I've been told to stay away from certain colors because they may not come out very well on camera. Can anyone give any insight as to what are the best colors and/or materials characters should wear?
What colors were you told to stay way from?
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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)
Hm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding the only case you'd shy away from colours is for public broadcasting ("broadcast safe"). But even then that was due to the limitations on older CRT televisions and I'm certain that the norms are changing.
Apart from that, I can't think of a reason for specific colours not coming out well "on camera." At least with modern cameras. Besides even if you were looking for pleasing colours and pallettes, I'm pretty sure that's all contextual (ie. a hot pink tie would have been rather unpleasing in the Godfather).
Materials makes a bit of sense though. In particular, lined materials like lined or hatched dress shirts. From my understanding the small multiple lines interact with the interlacing in interlaced signals and it shows up visibly. I'm not quite sure of the pertinacity of this though in your case.
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quote:
Originally posted by certified instigator
What colors were you told to stay way from?
Plain white shirts and very dark shirts like black, or dark blue, which is a slight problem for me if true b/c I'm shooting a film that has a lot of uniformed characters in it.
Sidebar: How come whenever there is a scene on TV, or even in movies with a patient on an ambulance stretcher, the stretcher almost always either doesn't have a sheet on it, or the sheet is a not white color, and not the white that ambulances usually use?
The only time you shy away from specific colors, that I'm aware of, is when you're working with greenscreen/bluescreen/ChromaKey. Otherwise the colors can help set the tone or mood of a scene, or provide characterization.
RJSchwarz
RJSchwarz
quote:
Originally posted by Bababooey
Plain white shirts and very dark shirts like black, or dark blue...
Yes, there is indeed a known problem with shooting white shirts (or very dark shirts), which is why white shirts (or other white pieces of clothing) are often replaced with off-white (gray) pieces that pretend to be white. Especially when shooting with electronic cameras that have limited dynamic ranges, white shirts in a setting with diverse colours and contrast can blow out and crush all whites in the frame. In order to see detail on that white shirt, gain needs to be dialed down (or aperture closed), which then crushes blacks. So, in order to reduce the range of the frame, white shirts become gray shirts and black suits become dark gray suits. There is even a word for this white colour (which escapes me at the moment).
As an example, picture a wedding: a bunch of people wearing black tuxedos and white shirts, plus the all-white gown of the bride. The wedding scenes are colossal hassle for DP to light and shoot. This is where the costume designer / wardrobe department knows what problems may arise and provides off-white (gray) bridal gown, off-white shirts and perhaps even slightly lighter than black tuxedos for men. This consideration by the wardrobe dept makes it significantly easier for DP to light and shoot the scene(s).
quote:
Originally posted by Bababooey
I've been told to stay away from certain colors because they may not come out very well on camera. Can anyone give any insight as to what are the best colors and/or materials characters should wear?
Color isn't as much of a problem anymore so much as contrast issues, which an experienced DP/Cameraman will know how to deal with.
There may also be issues with moire on fabrics printed with tight thin lines, when dealing with electronic image acquisition and exhibition.
Also, when choosing wardrobe, know that some fabrics will cause more noise than others, which doesn't affect picture, but your Sound Mixer will take issue with, particularly if he has to place an RF mic on the Actor.
Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com
Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com
quote:
Originally posted by Vasic
There is even a word for this white colour (which escapes me at the moment).
It escapes me too, but i can think of a LOT of bad words for it...
Never use white/light grey in a snow scene. Might seem obvious, but well...I learnt the hard way!
Duel
Bland clothing (except for the main characters) should be used. I don't know why certain colors should be avoided for your reasons... Sorry.
"Bullies aren't bulletproof"
"Bullies aren't bulletproof"
And now a word from the sound department: The SOUND of clothing is extremely important as well!!! Certain clothes are EXTREMELY "rustly" and hence can be extremely annoying and hard to clean up in your dialog tracks. If you don't pay attention to it in costuming, you will surely be forced to pay attention to it in post-production.
Nylon-shell coats are one example. When actors walk and move around, these generate a very broad frequency rustle that can be really distracting and almost impossible to clean up.
Whatever you plan to put your actors in, rustle it around a little first and see what it sounds like.
Doug Gallob
Composer/Sound Engineer
http://www.aural-hygiene.com
