Oxana: Good Lighting but a few bad techniques
I think Oxana has the same 'lighting setup' as Michelle but here is what went wrong I suspect:
CAMERA SETTINGS / EDITING COLOR CORRECTION
1. She is using a consumer camera, probably in auto exposure mode. Notice that she is right up against white walls. There are no highlights and no dark areas in Oxana's frame thus the autoexposure is fooled and tries to turn the white background into middle grey, thus everything becomes muddy.
But Small White Car is correct, she could have easily fixed this in post by upping the contrast.
2. Notice also how the colors are vibrant in Michelle's video and the pink flowers on the backround in Oxana's are dull. She should have upped the saturation in post as well.
3. CAMERA/LENSES/BLOCKING:
-It's best if you can make the host stand out from the background. To achieve this, put some distance between the host and the background, 5 to 10 feet if possible. Then have the camera about 3 feet or so from the host. Not too much closer or lenses can begin distorting facial features. The more wide angle, the worse it is (Below 50mm on a full frame camera).
4. It's also preferable to have a large sensor camera like a DSLR (Canon Rebel, 5d2, 5d3, 7d, Sony a7s, Panasonic Lumix is OK). By getting away from the background, and having a large sensor, you can get a shallow depth of field so the host is sharp and the background is soft. This is what Jack did.
Oxana did the exact opposite. She shot with a small sensor camera with her back up against the wall so everything is in equal focus. Using a longer lens or zooming in will also help achieve host/background separation if you must use a small consumer video camera.
5. COLOR: Michelle makes good use of color in the background, although if Oxana had popped her colors in post, the flowers would be nice too. Cool colors recede whereas Michelle's warmer fleshtones come forward. The color difference between the background and her face also helps separate them. Jack also has saturated blues, red, purples, etc. in his video, probably by upping the saturation in post.
Oxana forgot to color correct her video, hence both her face and the background have a blue green tint which further melts them together. She probably didn't white balance the camera for the lights and once again, the auto iris sabotages her. Auto anything on your camera can and will bite you if you don't check it. Better to shoot in manual.
Pay attention to:
1. Focus
2. Exposure
3. White Balance (Iris)
6. CONTRAST: The human eye likes contrast: an image that contains a pure white, a pure black, and everything in between. Michelle has the white boxes, a black dress and dark hair. Jack has the black stripes, poster, etc. and some highlight reflections, etc.
Notice that even in the shadows in Oxana's hair, it's grey not black and her white backdrop reads as grey. A lack of contrast results in the audience's eye wandering around not knowing where to focus.
If you squint, looking at all 3 videos, you will notice that Jack and Michelle's faces are the brightest things in the frame. This brings them forward. You generally want the host to be brightly lit and the background 1 or 2 stops darker so the face pops out.
This is another reason to separate the host from the background by 5 to 10 feet. The light hitting you will drop off on the background, leaving it darker so it doesn't compete with your face. Jack does this well. Oxana, again, does the opposite.
Sorry to pick on Oxana. The lights themselves are fine. You can actually copy her light set up. Just be a little more thorough in your camera settings and making color correction filter adjustments in editing. And separate yourself from the backdrop and you should get decent results.
Good luck!
