I Need Help Lighting A Car

A

aalleexx

Veteran
Hello I am comming to one of the most important scenes of the movie I am shooting, the problem is that I have some dialoge of two actors at night inside a car, I tried shooting the scene with a portable flourecent light from walt mart that you can plug into the lighter for power, the problem is that i reviewed the footage and it flickers, what kind of light should I use to light up the faces of my talents inside the car at night? I dont have much money to spend, thanks a lot guys
 
you buy flourecents from home depot that dont flicker if you liked the look. Personally I'd light from outside with the biggest light i had as far away as i could get it.

Is the car moving or parked? if moving, could you change it to be parked?
 
"of two actors at night inside a car"

is the car moving ?
is car going down dark city/suburbs/country road?
or down main street in city ?
you shooting one actor at a time ( from seat next to him) ?
you shooting from back seat ?
shooting with hood/side mount camera ?

how long is the scene ?
 
If the car is moving, a flicker might work.

But isn't there something you can do with the shutter in the scene file to make there not be a flicker. I though I read that a few times.

I'll check the bible when I get home, to make sure I am not crazy

Jason
 
The pro's use mini flos, stuck up in the visor area, or down on the dash to light the occupants faces. These are 12v flourescent tubes with the correct color temperature etc.. At Home depot a while back, I bought these little fixtures that are designed to go into kitchen cabinets. Recessed lighting fixtures I think they were called. They are about 3" circles, about 1" deep. they are 12 volt 25 watt lights wired to a 120 volt ballast. I cut off the ballast and soldered a 4 pin connector on them, and put velcro on the back. Now I have 12 volt stickup lights that I can mount to the visor for car interiors. They are about 2400 kelvin, so they look pretty warm, but in most cases it works pretty well. Remember the "taplight"? It was a battery powered nightlight that you could stick anywhere. I never tried them out, but something like that might work.
 
You could get a DC to AC inverter (from meijers even) and then plug in whatever you want. I've used a wad of christmas lights before - low heat kind of thing - warm light.
 
Funny I have never had a problem with flourescent lights. THey never flicker but they do give a green tone. I'm talking about usual flourescents.

Maybe it's because I'm often at a constant 60 shutterspeed, which no one should go under.
 
I learned this trick from an old DP last year while working in the desert. We used glo sticks (green & Blue) that you can buy in a camping store or off the web.

Placed on the dash and in the viser area they represent the light coming from the dash, worked great and were easy the move around to get just what we needed. Hope this helps.

Technique matters - Style gets you their - "Lets Go"
 
Arrow said:
I learned this trick from an old DP last year while working in the desert. We used glo sticks (green & Blue) that you can buy in a camping store or off the web.

That gives me another idea, set your cellphone to stay lit up for the maximum amount of time and use it for your dash lights.
Click to expand...
 
Arrow said:
I learned this trick from an old DP last year while working in the desert. We used glo sticks (green & Blue) that you can buy in a camping store or off the web.

Placed on the dash and in the viser area they represent the light coming from the dash, worked great and were easy the move around to get just what we needed. Hope this helps.

Technique matters - Style gets you their - "Lets Go"
Click to expand...

That's an excellent tip! I'm adding glo sticks to my kit!
 
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