Hi
I am shooting a short film next week and need some advice on two lighting situations.
First - There will be shots of a girl inside a car as a man approaches from the back window. I need to balance the interior light a little but obviously can not use large lighting. Any ideas?
Second - There is a scene with the girl sitting underneath a crack in the curtains inside. The man arrives at the window on a ladder and therefore needs to be exposed as correctly as possible without totally leaving the girl in the dark. Ideally i would have a thin ray of light coming down from the window illuminating her but the forecast is weak and obviously she will be facing the wrong way. I doubt i could position any kind of reflector in front of her to bring her face up. I would like only her to really be illuminated, to exaggerate the minimal light source and that the light in her room is off. Otherwise i would just use a filtered redhead or something similar.
I have access to a couple of small video lights, redhead and blonde 2k kits. I am shooting on 5D and 7D.
Look forward to hearing peoples suggestions and help! I have never done any lighting myself so I'm new to it.
Thanks for reading!
quote:
Originally posted by tom_patrick
First - There will be shots of a girl inside a car as a man approaches from the back window. I need to balance the interior light a little but obviously can not use large lighting. Any ideas?
We're assuming that is DAY EXT? Without access to a 5K and genny, I'd use a shiny board and aim it through a diffusion frame to take the edge off. Probably 216 or opal, but you don't want to take too much from it. You can help yourself out some by carefully placing a sheet of ND gel on the back window (.3 or .6, depending on the footcandles outside that day).
Depending on the frame, you could also fire one or two of your units through the side windows to bring up the actresses face.
quote:
Originally posted by tom_patrick
Second - There is a scene with the girl sitting underneath a crack in the curtains inside. The man arrives at the window on a ladder and therefore needs to be exposed as correctly as possible without totally leaving the girl in the dark. Ideally i would have a thin ray of light coming down from the window illuminating her but the forecast is weak and obviously she will be facing the wrong way. I doubt i could position any kind of reflector in front of her to bring her face up. I would like only her to really be illuminated, to exaggerate the minimal light source and that the light in her room is off. Otherwise i would just use a filtered redhead or something similar.
I think it was Dean Cundey, ASC who once had to explain where the light was coming from in a dark haunted house. He said, "the same place the music comes from." Sometimes you just have to have light that is unmotivated from any realistic source. I wouldn't rely at all on the natural light coming through the window. Instead, you'll match the exterior level somewhat with one of your units (with scrims and/or dimmer) and use c-stands and flags to cut it to just the "sliver" you're looking for to prevent spill across the rest of the room. You may need to "box" the entire unit in with flags or blackwrap if there is extra spill. You may have to also use some diffusion on the front of the unit (clipped to the barn doors) such as 216, to take down the harshness a bit...and you may also need a bit of color correction to balance for the exterior.
Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com
Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com
