Client: Doug Ford Construction
Agency: Rave+A.

As straightforward as this shot looks, it was not.

The problem presented the creative director, Denne Sollenne of Rave+A agency, was that the building was long and narrow. It was virtually never lit by the sun and when it was, it was sun dappled. This created a range of contrast beyond the capacity of both the film and the reproductive process.

In addition, the features the client wanted emphasized were hidden rather than emphasized by any available lighting.

We suggested that if we were to shoot the house just on the cusp of night, when there was still light in the sky and a bit of the soft skylight lighting falling on the front of the house, then we could illuminate the front putting lighting emphasis on the features desired and letting the light fall off the features less important.

The entry of the house was important to highlight as was the chimney. Also the windows of the family room. So we put a lot of light on both the entrance and the chimney. We used interior light to bring importance to the windows. In daylight, the window died completely.

The shoot took two sessions. One to set up the lighting and test the situation. Based on these results, we completed the shoot the second day.

With generous co-operating from the house owners, we were able to leave the lighting in place over night.

Even with all of this, we had to shoot the grass separately since the lights created uneven pools of illlumination and shadow. The smoother grass rendered from film shot earlier in the day, allowed the grass to be pasted in.