making a room seem as if its dark?

[Darzeth]

Ive asked this before but im curious on how to make a room dark. I can contrast it and change the levels in adobe after effects. But it makes it to dark and i cant see the characters. The main problem is the walls are way to bright and when i make the scene darker they make it seem like its still very bright and thats when i start to lose the characters to the darkness. So how do i make the room seem dark with out losing my characters in adobe after effects.

[pwnisher]

yes, try masking out the walls and whatever is bright and darken those. Then do your color correction on the person to fit the surrounding areas.

Hope I helped

[Darzeth]

How exactly do i mask, When i go to mask and it goes to a part where the character goes through it they also turn dark. how do i fix this so only the part i want masked is masked and everything behind the characters is darkened?

[pwnisher]

ok first you select the clip ok, just go ahead and click on it. Then press Ctrl+D to duplicate the footage. Then select the top layer and get the pen tool and make a mask around the dude. Once you do that you might want to feather it by pressing F on the clip you just masked and boosting it up a tad. Then you take the lower or upper clip, which ever one is the walls, and take the the lighting. I hope I helped, if not keep on asking ok. =]

[Darzeth]

wow thats a cool trick but how do i change the shape of the area the pen has cut out. Since the persons moves i need the cut out to change and follow. Also are there other tips and tricks i can use that uses or doesnt use this ability.

[pwnisher]

Ok what you have to do when masking actuall videos is select the video that you just masked and press M. Then set a keygrame for mask shape by hitting the stop watch. Then with that same clip selsected press Shift+P and set a keyframe for position, then press Shift+R and do the same for rotation. Then you go in the video frame by frame adjusting the mask. Use the main selector tool you know. And other tips, I would just say dont rush cause itll look bad if you do. Oh and feathering a little always helps =]

[Darzeth]

wow thx for the help this is going to be really handy now all i got to do is get use to it but that takes time thx again. Im only have the real problemw ith moving the mask and using the rotation

[Epsilon]

Why don't you actually make the room dark? Light the room from windows and doorways.

[challengerbravo525]

use sodium lights! it wont give the effect of day but the effect of street lights..or a miami sunset