Editing Spotlight - Film Noire Colour Correction

The very first clip the audience sees is that of the killer character standing under a lampost as a car approaches. We first filmed this scene at night therefore it was dark which is what we wanted, however, the lighting meant that any detail was lost. We therefore, refilmed the shot at dusk to gain a more detailed shot. Below is a clip of the scene which shows the raw footage (Blue) and the edited version (Black and White).

How was it done?

Camera 

Before filming the scene we implemented a great technique for filming 'Night for Day'. This can be achieved by setting the light function to 'Tungsten' and lowering the exposure to the lowest the camera offers. This means the camera takes in less light and gives it a blue tinge of night.

Final Cut Pro X 

Once we had filmed all of the shots, we realised that because of the shots being so blue that it would not look very convincing and the titles used to try and make it Film Noire Style. We desaturated all of the clips, and lowered the exposure and raising the contrast. To add even more effect we masked around the character and lightened the clip to give the impression that the lamppost above him was on.