FILMMAKING TERMS: DUSK-FOR-NIGHT

If you need to shoot night scenes, consider the dusk-for-night technique. This is a technique used to capture the essence of night while getting the necessary blue fill light. You can call it “magic hour” or simply dusk, but this is the time when cars have their headlights on, business have their signs lit up, and streetlights have turned on, and it makes for superb establishing night shots.

Dusk-for-night shooting requires some planning, as you do not have a lot of time to shoot those scenes. In the summer you may have less than half hour to get it all done, and in the winter even less. Make sure you map out and storyboard your scenes very well in advance. Do plenty of test shooting, where you try different camera angles and see how it all comes together with available sunlight at different times.

Dusk-for-night filming means never filming the brighter sky – keep this in mind if you are doing establishing shots. Or else you give everything away of course. Again, it all comes down to planning your shooting well in advance.

This is a great way to shoot night scenes, while still working with the benefit of the last daylight of the day. Look up when the sun goes down, and then plan from there.

Good luck!