Any tips on the lighting for a card game scene thats played around a table in a garage? We have two high powered fluorescent lights although i think they will be too bright for the scene. Sheds your thoughts.
Depends on the look you're going for. My instinct would be to give some strong directional light from above and behind the focus of the shot and maybe a second key (or fill) light to bring out details in faces. Probably the easiest solution is to light one shot at a time and change the lighting every time you change the camera angle.
I haven't worked much with fluorescents (watch out for flicker and white balance), but they could conceivably work (don't worry about them being too bright; you'll need more light than you might expect), although they will be less directional than filament bulbs. It may be a good idea to get a couple 500-watt halogen work lights (you can get them for about $15 each--be sure to get the kind that are mounted on stands).
Another thing to consider is the use of incidental lighting (from fixtures already visible in the scene. How about putting a table lamp (sans lampshade) in the center of the table and popping in a 120-watt bulb? You'd probably still want some backlighting, but it would take the pressure off as far as lighting for facial detail.
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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my vodcast on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=96931870
and my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com
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Andrew Gingerich
Exploding Goldfish Films
Check out my blog at http://www.exgfilms.com
and my reel at http://portfolio.exgfilms.com
I think a bit of tungsten lighting would work well in this scene, a nice orange hue. Although, I'm not sure what type of garage it's set in. If it's a fairly new orderly garage then I'd use some flourescents, maybe backed up by some halogen lights, but if it's an old, run-down, grotty garage then I'd use tungsten.
Good luck anyway.
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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!
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You can't keep 'em out, they're already in!
Yea it is an old run down garage..but i plan on turning that around. Yeh i can get some halogens, although when u say light the back do you mean just have lights facing the back?
If you are doing a "round'" the table scene I have found the china balls are the way to go. You will find the flos will overpower and flatten the scene. For the budget minded, paper china balls is an ace in the hole. They are are less than 20 dollars and come in sizes from 12 to 30 inches. Drop a 150w bulb in there, put it on a cheap dimmer you can buy at any hardware store, and you are in business. A little black cloth on the camera side for flare goes a long way. For wider shots, use a china hat type pract with a 100w household bulb overhead and some white bounce card hidden on the table for fill. It's soft, fast, cheap, and easy. Happy Lighting!
757 Lighting, Los Angeles, Ca - Local 728
What are china balls?
Yeah, china balls... here here. This is a great, professional way to go for the kind of setup you have (group around a table), and ironically also close to, if not THE, most affordable way to go.
Think of a beach ball. Now imagine that the beach ball is made out of a thin, papery, off-white color material. Now imagine that there's a hole at either end of the beach ball (instead of being supported by the air inside like a beach ball, a china ball is supported by a thin wire frame) where you can hang a homemade socket with a regular old household lightbulb or two.
It's good for a lot of reasons: cheap, lightweight, easy to rig, great quality light, and versatile. You can hang it off a grip stand over the scene, or you can clip it to something on the ceiling, or if there's nothing to clip to you can even just tape the damn thing to the ceiling. Lightwrite's suggestion of the dimmer is also a good one-- you can get a stronger wattage bulb than you actually need, wire in a household dimmer, then dim down to the level that looks best. The (possible) advantage of this is that you can give a nice warm (orange) look to the scene without having to go through the pain-in-the-ass job of putting gel on the china ball.
Good luck.
Hal
Thanks, although i dont know where i would get a china ball.
Where do you live? They can't be that hard to find-- call around. Home decorating stores. Check on the Web, you might be able to mail-order them. They're very light and would be easy as hell to ship.
