Light takes moves like waves, Magic Cave style?

[ICD Films]

**light that

'Dancing' light on an object / room as if it were reflected from a surface of water. You know, that magical cave where the moonlight move like waves over the actor or the entire room itself.

Any suggestions? Guessing there is actually established tricks among cinematografers for this, anyone know? Experimenting with inflatable pools & work lights feels like my last resort, looking for a bit more practical solution here.

[Al MacLeod]

Take a wheel and place a smooth shiny disk of silver Mylar film on it and slowly rotate the wheel. Shine your light on it and use the reflected light. For more "dancing" secure the mylar in a scalloped fashion on the outside circumference of the wheel to create ripples.

Postscript...this may be the right time of year for you. Home depot or similar, get one of those rotating color wheels that are used for decorative lighting and put the Mylar on that. The speed would be right on.

[Andrew Luczenczyn]

I thought the classic way to do this was hard lighting submerged mirror or tinfoil.

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

The easiest thing to do is to use a big baking tray and fill it with water. Put it on the ground and skip bounce a big light into it. Shake or ripple the tray to the amount of waves required. Pretty simple. The key is the angle of which you shoot the light at the tray. The lower the better usually. Not from perpendicular angles. Only acute ones.

[Jordan Scott Price]

I thought the classic way to do this was hard lighting submerged mirror or tinfoil.

Yea, I've seen this done with a piece of foil, a fishtank, and a baby (the light, not a human).

[ICD Films]

Sorry, language barrier... didn't get the whole wheel part? Can't visualize how it would work exactly.

What's a baby light?

[Matty_g]

A baby is a 1k fresnel