I was wondering if anyone could help me. I'm filming a short entirely based around various people sitting on a sofa. The only problem is that with the sofa up against a white wall we get a lot of shadows. I'm sure part of the problem is that we've got just 3 redheads and no gels or other sources of light. Can anyone help me out on how you'd light that kind of scenario. all the existing light in the room is pretty useless so I need to do the whole thing from scratch effectively.
Thanks
Move the sofa back from the wall and adjust your focus and camera angle so that it doesn't look a mile from the wall (and use some backlighting in the space. If you don't have the roof/wall or floor/wall lines in frame and the actors don't flail their arms around you can probably hide things pretty well and light it however you want.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
Using the 3 red heads, at the very least you should try and get some filters for the red heads. gels not needed. Why? Because a red head is a very harsh light and the shadows it casts have a hard edge, plus the beams will show gradients as the light falls off from the centre of the beam.
Key light in front, standard this can be non-filtered if you wish. Then fill in the shadows with another of the red heads, this should be filtered, the shadows will still exist but they will not be as harsh as before and if the front light is filtered then you might not need to use the back light other than to remove them from the back ground.
Another point is to put something behind them, a hanging rug, or a picture that will help take away from that shadow effect.
Camera position in the room is important because you will need to set up "original" points of light, light from the ceiling, lights from a lamp or window. Just be wary not to change the side the keylight is shown from, since this is like crossing the line from a directors point of view and makes the scene looked artifically lit. Strange I know.
There are ways you can make some fake filters if you can't get proper ones. The ones made for lights are made to withstand the hot temperatures of lights, but they will still burn if they get too close to a bulb. But if you are able to, non-stick backing paper can also be used for other source red heads might be too hot, but if you perhaps have a lamp with a 100w globe in it, using this backing paper will diffuse the light and soften the shadows form it. You can see this effect simply use a bedside lamp. Cast it on a wall no paper, look at the shadows, add the paper and see how it changes.
but all filters may burn and you will smell smoke if they are too close. This should be monitored by whoever is doing your lighting.
I hope this helps.
Michael Rogers
McRogson
Michael Rogers
McRogson
