Time Traveling to the 1980s with Tokyo Rose’s “Bright Lights, Dark Shadows”

Filmmaker
Tim Buttner used DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio for the new music video’s VFX and
grading

The hunted becomes the hunter in the new “Bright Lights, Dark
Shadows” music video for Tokyo Rose’s song “All Night.” Directed by Ryan
Justice, the music video harkens back to the 1980s but with a bloodthirsty
twist as vampires are on the prowl. Both hunting and becoming prey, while being
trailed by a vampire hunter, the music video mixes together the bright lights
and colors of the 1980s with the dark shadows of the vampire world.

“I’ve always been obsessed everything about the 1980s, and the
visual styles of Tony Scott and Joel Schumacher have been a huge inspiration for
me. In this video I wanted to sink my teeth into emulating the style of ‘The Lost Boys’ and ‘Top Gun,’ considering
that we were dealing with the sexy appeal of vampires,” explains Justice.

Filmmaker Tim Buttner helped define the music video’s look by
using Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio for its color grading and
visual effects (VFX).

Channeling
the Big Screen

Buttner, Justice and Cinematographer Ian Longen worked together to
create the music video’s look, getting inspiration from different 1980s and
early 1990s movie classics. According to Justice, “I wanted to create a
stylistic music video and the tools inside DaVinci 15 Resolve Studio really
helped bring my vision to life.”

Longen shot the music video under different gelled lights to
create colorful lighting, and then Buttner amplified the look by using DaVinci
Resolve 15 Studio’s curves to adjust individual colors and achieve the looks
that Justice wanted.

“Ryan wanted the video to feel like a 1980s’ film, so my look took
a cue from several films made during that time period. For example, I
referenced ‘Top Gun’ and ‘True Romance’ for the love making scenes,” explains
Buttner. “The first scene where the man goes home with the female vampire was
shot under an orange lighting scheme to give it a unique look, whereas the second
scene where the now vampire man takes home an unsuspecting woman was shot under
a blue lighting scheme.

“When I first got the footage that lighting was slightly more
purple looking, so I adjusted it first to a slightly lighter blue. Later we
adjusted it further to a darker blue to be more in line with the ‘True Romance’
look that Ryan was going for. Since I was using DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio’s shared
node feature, these adjustments were quick and painless. Similarly, the orange
scene needed some small tweaks and the shared node feature made adjusting it
seamless.” 

Buttner also relied on DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio’s Power Windows
and film grain tools while defining the music video’s look.

“For the video’s bar scenes, Ryan wanted more detail brought out
of our main man’s eyes, and so I tracked a Power Window that helped lift the
shadows just enough so that we got great detail,” continues Buttner. “Ryan was
inspired by the film grain in ‘The Terminator’ so that’s what we wanted the
vampire hunter’s scenes to emulate. I used DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio’s native film
grain tool to get each scene’s film grain nailed. The best part is that I was
easily able to treat each scene like it was shot on a different stock with
regard to how the grain showed. All of this lent itself well to creating the
look the director wanted.”

Sinking
His Teeth into DaVinci Resolve Studio’s Fusion Page

Buttner then used DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio’s new Fusion page to
add some VFX to the video.

“Beyond a few shots that needed stabilization, I also added some muzzle
flashes and blood mists to the shots of the vampire hunter killing the female
vampire and her second prey. I also painted out some visible set/crew in the
reflection of the vampire hunter’s sunglasses on some close-up shots,” Buttner
says.

DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio’s node-based structure really helped
Buttner during the video’s VFX, which was a change from his previous experience
that only involved layer-based compositing. “It was nice to have a clear view
of which effect was on which node at a quick glance. I didn’t have to spend
time digging through layers to see which effect applied to which layer. Overall
it was just a lot easier,” Buttner explains.

“For the blood mists and muzzle flashes, I added some stock VFX
footage and then used the Fusion page’s polygon mask tool to create a second
muzzle flash as a reflection in the sunglasses. Then I added an ellipse mask
for a white background with a brightness/contrast node to act as residual light
falloff from the flash,” continues Buttner. “Since the music video is slow motion,
I used the Fusion page’s TimeSpeed effect to slow down the stock footage, and
with the spline editing tool I was able to apply a nice curve to the dissolve
out of the mist so that it felt like it dissipated in the air naturally.

“When it came to removing the crew from the vampire hunter’s
sunglass reflection, I used two methods within the Fusion page. The first was
using a black background with a polygon mask, a transform, and tracking to get
rid of unwanted crew reflection. This method was easier since we could allow
the sunglasses to be black in that region. The other method was with its paint tools,
which was a little more work per frame. However, this method allowed me to
clone other reflective areas of the sunglasses to retain their reflective
nature, so it looked very realistic.”

“All this was made easy in DaVinci Resolve 15 Studio, since I
could just switch from the Edit page or the Color page into the Fusion page and
do my work. Having the power to edit, apply VFX, and color grade within one
program is a dream,” concludes Buttner.

To view “Bright Lights, Dark Shadows,” visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=919XUP2hEJ0.

About Tim
Buttner

Tim Buttner is a Multi-Media Expert with skills that span various
forms of media. Tim began writing screenplays before he was twelve, completing
his first feature-length screenplay at sixteen. He began filming in high
school and at seventeen gained experience interning at Edgewood Studios on the set
of “Zombie Town.” Tim
continued to study film at Drexel
University, establishing himself in the Stereoscopic 3D revolution after
attending workshops in New York City with Florian Maier on
Stereoscopic Film Production. After graduating from Drexel’s Film & Video
Program with a Bachelor of Science, and with a Screenwriting &
Playwriting Minor, Tim worked for Digital
Revolution Studios under Craig Tanner and further worked
in stereoscopic 3D. While at Drexel Tim co-founded a company (One Forest Films) with high school
friends and for several years helped build the company as CTO, and Chief
Web Designer. Through One Forest
Films Tim meet young filmmaker Jamison LoCascio and teamed with him
to color grade Jamison’s first feature “The Depths.” Tim has been a contributing writer for 3D blog MarketSaw, which allowed him to score
an exclusive interview with performance capture master Andy Serkis and get
exclusive set visits on some 3D features to write press. 

About Ryan Justice

Ryan Justice is a film and commercial director based in Tampa Bay,
Florida. Ryan’s passion for movies and storytelling began as early as he can
remember, and he has always held a special place in his heart for the aesthetic
of ‘80s cinema.  After graduating from the University of South Florida in
2011, Ryan has gone on to direct numerous award-winning short films, feature
films, and music videos. In 2017, his first feature film “Followers,” a
psychological thriller about the social media generation, earned a theatrical
release in the United States, garnering numerous accolades in the process and
can now be viewed on several SVOD platforms (Amazon Prime).