Chromatic Airbrush

Stage one subject in an empty studio under coloured light, then let the edges go.

One subject, no set, no props that explain anything. Light with colour rather than direction, shoot for gloss, then dissolve: blur the edges, bloom the highlights, overspray the transitions and keep a trace of grain. Leave most of the frame empty. Nothing documentary, nothing sharp to the edge, no visible logos and no type on the image.

Director's note

Leave with every frame on this list.

Shot list

1. 01An abstracted figure in a featureless studio, lit cyan from one side and hot pink from the other, edges dissolving into haze
2. 02A single glossy object, a cherry, a bottle, a helmet, on a saffron field with a chromatic bloom where the light hits
3. 03A bird or an animal rendered smooth and still against a blurred acid-green ground
4. 04A car, an aircraft or a machine as a polished sculpture in an empty pink-and-blue room
5. 05A dreamlike interior with no visible edges, one piece of furniture and a coloured glow

Ambient coloured light from large soft sources, cyan, pink, green and saffron, with no hard key. Let colour bloom on gloss and fall into haze at the edges. Retouch toward airbrush overspray and soft focus, and add a little grain so it never reads as a clean render.

Light

Scout these before anything else.

Locations

1. 01A featureless white or coloured studio
2. 02A cyclorama lit with coloured gels
3. 03A 3D scene with a plain floor and no walls
4. 04A car studio with a seamless floor
5. 05An empty room with one window of coloured light

Smooth, glossy and reduced: latex, vinyl, satin, chrome accessories, tinted visors; single saturated colours or white. Faces can be abstracted, turned or veiled.

Wardrobe