iPhone Diary: Shooting usable video in near-impossible conditions

Source Domain: 9to5mac.com

I last year explained why the iPhone had become my favourite video camera for B-roll footage despite owning a relatively expensive Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K rig.

I outlined the three benefits of shooting with an iPhone in public places, and in my latest video project I discovered another one …

The three benefits I mentioned last time were:

My iPhone is always with me, so I can capture impromptu footage
Nobody takes any notice of someone shooting with a phone, including security guards
It’s non-intimidating when being filmed

Having really enjoyed my two previous interview projects, I naively imagined that I might be able to do one a month. Ha – I had absolutely zero appreciation for the scheduling challenges involved! For various reasons, arranging and filming the variety of B-roll footage I wanted for the latest one ended up taking several months.

The final piece of footage I needed was my interviewee dancing in a salsa club. The total footage used only amounted to 21 seconds, but it was a pretty important part of the story, so I did feel I needed to include it.

Walking into the venue, however, I had rather a big shock in store for me. I’ve been to many dance events with funky mood lighting – including a Scottish reeling event also featured – but this particular venue was almost pitch black! The very limited lighting was also red, which casts way less illumination than any other color – which is why it’s commonly used in environments where you don’t want to affect the night vision of those present.

It was so dark I could scarcely make out the face of the friend I was there to video, even when standing six feet away. I wasn’t at all optimistic about the likely results. However, it had taken many weeks to obtain this opportunity, so it was what it was. I just had to shoot and hope for the best.

With a manual camera, I would have struggled to even achieve a light reading to set the…

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