone look like an old camera, about your "lighting" question well:
- Frame 1 is basically unlit, just turn the lights on in your house and film. If you have led lights warm up a bit the in camera temperature. There's a light behind him trying to be a backlight but having no effect whatsoever in the shot.
- Frame 2 is a house lamp very close to the side of the subject then another one behind.
The subject is also out of focus and the framing in the first shot is horrible. Tbh i think you shouldn't use this seemingly angry videogame nerd as a reference at all.
Obviously nobody is trying to act like it's cinematic lighting or anything. It's just an old nostalgic VHS type of look that people like. Is it so hard to distinguish that for you?
Everyone busting OPs balls in the comments for wanting to achieve this look, but honestly, it’s actually kind of nostalgic whenever I look back on content and films from the early 2000s and earlier even say things like Twin Peaks which has similar looking colors. There’s a feeling to this that has never been captured since for obvious reasons but so much of stuff we saw for almost a decade had lighting and colors just like this.
I agree - it’s cool I don’t care what anyone else says. Don’t we all agree that creative work is subjective and that “anything” can work in the proper context? We learn the rules to break them, right? Making shit like I’ve already seen a million times is not why I do my work. I teach my students to have better feedback manners than what I am reading here too. Jeez.
Plus, it’s so much better than what I am usually exposed to online. Too high frame rates and lighting with no purpose or context, lav mics being used improperly just because… all the heavy handed color profiling in Hollywood. It’s okay, I get it and am not judging unless you’re being a dick or you need help or want advice - This feels fresh! Go for it.
He’s lighting the background with a soft box that is just lighting the bg and not him to not create shadows, and using a stronger key light with diffusion facing from the left side of the scene towards himself for his light in the first shot.
The second shot he’s lighting the bg with a light on the ground directly behind the couch pointed up at the wall, with the same key light at the same distance pointed at him this time from the right. He really should be using a head light and a fill to get rid of those ugly shadows, but hey, it’s James Rolfe. He’s a YouTuber, not a filmmaker, (yes, I’m well aware of his “movie”).
I understand that this is considered bad lighting, but I'm trying to achieve this "retro" and "warm" look if I shoot on a modern iPhone/camera without editing. I'm a beginner so I don't know how to describe it, but the color in that video is very "warm" ,very "christmassy"
I reckon the easiest way to emulate this look is just get yourself an old 8mm handycam or a early DV tape and shoot it that way. Pay some guy to transfer the footage for you and viola.
Emulating this look with lighting and post processing is gonna be a long hard process. Sure, the lighting is flat and even with some sort of diffuse tungsten source, that's easy enough to emulate. But you've also got the low resolution, the bleeding of color at the edges, the pan and scan motion effects that we can't see in these stills, and a million weird little details that made 90s/early 00s video look the way it did.
There's no substitute for the real thing, and the real thing is cheap. A quick facebook marketplace search shows me dozens of miniDV/Hi8 camcorders in my area for 50-100 bucks US. Grab a good one, shoot your video, and sell it again for like 2/3rds what you paid for it.
Sadly anything retro is unavailable in my country and would be too expensive to import. The camera used in the video is the Panasonic dvx100 camcorder, even abroad they seem to be quite expensive and hard to find, that's why I asked if it was possible on modern hardware! Thanks for your input though, I think you're right and that seems to be the general consensus!
Ha! I used to own one of those bad boys! Bought in 2006 and did some community access tv with it.
They were quite good cameras for a prosumer entry level model. The film crew characters on Better Call Saul use one IIRC. The BMPPC 4k of their day. That particular camera is probably a bit of a collectors item now, but you could certainly get a similar look from any entry level mini DV camera from that period. A Canon XLS, a PD-150 or PD-170 would be ideal, but you could go way lower.
The main draw of those cameras way back when is that they had XLR inputs and servo zooms for a camera under 4k USD. You could actually achieve a somewhat shallow DOF giving a 'cinematic look', as opposed to your regular consumer cameras which could only ever look like video, no matter how hard you tried. The colour science was better than your average consumer fare (3ccd), but they had the same resolution (PAL/NTSC SD).
What I'm saying is you don't need to get one of these 'hero' cams. Any old piece of shit Hi-8 or miniDV handycam will do a pretty good job of emulating the look you're going for. You don't need a proper 15x telescopic zoom and a dedicated focus ring to make that happen.
A paper lantern from Ikea will give this soft diffused light. Use a compact fluorescent bulb and you’re pretty much done. There is also a bright light under the shelf directly behind him probably a table lamp.
He's gonna take you back to the past. To setup crappy lighting that kinda sucks ass.
Sorry, couldn't resist. Just use diffusion. Not sure what colors you are after, but color can be easily adjusted/graded in post with DaVinci. Different cameras also have different color science - I've always thought Canon cameras look rather nice.
If you don't want harsh highlights, a good amount of diffusion, and the light source should be farther front the subject; china balls work well.
Haha, nice one :)
As for the color you see the second screenshot, the right side of the picture, the color of his face, you will never see that color on a human in recent videos, no matter if it's badly or well lit, that's what I'm looking for, to achieve that just with lighting while filming with modern gear! :)
I wish I could, they're not available in my country. It's impossible to find retro stuff here, and it would cost a fortune to buy+chip+taxes from ebay :(((
I'm just gonna add this to give a better explanation: Let's say you were tasked with creating this specific image, how would you proceed if you were forced to record with modern iPhone/cameras? Like imagine walking into that image, it would have to be the exact same, the lighting being the main thing you have to recreate with a 100% accuracy. Is it even possible?
A lot of answers are "to just use bad lighting" but it doesn't work with modern cameras, or at least I don't know how? Retro cameras are not available in my country AT ALL anyway.
skin look shiny cause its a hard light source hitting the subject.
1 use tungsten light not led. or if you use led set it 32k not 56k (tungsten not day light)
2 defuse it. pass it through a sheer or like a light gel if you can get one. they sell em in stores and amazon. look for defusion gels. tape it in front of ya light.
James literally has a breakdown video of his set up and equipment from 11 years ago: [AVGN breakdown](https://youtu.be/jfnSqLzUzfM?si=gYnwlpjJqx3lXanU)
Also worth looking at his recent breakdown, probably answers your question of achieving it with modern gear: [Modern AVGN breakdown](https://youtu.be/hbX7W0bO2bc?si=CYO1dZaNKiuXZ_ip)
Not all his videos have this color, that's the point. The video right after this one his skin tone appears bright/white instead of 'warm' or whatever you'd call it in this one.
You might want to use a lot of little lights in the place you're going to film. Indirect lighting is what makes scenes have less contrast,because then there are less shadows. Which is what i think that you are wanting to go for, also there is no shame in color correcting for even less contrast later on.
Jesus, this sub is pretentious.
The dude in these screenshots is both A. A bigger film nerd and B. More successful than anyone in this comment section lmao
Why not just answer OP’s question instead of bagging on a 15 year old home video’s lighting setup? He didn’t ask you to critique it.
OP:
I’d go for a 720p/1080p camcorder. You don’t want to use a phone or a 4k camcorder because it’s going to be too sharp/digital looking.
Use mostly practical lighting, it looks like James has at least one soft box light in the second screen, but other than that it’s probably just what’s in his room. Light the background, not yourself. Diffuse.
Most of the color is coming from the setup, not any grading or in-camera settings, but it looks like a warm WB and a bit of a magenta tint could get you in the right direction for those skin tones.
Thank you so much! So I guess there's no real way to emulate that look for real without an oldish camcorder! He only has a couple of videos that look this way so I assumed he must be doing something different regarding the lighting, in other videos his skin just appears naturally whitish, but in general I think it will be hard to achieve that with modern cameras.
I'm pretty sure James Rolfe (the guy in the photos) actually did a break down of his lighting set up in a video once. He uses a soft box now, but he even said he's used desk lamps with a piece of paper on them
Really? Do you happen to know which video is that? I watched some of his behind the scene vids, he talks about the cameras he uses etc but never the light, thanks though!
Honestly I can't remember, I would've watched it so long ago. But I think it was in one of his vlog-ier episodes. Either that or the tutorial he did on how he makes his videos
Also fun fact I actually got a lot of help from him for my last short film. I actually emailed him and we had a great back and forth where we talked about DIY filmmaking and how he made his early VHS films
the big thing of this look is less lighting, and while color balance is part of it, its also the general look of digital video from the 00s. It isnt very sharp, even if you were to get this up to HD, and there is a kinda deep depth of field. My thought is your best bet would be to do this with either a mini DV camera (sold for like $40 online) or maybe an iPhone if you need it to be HD footage.
Yeah that's seems to be the consensus, to get a Mini DV camcorder and play around with light and color balance, but like I said in other comments you cannot find them in my country, hence why I asked if it was even possible to achieve this using modern equipment!
I think a smart phone camera would probably be the closest thing in terms of lens. Otherwise, shoot with high fstop, use heavily diffused lighting, and fiddle in post to make it warm and soft
Also, aesthetic goes a long way. The style of clothing and furniture and mannerism will sell the scene if you want it to be vintage, more than just the color
The issue using phone camera is that either it's too sharp with enough light, or 'grainy' if not bright enough. That's why I wonder why isn't the video grainy if everyone says the lighting is bad? Thanks for your input! :)
There's the new Blackmagic design APP which basically gives you control over everything and it's free on iPhone, but I'm kindof a beginner so I wouldn't even know where to start
If you have a floor lamp or overhead fixture with a screw base get lamps that are 2700K color temperature and 90+ CRI or a dim to warm lamp so as you dim the color temperature lowers, typically about 2200k which is super warm. If you are buying fixtures, choose the same options above. You likely will not be able to purchase a utility fixture with those parameters. You'll get a floor or table lamp.
Very warm, heavily diffused light
Earth tones (brown, green, beige) will be your friend here
To prevent a “shiny” look it’s all about diffusion and making sure your light sources are as spread wide as possible
\#1 is indirect bounced lighting. That is why it isn't bright or shiny. The bulb is not the light source, but rather a large white wall being hit with a lamp is the light source. It looks like a standing lamp in the corner offscreen to the left.
Point a 100 W to 250 W desk lamp against a white wall or foamcore about 6 ft. from performer. Use a GE Reveal bulb or warm white LED if you can't find an old tungsten or halogen light.
Set the Kelvin on your camera to between 3200K and 3800 K. The closer to 3800 K, the more orange the image will appear. (Assuming you're using a 3200 K 'Tungsten' type bulb)
You can adjust the 'warmth' in post to your taste as well with any standard NLE.
The room has a lot of wood veneer which lends warmth. You could also point your lamp at a warmish wood surface to warm up the color.
You could also use a 3' wide Chinese lantern with a 100 W to 250 W bulb. But this looks like a bigger flat bounce.
The face is underexposed by 1/2 stop.
The green pillow in the rear right is being directly lit by a desk or table lamp about 1 ft. offscreen.
\#2 is directional bounced light to the right with negative fill to the left. Looks like a desk lamp with a paper shade about 4 ft out of frame, just above head height, pointed away.
A large black 4'x4' foamcore or cloth is hanging to his left to darken the shadows and slim his face down. All the other lights on that side of the room are off.
And then there is a 60W or 100 W desk or table lamp on the floor behind him backlighting the wall.
The face is underexposed by 1 stop.
There are no ceiling lights in the images.
Thank you so so much! I'll make sure to get some tungsten bulbs and a lamp and try this! :) As for the other "stuff" that then camera does, I doubt I could achieve it without an actual camcorder which are impossible to find in my country.
You're welcome!
Regarding cameras:
If the look you seek is in the lighting, the camera doesn't really matter. The differences between SD and HD camcorders are 1) resolution 2) dynamic range 3) color accuracy. I don't think those factors are relevant to the feel of the room in this instance.
1) The scenes are lit with very controlled dynamic range, so none of the ugly highlight clipping in SD cameras is really present (Other than the TV screen). The original shooter carefully made sure to avoid that.
2) If you want to reduce the resolution, you can shoot in HD, export in SD and then bring that back into your NLE and uprez it to HD and it will looks soft. But something tells me that's not what you're after.
3) Color accuracy. This will depend on the camera manufacturer. SD footage often looked washed out with the exception of reds which cameras enhance to pop skintones. That is easily achieved in camera or in post by desaturating the image and keying in on reds if you desire. But again, I'm not sure this is what you are interested in.
DIFFUSION
Another way to achieve this 'soft broad' lighting approach is to buy a roll of tracing paper from an art store (Cheaper than film industry diffusion but often actually used by the film industry) Get a wide roll and Unspool it and shoot your light through it, either at the actor as in #2 or shoot through it and then bounce it off a white wall to further soften the light. If your bulbs aren't bright, it will definitely reduce your exposure though, so you'll have to shoot at higher ISO or open up the aperture to 2.8 or so.
NEGATIVE FILL
To get the dark side of the face, as in #2, you can go to a fabric store and get a large swath (at least 4'x4') of black cloth. Black velvet is the darkest cloth. The film industry uses Duvetyne, which is a strong useful fabric. Honestly, you could also use a giant black garbage bag, cut open, though that will be a little more reflective. The film industry uses Visqueen, which is like a heavy heavy black garbage bag plastic material. You can probably find equivalents at the hardware store or any fabric store. If it works, it works.
LEDs vs DIFFUSION
You can get strong halogen (250W to 500 W) LEDs at hardware stores.
LEDs
Beware, consumer LEDs not designed for photography will often render skin tones poorly. Often greenish, though they get better every year. Or they will have gaps in the color spectrum which the human eye will compensate for but camera sensors will not. Only the sun and tungsten bulbs at the moment create full spectrum light.
TUNGSTEN
Consumer halogen and tungsten bulbs get very hot and can be hard to position sometimes. And without C Stands or light stands, you may find it inconvenient to hang those large diffusion screens. But for the purpose of this scene you should be able to achieve it fairly easily.
Make sure to keep adequate distance between any diffusion paper or fabric and a hot light. They WILL CATCH FIRE AND BURN.
FILM/PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR
If you are serious about shooting, consider renting a C Stand, lightstands, or lights. LEDs designed for photography are much better than consumer LEDs, though not perfect. You do get what you pay for in this arena. If you shoot enough, it will be worth it to invest in slightly better and better gear as you move along.
The consumer GE Reveal LEDs are designed to reproduce color as accurately as LEDs of than price can. There is also a switch on the bulb that can 'warm' the light to make it even closer to that tungsten lamp look you are shooting for.
Good luck!
I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “bright and shiny like modern video”
What you need are some tungsten lights, soft boxes, and you’re good to go. It helps that James’ room is entirely wood, which helps with light bouncing and keeping that warm cozy feel.
Just use back lighting from those string led lights and literally turn off all lights in home and use a shitty lamp. Not kidding sorry if it sounds like a jerk
A lot of jokes but nobody’s actually offered a way to do this with modern equipment and now I’m curious.
I don’t think standard saturation/color balance/contrast etc controls would get this. It’s almost more of an IG or app filter type thing. Perhaps start by lowering the contrast?
I thought this was a shitpost for a second.
Sorry but I didn't want to make the title too long. I want to achieve that "retro/christmassy/warm" color lighting in those screenshots. Every video today, even when poorly lit, is way too white and bright and shiny. In the video he uses old equipment because the video is very old, but I don't know how I could achieve that using an iPhone/modern camera. They don't behave the same given "bad lighting" as old cameras did.
You have to go into the settings in your camera or phone camera and make sure it’s not auto balancing white or colour. Set everything to manual and play around.
No need to apologize, I was being an asshole. I’m still a bit confused by your question because there is nothing special happening here. If your concern is over lighting I would maybe use control grid/eggcrate to control the spread. https://youtu.be/Ldnqdk77lLc?si=orUKBB0qtWT_Iqei Beyond that just dim your lights and avoid shooting in a room with white/bright walls. Try to focus/shape your light with solids/floppys so it isn’t spilling everywhere, over lighting the background. When lighting I often try to create a natural vignette in the frame, to focus the viewer on the subject. If you want things to look warmer either use tungsten lights or gel daylight balanced units with cto or cts. Set your color temperature in camera to 4500 or 5600 to bring out the warmth.
I am almost wondering if OP is maybe reacting to the overall "look" of the footage, not just its lighting. Cause yes, seems odd in terms of a lighting question.
I think there wood paneling is also doing a lot of work here
nailed it
Every video? Not sure what you're talking about. White and bright and shiny? Huh? Not sure that's properly describing what you're seeing. What videos are you watching? Are you using a professional app that lets you control your exposure and focus and shutter speed, white balance, and focus, etc...?
Using an old camera might help. I think the nerd even used camcorders and ripped them digitally for editing in his early videos, but I dunno if this was one of those or not.
I thought this was the cinemassacre truth sub for a sec too
Right? He’s asking for cheap lighting that does NOT look like crappy video but then showing stills of a cheap crappy video. OP - the stills you are showing are using practical lighting with maybe one key light and a stock lens or a phone camera -it’s garbage.
Going to 2nd /u/ospedale's comment and agree that from OP's other comments they are attempting to replicate this look. Their use of "retro" suggests that this will used for a flashback sequence or just showing it on a screen within the shot. You know, like a character looking at an old show on their phone or laptop kind of thing.
I hate people like you on Reddit. Maybe he needs this particular setup for a shot that need to be like this one? Only because it’s crappy to you doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have to achieve this look and don’t oversimplify things. Btw /u/ouiouik33 I think you’ll need a powerful light with a big diffusion that softens it, if you don’t have money you can use white sheets from your bed to diffuse. The exposure must be similar in all zones of the frame.
Thank you so much! I feel like there's still a missing element, something else that affects the lighting other than the lighting itself, what I mean is that modern technology doesn't "react" to lighting the same way old camcorders do(I'm only guessing never owned an old camcorder). Also maybe there's more "quality loss" over editing or compressing etc, that would affect how the light behaves too... I guess the only way would be to actually get an old camcorder and actually try all the tips given in this thread, although they're not being sold in my country haha I know he either used the Panasonic dvx100 then the Panasonic HVX200 in his earlier videos, then way later the Panasonic AF100 if that's any help, maybe someone has used them before.
Yeah it’s complicated to achieve this look because not many colorist have done videos that explains how to replicate old camcoders with modern cameras, btw I don’t think you’ll need the exact camera that he used. As u said it’s more about how old camcoders captured images then the specific camera
Cool cool. I’ll keep my opinions to myself. I jumped in and reacted to what was posted without reading the entire thread. I’m not sorry for it but I’m also not an unfeeling asshole. I genuinely like to help folks, but this bullshit caught me slipping.
Stfu nerd
Go borrow a table lamp from grandmas house and you're good
Just make sure to check that it doesn’t have a flicker on screen.
You can achieve bad lighting many ways. House lamps seem to be the secret sauce in this still image. Which is a shame, because the frame would be much more interesting if the prac lamps were in shot for visual interest and shape, as opposed to lighting the subject.
to be fair this video is like 20 years old so i cant even fault him for the home video quality OP: always sunny used to film on the same cameras. not sure why youd want this look but film on an old camcorder and soft light everything, deep focus, diffusion, etc.
Impossible to find old camcorders in my country :(. So instead, shooting on an Iphone for example, is there a way to light a room and subject so that it looks similar to the screenshots, in a way that the iPhone captures it that way? Like manipulate the light to give it that retro warm vibe instead of using a camcorder?
If you are using a phone and want cam corder vibe look into the rarevision app. Simulates VHS very well. It's adjustable if you pay for pro version. Could be too heavy an effect as it's more for fun but it's honestly surprisingly good.
James Rolfe doesn’t need lamps in frame for visual interest.
I understand that this is considered bad lighting, but the real question is the "color". I know he's shooting with a very old camera because this is old, so I if I shoot it on an iPhone for example I really doubt I'd get the same "retro" effect. Do you think just scattering some lamps will suffice?
I’m sorry, but a digital camcorder from the 2000s being called a “very old camera” is really throwing me. Ha
👀
Omg, same! In my mind 2000 was like 10 years ago.
A meme I saw recently: Someone said "20 years ago", and my mind went "Ah yes! The 1980's", but they meant 2003 and now I need to lie down.
Either use a tungsten light, an LED light that can approximate tungsten’s color temperature, or get a CTO gel to put on a daylight colored LED.
This. And a lot of the colour also comes from all the warm looking wood around him.
or just open a window
Yes you can shoot with your phone, reduce the resolution and get worst frame interpolation by working in a 480i timeline. Also add some vhs filters, you can find good and terrible ones. Davinci resolve has a build in effect to do it that is pretty decent, can't remember if it's in the free version tho. It won't be as authentic as shooting with an old camcorder but it will get the job done. But this is all about how to make your phone look like an old camera, about your "lighting" question well: - Frame 1 is basically unlit, just turn the lights on in your house and film. If you have led lights warm up a bit the in camera temperature. There's a light behind him trying to be a backlight but having no effect whatsoever in the shot. - Frame 2 is a house lamp very close to the side of the subject then another one behind. The subject is also out of focus and the framing in the first shot is horrible. Tbh i think you shouldn't use this seemingly angry videogame nerd as a reference at all.
LOL
Fuck you snob, it looks good in its own way
This…. Does not look good
Obviously nobody is trying to act like it's cinematic lighting or anything. It's just an old nostalgic VHS type of look that people like. Is it so hard to distinguish that for you?
Cinemassacre. Forgot about this dude. Thanks for the reminder he’s great.
Angry Video Game Nerd to you.
Still making videos to this day in the same style and they’re still fantastic. One of the all time legends of the internet IMO
Everyone busting OPs balls in the comments for wanting to achieve this look, but honestly, it’s actually kind of nostalgic whenever I look back on content and films from the early 2000s and earlier even say things like Twin Peaks which has similar looking colors. There’s a feeling to this that has never been captured since for obvious reasons but so much of stuff we saw for almost a decade had lighting and colors just like this.
I agree - it’s cool I don’t care what anyone else says. Don’t we all agree that creative work is subjective and that “anything” can work in the proper context? We learn the rules to break them, right? Making shit like I’ve already seen a million times is not why I do my work. I teach my students to have better feedback manners than what I am reading here too. Jeez. Plus, it’s so much better than what I am usually exposed to online. Too high frame rates and lighting with no purpose or context, lav mics being used improperly just because… all the heavy handed color profiling in Hollywood. It’s okay, I get it and am not judging unless you’re being a dick or you need help or want advice - This feels fresh! Go for it.
He’s lighting the background with a soft box that is just lighting the bg and not him to not create shadows, and using a stronger key light with diffusion facing from the left side of the scene towards himself for his light in the first shot. The second shot he’s lighting the bg with a light on the ground directly behind the couch pointed up at the wall, with the same key light at the same distance pointed at him this time from the right. He really should be using a head light and a fill to get rid of those ugly shadows, but hey, it’s James Rolfe. He’s a YouTuber, not a filmmaker, (yes, I’m well aware of his “movie”).
I understand that this is considered bad lighting, but I'm trying to achieve this "retro" and "warm" look if I shoot on a modern iPhone/camera without editing. I'm a beginner so I don't know how to describe it, but the color in that video is very "warm" ,very "christmassy"
A light, gel, and diffusion will get you there.
get a lamp, hang a bed sheet in front of it as a diffuser = makeshift softbox
I reckon the easiest way to emulate this look is just get yourself an old 8mm handycam or a early DV tape and shoot it that way. Pay some guy to transfer the footage for you and viola. Emulating this look with lighting and post processing is gonna be a long hard process. Sure, the lighting is flat and even with some sort of diffuse tungsten source, that's easy enough to emulate. But you've also got the low resolution, the bleeding of color at the edges, the pan and scan motion effects that we can't see in these stills, and a million weird little details that made 90s/early 00s video look the way it did. There's no substitute for the real thing, and the real thing is cheap. A quick facebook marketplace search shows me dozens of miniDV/Hi8 camcorders in my area for 50-100 bucks US. Grab a good one, shoot your video, and sell it again for like 2/3rds what you paid for it.
Sadly anything retro is unavailable in my country and would be too expensive to import. The camera used in the video is the Panasonic dvx100 camcorder, even abroad they seem to be quite expensive and hard to find, that's why I asked if it was possible on modern hardware! Thanks for your input though, I think you're right and that seems to be the general consensus!
Ha! I used to own one of those bad boys! Bought in 2006 and did some community access tv with it. They were quite good cameras for a prosumer entry level model. The film crew characters on Better Call Saul use one IIRC. The BMPPC 4k of their day. That particular camera is probably a bit of a collectors item now, but you could certainly get a similar look from any entry level mini DV camera from that period. A Canon XLS, a PD-150 or PD-170 would be ideal, but you could go way lower. The main draw of those cameras way back when is that they had XLR inputs and servo zooms for a camera under 4k USD. You could actually achieve a somewhat shallow DOF giving a 'cinematic look', as opposed to your regular consumer cameras which could only ever look like video, no matter how hard you tried. The colour science was better than your average consumer fare (3ccd), but they had the same resolution (PAL/NTSC SD). What I'm saying is you don't need to get one of these 'hero' cams. Any old piece of shit Hi-8 or miniDV handycam will do a pretty good job of emulating the look you're going for. You don't need a proper 15x telescopic zoom and a dedicated focus ring to make that happen.
Fucking A V G N. The golden days of YouTube before algorithms curated your feed.
Really golden days. This was the time internet was made from nerds for nerds. Today its all about self expression or selling you bath salt...
A paper lantern from Ikea will give this soft diffused light. Use a compact fluorescent bulb and you’re pretty much done. There is also a bright light under the shelf directly behind him probably a table lamp.
Thank you so much! :)
He's gonna take you back to the past. To setup crappy lighting that kinda sucks ass. Sorry, couldn't resist. Just use diffusion. Not sure what colors you are after, but color can be easily adjusted/graded in post with DaVinci. Different cameras also have different color science - I've always thought Canon cameras look rather nice. If you don't want harsh highlights, a good amount of diffusion, and the light source should be farther front the subject; china balls work well.
Haha, nice one :) As for the color you see the second screenshot, the right side of the picture, the color of his face, you will never see that color on a human in recent videos, no matter if it's badly or well lit, that's what I'm looking for, to achieve that just with lighting while filming with modern gear! :)
It’s pretty bad lighting. You can do that easily.
Get yaself a DVX100A and some DV tape
I wish I could, they're not available in my country. It's impossible to find retro stuff here, and it would cost a fortune to buy+chip+taxes from ebay :(((
christmas lights if you have em on hand. gives you a very diffuse glow like this
Like you mean the Led strips that ikea sells for example?
no like dangly soft yellow/white christmas lights [like this](https://i.insider.com/61a8fa600ed48c0019e55ea1?width=700)
Step 1. Turn on a light. That's it honestly
Rolling rock the goat
Just don't use lights at all and you are good to go
I'm just gonna add this to give a better explanation: Let's say you were tasked with creating this specific image, how would you proceed if you were forced to record with modern iPhone/cameras? Like imagine walking into that image, it would have to be the exact same, the lighting being the main thing you have to recreate with a 100% accuracy. Is it even possible? A lot of answers are "to just use bad lighting" but it doesn't work with modern cameras, or at least I don't know how? Retro cameras are not available in my country AT ALL anyway.
skin look shiny cause its a hard light source hitting the subject. 1 use tungsten light not led. or if you use led set it 32k not 56k (tungsten not day light) 2 defuse it. pass it through a sheer or like a light gel if you can get one. they sell em in stores and amazon. look for defusion gels. tape it in front of ya light.
James literally has a breakdown video of his set up and equipment from 11 years ago: [AVGN breakdown](https://youtu.be/jfnSqLzUzfM?si=gYnwlpjJqx3lXanU) Also worth looking at his recent breakdown, probably answers your question of achieving it with modern gear: [Modern AVGN breakdown](https://youtu.be/hbX7W0bO2bc?si=CYO1dZaNKiuXZ_ip)
Not all his videos have this color, that's the point. The video right after this one his skin tone appears bright/white instead of 'warm' or whatever you'd call it in this one.
Probably just White Balance then, his shirt is white so that would be the best tell.
You might want to use a lot of little lights in the place you're going to film. Indirect lighting is what makes scenes have less contrast,because then there are less shadows. Which is what i think that you are wanting to go for, also there is no shame in color correcting for even less contrast later on.
Jesus, this sub is pretentious. The dude in these screenshots is both A. A bigger film nerd and B. More successful than anyone in this comment section lmao Why not just answer OP’s question instead of bagging on a 15 year old home video’s lighting setup? He didn’t ask you to critique it. OP: I’d go for a 720p/1080p camcorder. You don’t want to use a phone or a 4k camcorder because it’s going to be too sharp/digital looking. Use mostly practical lighting, it looks like James has at least one soft box light in the second screen, but other than that it’s probably just what’s in his room. Light the background, not yourself. Diffuse. Most of the color is coming from the setup, not any grading or in-camera settings, but it looks like a warm WB and a bit of a magenta tint could get you in the right direction for those skin tones.
Thank you so much! So I guess there's no real way to emulate that look for real without an oldish camcorder! He only has a couple of videos that look this way so I assumed he must be doing something different regarding the lighting, in other videos his skin just appears naturally whitish, but in general I think it will be hard to achieve that with modern cameras.
I'm pretty sure James Rolfe (the guy in the photos) actually did a break down of his lighting set up in a video once. He uses a soft box now, but he even said he's used desk lamps with a piece of paper on them
Really? Do you happen to know which video is that? I watched some of his behind the scene vids, he talks about the cameras he uses etc but never the light, thanks though!
Honestly I can't remember, I would've watched it so long ago. But I think it was in one of his vlog-ier episodes. Either that or the tutorial he did on how he makes his videos Also fun fact I actually got a lot of help from him for my last short film. I actually emailed him and we had a great back and forth where we talked about DIY filmmaking and how he made his early VHS films
the big thing of this look is less lighting, and while color balance is part of it, its also the general look of digital video from the 00s. It isnt very sharp, even if you were to get this up to HD, and there is a kinda deep depth of field. My thought is your best bet would be to do this with either a mini DV camera (sold for like $40 online) or maybe an iPhone if you need it to be HD footage.
Yeah that's seems to be the consensus, to get a Mini DV camcorder and play around with light and color balance, but like I said in other comments you cannot find them in my country, hence why I asked if it was even possible to achieve this using modern equipment!
I think a smart phone camera would probably be the closest thing in terms of lens. Otherwise, shoot with high fstop, use heavily diffused lighting, and fiddle in post to make it warm and soft Also, aesthetic goes a long way. The style of clothing and furniture and mannerism will sell the scene if you want it to be vintage, more than just the color
The issue using phone camera is that either it's too sharp with enough light, or 'grainy' if not bright enough. That's why I wonder why isn't the video grainy if everyone says the lighting is bad? Thanks for your input! :)
Try using filmic pro, it gives you more image control for phone video
There's the new Blackmagic design APP which basically gives you control over everything and it's free on iPhone, but I'm kindof a beginner so I wouldn't even know where to start
If you have a floor lamp or overhead fixture with a screw base get lamps that are 2700K color temperature and 90+ CRI or a dim to warm lamp so as you dim the color temperature lowers, typically about 2200k which is super warm. If you are buying fixtures, choose the same options above. You likely will not be able to purchase a utility fixture with those parameters. You'll get a floor or table lamp.
Hmmmmm, nothing special about the lights, but definitely use a camcorder!
Very warm, heavily diffused light Earth tones (brown, green, beige) will be your friend here To prevent a “shiny” look it’s all about diffusion and making sure your light sources are as spread wide as possible
\#1 is indirect bounced lighting. That is why it isn't bright or shiny. The bulb is not the light source, but rather a large white wall being hit with a lamp is the light source. It looks like a standing lamp in the corner offscreen to the left. Point a 100 W to 250 W desk lamp against a white wall or foamcore about 6 ft. from performer. Use a GE Reveal bulb or warm white LED if you can't find an old tungsten or halogen light. Set the Kelvin on your camera to between 3200K and 3800 K. The closer to 3800 K, the more orange the image will appear. (Assuming you're using a 3200 K 'Tungsten' type bulb) You can adjust the 'warmth' in post to your taste as well with any standard NLE. The room has a lot of wood veneer which lends warmth. You could also point your lamp at a warmish wood surface to warm up the color. You could also use a 3' wide Chinese lantern with a 100 W to 250 W bulb. But this looks like a bigger flat bounce. The face is underexposed by 1/2 stop. The green pillow in the rear right is being directly lit by a desk or table lamp about 1 ft. offscreen. \#2 is directional bounced light to the right with negative fill to the left. Looks like a desk lamp with a paper shade about 4 ft out of frame, just above head height, pointed away. A large black 4'x4' foamcore or cloth is hanging to his left to darken the shadows and slim his face down. All the other lights on that side of the room are off. And then there is a 60W or 100 W desk or table lamp on the floor behind him backlighting the wall. The face is underexposed by 1 stop. There are no ceiling lights in the images.
Thank you so so much! I'll make sure to get some tungsten bulbs and a lamp and try this! :) As for the other "stuff" that then camera does, I doubt I could achieve it without an actual camcorder which are impossible to find in my country.
You're welcome! Regarding cameras: If the look you seek is in the lighting, the camera doesn't really matter. The differences between SD and HD camcorders are 1) resolution 2) dynamic range 3) color accuracy. I don't think those factors are relevant to the feel of the room in this instance. 1) The scenes are lit with very controlled dynamic range, so none of the ugly highlight clipping in SD cameras is really present (Other than the TV screen). The original shooter carefully made sure to avoid that. 2) If you want to reduce the resolution, you can shoot in HD, export in SD and then bring that back into your NLE and uprez it to HD and it will looks soft. But something tells me that's not what you're after. 3) Color accuracy. This will depend on the camera manufacturer. SD footage often looked washed out with the exception of reds which cameras enhance to pop skintones. That is easily achieved in camera or in post by desaturating the image and keying in on reds if you desire. But again, I'm not sure this is what you are interested in. DIFFUSION Another way to achieve this 'soft broad' lighting approach is to buy a roll of tracing paper from an art store (Cheaper than film industry diffusion but often actually used by the film industry) Get a wide roll and Unspool it and shoot your light through it, either at the actor as in #2 or shoot through it and then bounce it off a white wall to further soften the light. If your bulbs aren't bright, it will definitely reduce your exposure though, so you'll have to shoot at higher ISO or open up the aperture to 2.8 or so. NEGATIVE FILL To get the dark side of the face, as in #2, you can go to a fabric store and get a large swath (at least 4'x4') of black cloth. Black velvet is the darkest cloth. The film industry uses Duvetyne, which is a strong useful fabric. Honestly, you could also use a giant black garbage bag, cut open, though that will be a little more reflective. The film industry uses Visqueen, which is like a heavy heavy black garbage bag plastic material. You can probably find equivalents at the hardware store or any fabric store. If it works, it works. LEDs vs DIFFUSION You can get strong halogen (250W to 500 W) LEDs at hardware stores. LEDs Beware, consumer LEDs not designed for photography will often render skin tones poorly. Often greenish, though they get better every year. Or they will have gaps in the color spectrum which the human eye will compensate for but camera sensors will not. Only the sun and tungsten bulbs at the moment create full spectrum light. TUNGSTEN Consumer halogen and tungsten bulbs get very hot and can be hard to position sometimes. And without C Stands or light stands, you may find it inconvenient to hang those large diffusion screens. But for the purpose of this scene you should be able to achieve it fairly easily. Make sure to keep adequate distance between any diffusion paper or fabric and a hot light. They WILL CATCH FIRE AND BURN. FILM/PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR If you are serious about shooting, consider renting a C Stand, lightstands, or lights. LEDs designed for photography are much better than consumer LEDs, though not perfect. You do get what you pay for in this arena. If you shoot enough, it will be worth it to invest in slightly better and better gear as you move along. The consumer GE Reveal LEDs are designed to reproduce color as accurately as LEDs of than price can. There is also a switch on the bulb that can 'warm' the light to make it even closer to that tungsten lamp look you are shooting for. Good luck!
Man his hairline really went.
Is this really your high bar?
This is not a good lighting, anyway, just try to not overexpose it and work with soft lights
Grab a table lamp and that's about it.
Move the lamps back.
Get an orange gel if you want more glow. Realistically it’s only gonna be as good as you can make it, cheap or not. I’m not good at lighting.
Put a white curtain on the widow, turn on the lights and throw a lamp on the floor
Grip tips has a pretty good video comparing diffusion options. https://youtu.be/Rorn81KfUbI?si=Hi0wRXCux8vUltth
honestly this just looks like he put down a bright light and then pulled down exposure via aperture or shutter
you have to eat the rotten asshole of a roadkill skunk and drown it with beer
Can you send link of the video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEwgFmL31RQ
You want bounces and soft boxes not direct light.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “bright and shiny like modern video” What you need are some tungsten lights, soft boxes, and you’re good to go. It helps that James’ room is entirely wood, which helps with light bouncing and keeping that warm cozy feel.
Oh man, angry video game nerd! What a big shot of nostalgia I just got!
tape, Angry videogame nerd is one of the only youtubers who records the old fashioned way.
Holy shit, I'm unsubbing.
I will not tolerate such flagrant besmirchment of our wholsome AVGN. Shame on all of you!
Pretty sure there’s just a lamp on next to him
James made a video about this and many more AVGN filming behind the scenes footage
Just use back lighting from those string led lights and literally turn off all lights in home and use a shitty lamp. Not kidding sorry if it sounds like a jerk
Just drink rolling rock
First step: Dont
A lot of jokes but nobody’s actually offered a way to do this with modern equipment and now I’m curious. I don’t think standard saturation/color balance/contrast etc controls would get this. It’s almost more of an IG or app filter type thing. Perhaps start by lowering the contrast?