FormatPre-production · 16:9 music videoDeliverables35 storyboard frames · call sheet · lighting list · 50 s previzConstraintSix hours of artist time · borrowed location · one dayYear2026CreditsStoryboards · Light design · Schedule · Previz: Way Wang
CaseWork 04
The problem
A female vocal ballad, one location, and a concept built on a whole day of changing light. Six hours of artist time, a borrowed apartment with no early call and no overtime, and a limited budget.
Judgement calls
Six scenes in light order: dawn, morning, midday, afternoon, magic hour, night. All 35 frames lock the colour of their time of day, and a light-arc check sheet confirms the whole curve joins up before anything else moves.
No location scout was possible, so the window was judged west-facing from the owner's photos. Midday has no direct sun, so it became hard artificial light. Night is shot during lunch with the windows blacked out, costing no artist time. The six-hour schedule was stress-tested shot by shot, with disposable empty frames marked in advance as the pressure valve. The lighting list had one 600x doing three positions, so the note says rent a second one.
Before the shoot, a 50-second AI previz so the artist, management and client have all seen the film.
What the client gets
Storyboards, call sheet, lighting list and shot order as one package the set can run on. Everyone has seen the film before day one. Artist and song withheld under the terms of the job.
Light-arc check sheet · 35 frames across six times of day35 storyboard frames · 16:9
S05-B · magic hour, three posesS03-A · morning window light
Shoot-day schedule · artist 10:00 to 16:00 · six-hour version
08:00–09:00 Load-in. Camera builds, lighting pre-rigs
09:00–10:00 Scene 1, four empty frames, artist not yet in, sun at its lowest
10:00–10:50 Scene 2, morning soft light, natural
10:50–12:25 Scene 3, midday. West window, no direct sun, all hard artificial light, lip-sync shots first
12:25–12:55 Lunch, windows blacked out at the same time. Blackout goes up during scene 3
12:55–13:55 Scene 6, night. Blacked-out windows, artificial light
13:55–14:10 Strike blackout, wardrobe change
14:10–15:00 Scene 4, afternoon light. Three empty frames are the main pressure valve
15:00–15:50 Scene 5, magic hour. Real western backlight plus CTO, steadicam first
15:50–16:00 Buffer
16:00 Wrap
Lighting list · natural light first, three scenes supplemented
600x bi-colour ×1 scene 1 morning key / scene 5 full CTO as sunset. Three positions; rent a second unit
300x bi-colour ×2 scene 5 second warm / scenes 2 and 3 fill / scene 6 cool moonlight
PavoTube ×4, 4×4 diffusion and flags, bounce, CTO/CTB gels, hazer, blackout for the windows
