What kinds of lights could have made this shoot better?

Carmen Neely

Carmen Neely

Active member
Hi community,

I need some recommendations for on-camera lights to use for stage/club scenes. Most of the scenes I may shoot won't allow me the opportunity to set up additional lights, so I need a strong on camera light with the best throw possible. Obviously, the house is dark or extremely dim and the stage/club lights are dark and moody.

This is a YouTube video of some concert footage I shot. It was last minute, and I had no time to set up any lights. It was shot with a Sony TRV30 and a 3 watt on carmera light I had laying around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRFXvymcW_c

This is the type of setting I'm referring to. What type of on-carmera light could have made this better?

I've checked all over this board and didn't find what I was looking for, however, please post a link to a thread if I've missed it....thanks.




Thanks.

Carmen
 
Look, NO on-board light is going to make this look much better. For starters, at the beginning of the footage, you are too far away from the subject for any light to reach that far. Second, even if you were closer the best that you could hope for would be getting a bit of fill light onto the singer so that the change of lighting isn't so extreme.
Getting with the house lighting person would be your best bet, set all the levels to your camera, and then he/or she will know at what point your either in blackness or when the highlights burn out. The only way that will happen is if it is a music video shoot, and not a concert.
I just DP'ed a 7 camera shoot (Varicams and Pan 900's) and we gave the LD (Lighting Director) a HD 17' Monitor so that he could see what his lights would look like at different levels.

Good Luck,
Wilson
 
Thanks Wilson,

You gave the first real critique and what you said was exactly my experience. In these situations, I will have to try to get to the lighting person before the show. This particular event was last minute and I just set up at the highest point possible away from the dancing folks and started shooting when the show started.

Thanks! I don't want to waste my money.

Carmen
 
To ride Wilson's coat tails, I would say I completely agree with his comments.
An on camera light in this situation with alter the "Look" of the club scene and make it look like news footage or "Girls gone Wild" . I would use an on board light for fill, and really soften the source with some opal or 251 diffusion gel as needed. A powerful source of light in this situation will definately look artificial. Work with the DJ / house lighting guy to accomplish what you need....Good point Wilson..I agree...
I mentioned the zylight, as you can introduce light colors other than tungsten or daylight for a club scene feel... All in all, I believe my decision to buy a ZYlight, as my only on-camera type light as a good one..Good luck on your shoot..
 
Sometimes in dark situations, you have to shoot where the light is. The background is really dark. If you can't convince the LD to light the stage (instead of just the performers) or if there is nothing worth lighting, then try to get two or three subjects in frame. That will help avoid the "floating head" feeling.
If the LD could wash the whole stage in blue and then ran the same lights, it would look 100% better on video, just because you would have some sense of detail in the dark areas.

I'm not sure what you did for white balance, but usually for stageshows you want to use manual at 3200k.
 
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