Need B-Roll in Portugal? How to Get Flawless Footage Without Leaving Your Studio
Your challenge.
You have a project - a film, a commercial, a documentary - and you need some b-roll to be shot in Portugal but you and your team aren’t in Portugal. How can we help and how does it work?
First things first - we’ll have a conversation to understand your project's needs, and the vision of the director. Anything and everything you can provide help us deliver exactly what you need.
A shareable shot list will help us know what you need and where it needs to be shot. This shot list might include specific locations, specific people, and a specific ‘feel.’ It will tell us if we’re shooting landscape/nature footage, interviews, talent, etc. And it will tell us if we need to source some locations.
Director’s notes and creative outlines guide us toward the look-and-feel we need to be going after.
Discussions with the head DP enlighten us as to the type of lighting we need to match. Do we need to use soft lighting, hard lighting, natural light, practicals or a mix of everything? What should the color temperature be? What kind of lighting ratios are important to your project? Where should the exposure fall and are we shooting high-contrast, high-key, or low-contrast low-key, or high-contrast, low-key, etc?
Screenshots of other footage we’ll need to match make it even more clear to us what colors, lighting and looks we need to emulate.
Project specs like frame rate, resolution, camera type, lenses, focal length, file type, steady vs. handheld vs. drone vs. steadicam - these are all important for us to understand so that the footage we deliver matches seamlessly with your footage.
One b-roll scene of many we filmed for a documentary production company about the Nazaré Canyon and waves. We deliver long takes so you can edit footage to the length you need.
The Solution in Motion
As we set off to get the shots you need we make sure to:
Capture a variety of shots of each scene, including wide, medium, and tight close-ups, at different angles and perspectives. Wide shots establish the setting. Medium shots introduce characters and situations. Closeups put us directly in touch with the talent. High angles and low angles set a mood. We base these camera perspectives on our initial discussions with you. Each project has its own requirements and we work tirelessly to understand each one.
Add movement when dictated by the project by having talent walk into, across, out of scene. Using pans, tilts, dollies, steadicams.
Take care to compose each shot by using the rule of thirds, or centering action, or putting talent off-center. These are also determined by our discussions with your team.
Ensure each shot is long enough for editing. If we are getting landscape shots like the one above showing the ocean, we’ll run the camera for about 30 seconds and we deliver more footage than you think you'll need. . During interviews we keep the camera rolling - maybe there’s a take away in the footage that you can use (for behind-the-scenes for example). For narrative work, any brief we receive should have information about how long each shot should be.
Pay close attention to lighting to maintain consistency with the primary footage.
Use slow motion when the project specs call for it. You tell us the framerate you prefer and we’ll institute it.
Checks and Balances
We place a lot of importance on time and budget so we make sure the b-roll we capture is exactly what you need. To ensure this, we use real-time tools so that you can see what we’re filming. It’s during this time that you can ask for revisions to how we’re lighting and filming the footage. For interviews, you can be ‘on-set’ remotely to ask the interviewee questions and follow-ups.
Send us the LUT or grade you’ll be using so we can apply it and give you a polished and accurate representation of the look you expect.
We double check the shot list to ensure we’ve captured everything we need for your project.
And we communicate with your team (editor) via extensive, detailed notes about each shot.
We helped a documentary team by filming a day of grape harvesting in Portugal. The project focused on the mix of traditional and modern ways that wineries are using for efficient harvesting of crops.
Who Will Work On Your Your B-roll?
The team at Atmosphera Productions includes a several cinematographers - some are focused on aerial footage, some are focused on interview setups, and others are focused on narrative work. We are versed in multiple camera and lens ecosystems, color theory, lighting, etc. And our DPs are backed up by some great gaffers and assistants.
We have you covered in whatever area you need. Contact us today to handle your remote b-roll needs in Portugal.