Hey, guys. My name's Ben, and I'm a filmmaker here at ITCH.
Today, I'm going to be giving you a tour of our in-house
studio. I'm going to be giving you some insight into how we
built the studio. Then we're going to talk about the cameras
and lighting that we use and then we're going to put that into
practice and try out a couple of set ups to show you how
versatile the space is.
Since building the studio, it's been a game changer for us.
We can do so many different types of setups from product
photography to talking head videos.
This is all because we built the studio around our needs and made
it as modular as possible.
This makes it so much faster so we can spend more time on being
creative in our photography and video, and making productions
more efficient and fun. So if you're interested in building an
in-house studio, this video is for you.
So how did we set up the studio?
The first thing we want is to figure out how we use the space,
so we came in and had a look around.
We had to look at where the windows are to see what natural
light we would be getting, and then we looked at the size of
the room itself. So we had a look at the length, the width and
the height. This gives us an idea for where the best position
for the camera would be.
We then built the studio around that. So the best position for
our camera is right here. This gives us plenty of depth from
the wall, allowing us to separate our subject from the
background.
Now we have that information,
and we know where our camera is going to be living,
we can build the rest of the studio up around that.
So now we know our cameras is over there, our
colouramas are going to live over here.
For this system, we've got two autopoles and this mount
that holds up to three different colours at one time.
It also has a pulley system over there so we can quickly
change.
Then we put all our other colouramas on this wall here so we
can quickly grab a different colour if needed.
The key to this set up is keeping as modular as possible so we can
switch between interview set ups and product photography all
under one roof.
The cameras are the heart of our studio.
Here we use the Canon EOS R range.
We have the Canon EOS C70, the R5C, R5
and this beautiful selection of RF lenses.
This is our primary video camera for interviews.
This is an all in one cinema package, so it's perfect for video
with built in NDs, amazing 4K sensor
and also built in audio inputs.
We next have the R5C.
This is our camera that we use on any projects where we may
need to provide both stills and video.
We use it because it's a beautiful compact all in one solution
for that, with an 8K sensor and 4K oversampled,
punch into interviews to get different angles and different
effects and can produce amazing 45 megapixel stills.
Then we have the R5, this is our photography camera for the
studio. So we use this on any product shoots that we have and
any photography that we do here.
We use this because it's got a beautiful 45 megapixel sensor
and it's full frame as well.
We've teamed these cameras up with the RF lenses.
We have a full focal range from 50mm up to 200mm here.
One of my favourites is the 85 f/1.2L.
This is an incredibly sharp lens and has a beautiful bokeh
when you're at that 1.2 aperture.
We also have the 24-70mm f/2.8L.
This is a great run and gun lens, and great for those fast
productions as you can quickly change your focal length and
still have that beautiful f/2.8L depth of field.
These lenses teamed up with these cameras are great solution
for our studio, which improve the quality of our work and make
production easier.
This is our first shoot of the day. We're going to start off
with product photography.
We’ve got the R5C and lens modelling for us.
This is our bright set up, so we're using a yellow backdrop and
then we're going to play with the lights to create shapes.
We’re then going to move on to a dark and moodier set up with a
black backdrop and see what we can do there.
I'm now going to pass on to my colleague Carolina, who's going
to tweak the lighting for us.
So for this first product shoot, like Ben said, we want to go
for a bright kind of sunny vibes, sort
of lighting. So we're going to bring this, our key light
a little bit closer just to get the product
a bit brighter and like kind of popping a bit more.
So in terms of the key light, we've decided to go with the grid
in front of our soft box. That kind of helps us get a more like
directional source of light so it doesn't spread
as much. It gives a bit more contrast.
We don't want the spill to go all over the product.
We kind of want to create a bit of contrast and depth.
So I'm going to actually get a flag or something to block the
light a little bit more. So the light is only going
in the background, kind of bouncing a little bit to the product,
but not too much.
Okay, so we just want to kind of block the light
a little bit, but not too much.
So to add that summer feel I'm going to use this tungsten
spotlight.
Create some shapes.
Like I said before, I wanted to add
a shape to the front and something to the background.
So that's what we're going to do.
I've added those lights in. But as you can see, there's not
that much contrast. You can't really see the shapes at the
front and very soft at the back.
So I just need to reduce a little bit our key.
So you can see the project is lit perfectly.
There's a little bit of a brighter light here,
a little bit from the back in the background as well to just
kind of replicate the sun, makes the product pop.
So we're using the R5 teamed with the RF
24-70mm for this shot.
Now I'm just going to perfect it and adjust the angle.
Having a look here, I can see that we're just a little bit
under, so I just want to bring the camera up just so we can see
the top of the items a bit and really make the products pop.
So I'm just going to bring it up.
Cool, so what I've done is I've got the R5 tethered
using Canon EOS utility on the computer so I can see
my frame in full.
This where I'm going to control my camera today.
So I'm going to first off, make sure my autofocus points
are on here and then look at the image.
I want to make sure everything's sharp and looks nice.
So we've taken the f-stop up to around f/3.5 to make
sure that both our lens and camera are in focus.
But we still want to keep that nice, blurry background look, so
we don't want to push it too high.
So that's why we've gone for 3.5.
We're also shooting in RAW because we want to get the most out
of our images. So when we take into post upstairs, we
can get a great grade or and adjust the colours as much as we want.
Right, so let's give it a go and take some photos
so I can simply hit the shutter button there.
Great that's looking really nice.
The autofocus is working really well in capturing the logo and
the lighting that Carolina has done has really made the camera
pop and that's looking really nice again, super
happy with that. So now we're just going to get a couple of
different angles and see what we can get.
Okay, as quickly as that, we've got a new set up ready.
I quickly brought down the black
and got rid of the yellow in the backdrop.
We then built a little bit of perspex in, and a
bit of A2 black card in the back to get a nice reflection of
the camera. And we've also changed the lens from a
24-70 to the 100mm macro.
This lens is great for just getting a bit closer, compressing
the background a little bit more and just getting more detail
and up and close with our subject.
The set up’s not quite complete yet. We still need to make a
couple of tweaks to the light for it to be perfect so I'm just
going to do that now. Okay, to start off I'm just going to turn
off the two spotlights we have on.
So by telling these off, we're just getting rid of those shapes
we created earlier so we no longer have those contrasts.
Okay, so now I'm just going to check the shot again.
That's all clear. So now we've got a nice even black background
and then we've got a nice reflection in the back where the
camera is. First off, I'm just going to start by dimming
the back LED panel a little.
So we're doing this just create a bit more contrast in the
background as we're shooting on black, we don't need to see
that light, we really want to make the camera pop.
So once we've got our hero shot here, we can then use 100mm
macro to get real nice close up textures of the
product to really create a feel for it.
So once we've got our hero shot we can then use this lens’
amazing 1.4 times magnification to get in
real close and get some really nice textures and logo shots of
the camera.
We're onto our next shoot of the day,
which is filming an interview.
For this set up, we're going to be using two cameras.
We've got the Canon EOS C70 as our main camera and the
R5 C as our B camera.
We have chosen to use two cameras for this as it gives us a variety
of angles and makes the edit more interesting.
It also means that when we're filming our contributor, they can
stumble a little bit and we can cut around it in the edit.
So first thing we're going to do is rig the camera's audio.
The C70 takes audio straight into the camera
so we can just plug straight in here and we're going to set up
our LAV microphone here.
So we're using the LAV microphone so we have a really nice
close microphone to our contributor that gives that nice
intimate feel. But then we're also using the stick microphone
overhead, which is a bit of a bigger microphone, so it picks up
a bit more bass in the sound.
With the R5 C you can team it with this Tascam audio unit, which
allows us to put XLRs directly into the camera.
So we're going to connect the R5 C to
our boom. Also when using a stick microphone, you got to
remember to check if it's phantom power or not.
Phantom power means that it will be using power from the
camera. If not, it might have a battery in there, so you don't
need to power it from the camera.
This one we do need to do that.
So now our cameras are rigged with audio.
Let's finalise our shot and get our framing.
Now with the help of Carolina sitting in, I'm going to finalise
my framing and get a nice mid shot as our main A cam.
We're going to use the rule of thirds.
So we're going to put her slightly to the right of frame and
then we're going to have her looking just over here to the left
of camera where our interviewer will be sitting.
Now we're happy with A cam shot, we're going to move onto B cam.
On this we've the 85mm, and we're going for a
tighter shot at a bit more of an angle so we can get different
feel and vibe. With this camera, I've got the 85mm, so it's
gets in nice and close to my subject.
And then on the A cam I've got the 50mm, which just
gives me a bit more of a wider depth of field.
For this shoot we're trying to keep it all blue in the
background, so I'm just going to move left and right
to find my frame for Carolina.
You can be really as creative as you want with the second camera.
I sometimes like to put my contributor on the left of
frame leaving room for graphics on the side If we're going to
do something like that. For this, I think we might keep them
right of frame. So now I'm happy with my two shots, i'll pass
it over to Carolina to talk us through lighting.
So we're keeping the continuous lighting that we had for
photography, we just have to do a couple of adjustments.
So for the interview, we kind of want a half lit face,
not too contrasty, but enough to make it interesting.
So I'm just going to put the light a little bit more on
the side and not pointing to the background too
much because we've got our backlight to do that.
So for our backlight, I kind of want to point
a little bit to the back of our subject.
So just like we have in our product shot, we kind of want
to create a little bit of fill just to kind of balance
out of the shadows and to make it a little
bit brighter. But if you do want a bit of a contrasty your look,
you can always go for negative fill and use the other side of
the polyboard or black flag.
Nice, so now that we have adjusted our lights, let's check in
and make sure we're happy with it.
So this is looking quite good.
We've got our key light, our fill light and our back light,
it's looking ready.
So Carolina is happy with lighting.
I'm going to do the final checks on the camera.
First off, I'm just going to double check our exposure.
I do this using the wave forms in the Canon cameras.
So I'm just going hit this button here and just make sure I'm
not peaking in the highlights and I'm not too low on the blacks.
Looking at this we're looking nice.
Same again on this camera, just going to check my waveforms here.
I can see I probably could just bring up the highlights a
little bit more. So I'm just going to open up the F-stop
slightly to f1.4.
Now I'm happy with that,
let's check audio on this.
On this I've got my LAV microphone set up
and we just got it coming
through on one channel at the moment.
What I like to do is just set it up on both channel one and two.
So you have a redundant channel just in case you have any issues.
Then I do exactly the same on our B camera as well
and make sure we've got good levels there
for our second microphone.
Next thing I'm going to finalise is my audio.
Now I've got my LAV mircophone running on here and I want it to
run on channels one and two, on channel one I'm going to
set it to manual so I can manually dial in my levels.
So I get Carolina to count ten for me.
One, two, three, four, five
Perfect. There we go.
I've got my manual levels.
Now I'm also going to run our LAV microphone onto input
two as well.
This allows me to set it to automatic.
So just in case we have any variation in the volume whilst
we're recording that will just make sure we still got it in
levels and it's just a safety for us.
I'll set that up on both cameras.
Next is the R5 C with our top microphone.
I'm just going to get it in place over here.
So let's just move this about. We want to get this microphone
as close to our contributor as possible.
My final check is I'm going to set up the dual pixel CMOS
autofocus on both these cameras as both cameras have incredible
face detection.
So on this, I simply just go to my menus and put it on or you
can just hit the switch over here and
you can see that we are now tracking Carolina's face, even
if she turns away or looks off camera.
We'll still be tracking her.
I love these autofocus features because I can rely on them
keeping my subject in focus all the time.
So that means I can be more engaged with my interviewee as
I ask them questions and maintain eye contact and just trust
the camera to do what it needs to do.
And there you have it.
With a studio like this and the Canon EOS R system, you can
create so much amazing content, like the stuff we filmed today
and so much more.
With bigger budgets, you can scale up to
bigger studios, more equipment, and whatever fits your needs.
I hope you found this video useful.
And thanks for watching.