2 Different Lighting Situations, 1 Lowel DV Creator 44 Kit to use

[Spotlight Media]

First post in lighting, first time I have taken lighting to the next step up in quality.

I have 2 situations for lighting coming up and I need some advice, please.

#1. I shoot lectures for a college in town where I am at the back of the room about 100ft away from the speaker, sometimes the speaker stays a the podium sometimes they walk around up front and talk. The room is not lit very well and I do not anticipate the school wiring the room for better lights. I also have a 2nd camera man stage left shooting a profile shot. I would like to light this for them but I am not certain what I am thinking is the correct way to go about it. These lectures are full of students and local business people so it is a packed house. There is a gentle slope so I am up a little higher, I would say no more than a 5 degree slope. If I were going to light from that distance would I use 2 fresnels at the back of the room? Would that create shadows from people's heads in the audience? I would assume a metal diffuser should be used? I am also concerned for the 2nd camera and ruining that shot with potentially bad shadows.

#2. I have to shoot a series of 6-7 interviews for the same school. The interviews are probably going to be very personal and potentially emotional. So I am thinking of a black background (or rather a background that is black but looks to be not there, if that makes any sense. Think Band of Brothers interviews before each episode. Is there an industry term for that look). I am thinking maybe 1 large softbox here? Or maybe it is a barfly or litepanels solution. Or perhaps what I have in this kit will work.

My kit that I have inherited is this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/285928-REG/Lowel_DV_902LBZ_DV_Creator_44_Kit.html
It has limitations, but until this point they have sufficed, but they will never reach the front of the room for #1. and may not give me what I want for #2.

Example of #1. http://www.vimeo.com/16960424

#2.

So there it is, please let me know what you lighting pros would do in my situation. I will be very interested to find out if I am way off or fairly close.

Cheers Fellas

 

[stuckfootage]

A couple of thoughts:

Trying to light from 100 feet away is not going to work.
Explore lighting options that are closer. Can you hang a light overhead?
Scissors clamps for suspended ceilings or Cartolini clamps might help.
Try to avoid hanging directly over the public, and be sure to attach a safety cable.

If you can't hang overhead, and if the ceiling is white, try pointing a light up
and bouncing off the ceiling. Invest in some black foil to wrap the light
so that stray light doesn't annoy the audience.

Whatever you do, use barn doors or foil wrap to make sure the lights don't
interfere with any projection the lecturer might be using.

Regarding the second setup, if you go with a black background, be sure to
have a little backlight to outline the person's hair. Otherwise, people with black hair
will look really bizarre.

The example photo looks like it was lit with a single Rifa. The shadows are dramatic,
but you might want to fill them in a little. The backlight might help with this.

Check out the sparkle in the talent's eyes. If your key light doesn't give you enough,
you might want to set up your little Pro lite next to your camera,
focussed tight, maybe even foil-wrapped even tighter, and give a little sparkle to the eyes.

 

[Spotlight Media]

Thanks for the input. There is not much I can do for the long shots then as I cannot hang anything from the ceiling.