Odd name for a blog posting but let me explain..............
A little while ago I shot a series of historical re-enactments of the life of Queen Elizabeth the first
We shot this in Penshurst Place
It seems like a dream assignment, indeed it was in many ways apart from one, yes you guessed it-budget!
By the time we had paid for all the locations, costume ,props, and crew we had not very much money left for talent
So, how does one make nine actors and a sparsely filled table seem like a full on Elizabethan banquet?
The Funnel
I first heard of it in relation to a critically acclaimed BBC docudrama called 'Culloden' by Peter Watkins made in 1964
Peter Watkins was faced with the same problem
Not enough talent and a HUGE area to fill
It simply means putting more talent at the front and filling in the gaps with talent progressively further off in the background
I used the same technique for my shoot
I used Elinchrom Rangers, with the main light in a Chimera Large Softbox on a Redwing boom(the Flash centre have one going second hand here!)
Shot on a Canon 1ds 28mm lens 1.3 sec at F14, a long exposure to pick the candles up, so VERY little ambient in the room which meant movement was not an issue
Note also that by shooting diagonally across the table I'm making it seem like there is much more food on it than there actually is.
All a case of making less seem like more
Something I have made a career out of...................
10 comments:
Sweet post! I am going to store this one in the memory bank and see if it will stay...
Great shot, Drew...always a learning experience!
Thanks for the post, it's always interesting to see how you approach these things. The soft cool key seems a bit at odds with the candlelit setting though.
James.
Drew,
Question, at that shutter speed, even in in low ambient, are you models not going to blur? or are the dark even with 1.3 seconds of exposure and your strobe brings them up? Or, are you getting second curtain sync out of the strobes? If so, how?
Thanks, love the blog.
Thank you for your responses guys
No blur as we shot with ALL the lights off once we had pulled focus
Cheers
Drew
Hey, I didn't even notice the lack of subjects until you pointed it out! This is definitely a technique I'm going to drill into my head over and over until it sticks.
Question: what if you were to do the funnel technique, AND combine multiple exposures?
i love this shot, looks like a movie still
remarkable to produce this on such a tight budget when it looks such a lavish setting. guess its all to do with good planning all round to create that trademark 'less is more' effec
I looked at the depth of field before reading the text and thought "that wasn't shot on MF"!
Once again thank you for all the comments
Jens has hit on 'the' secret
If you combine multiple exposures as well as using the 'funnel' it can be spectacular, jst make sure the same person is not too noticeable, I try to get them to switch uniforms around as much as possible....
Cheers
Drew
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