What you're looking for is High Contrast, Low Key lighting. If I were you, the way I would achieve this would depend on your budget. Keep in mind that I don't know hardly any specifics, so I don't know if you're trying to keep the audience from seeing the background at all, or just a little, or if parts of the background will also be strongly lit.

Option # 1- If you don't have much of a budget, I would recommend shooting this in the dead of night, unless your shooting in a windowless room and you can black out leakage. You most likely won't be shooting with powerful sources. If you don't have a good light kit, I would recommend renting some lights. You will want to underexpose, though not too much, as you want to keep the subjects bright. Keep the light very concentrated on the subject by using barndoors, flags(basically cardboard on stands that direct light), and, if necessary, ghetto style it with black aluminum foil on the lights to direct light. You can place the lights almost anywhere you have the technology too, as long as you don't have the lightsource pointing int the direction of the camera. Because you won't see the background, the lights won't be seen. But if you're shooting digital, then the light source will cause ugly distortion if pointed at the camera.

Option #2- Here is what I personally would do, ideally, if I was shooting this and I had a great grip truck on hand(I wish :). I saw a very cool effect created with High Contrast, Low Key light where a standard three point lighting set up was used on a subject, with small lights. I would recommend about 350 Watts(by tungsten standards). Then, a large par was place almost directly above the subject. I would recommend at least a 1K. The subject was then underexposed slightly, so that they appeared to be almost standing in a well of light, in their imagination, with nothing else visible. Make sure they have a cool floor surface underneath them, as it will be very visible. You can dim the par as much as you'd like, adjusting your exposure and adding gobos/cookies to make the background look like you want, but this should set you up for a cool High Contrast, Low Key shot, IMHO.

"We all have the potential to be great. It is our inability to do so that makes us miserable." C.S.Lewis

Wow Danstin Studios thanks for taking the time for such a lengthy reply. This is all very new to me so some of what you said has gone over my head!!....but thanks for the tips..

For some important scenes its just basically a guy sat in a rocking chair which is bright red itself. He's talking to someone oddly but i dont show who that is. I want the red of the chair to be well lit and i want the guy's face to be lit in an orangey light (picture Wright of Derby - artist - see Google). Im deliberately placing the chair against a blank wall (which is cream) so that all the emphasis is on the chair and the guy. I want everything else to be pure black if this makes sense.

I love that kind of lighting used in Wright of Derby's painting and Lynch's films - thats what im after and i have a very small buget.

Am i trying to achieve for too much?? any more information would be most appreciated!

Also, can someone explain how i underexpose what im filming?

Thanks again

Underexposure is a film term which literally means to underexpose the film, i.e- not allow enough light to hit it for a proper exposure (the picture is dark, muddy).

To achieve an 'underexposed' shot in video, simply use a smaller f stop (close the aperture) value than you usually would.

Another way to achieve what you want is in post. If the shot is static this can be easily done. Many programmes have filters which allow you to spotlight someone, or cut out light from certain parts of the image. Of course, a real-time lighting solution will give you better quality footage. It's up to you.

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There's daggers in men's smiles

I would recommend not doing it in post, because of the what rizzo said about it decreasing your quality. Personally I think that it will give you a more natural shot if done on set.

quote:

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This is all very new to me so some of what you said has gone over my head!

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Sorry you didn't understand some of the things I was saying. I wasn't sure what you were looking for, so I just threw some things out there.

quote:

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I love that kind of lighting used in Wright of Derby's painting and Lynch's films -
I want the red of the chair to be well lit and i want the guy's face to be lit in an orangey light

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Thank you for giving Joseph Wright as an example, that really helps with envisioning what you are looking for. I'm thinking it sounds like you want the chair to be well lit, and the guys face well lit, but the rest in shadow. That would be close to impossible using low-budget techniques, but you can certainly get close.
Heres how I would achieve that effect with a small budget.
When I light, since I have no money, I use halogen work lights. I'll assume you'll be using those and other cheap items. I would place a small(approximately 150 watt) work light under and somewhere behind the chair, so that it will light the chair, but not be directly seen by the camera. Possibly, you'll need to use two of these, to achieve the look you want. I would then have a larger(somewhere between 350-500 watts) light on a stand that is pointed at his face, but to the side a bit, so that the light will strike his face and then continue on without hitting the wall too much(in sight of the camera). This light will need something over it that will make it look orange. You can either buy professional gells(on ebay for about $6) or you can improvise. Another option for the light on the face is to get a "scoop"* and have it as close as you can get it to his face. Then you can get your choice of flavored lightbulbs from home improvement stores.

The final thing, is don't listen to anything I've said, and just do whatever ends up looking right.

*Scoops are these. ?url? http://www.doityourself.com/invt/1110386?/url?

"We all have the potential to be great. It is our inability to do so that makes us miserable." C.S.Lewis

Thanks again Danstin,

Ill try that tonight as ive got my hands on some decent lights from work.

Hopefully ill have the whole short finished by the end of the weekend so ill post it up when its done so you can see the end result!

Cheers,

Matt