Advice on lighting a scene at a table with FS100

G

Gary W

Well-known member

Hi everyone I have a question to pose. I am shooting a comedy short in two weeks with three FS100’s and two of the scenes will be shot in a restaurant one inside and one outside on a patio, the over head lights in both places are tungsten.

The inside scene is four people at a table, and the outside scene is two people at a table both are evening scenes. I want a warm tone to both scenes, and I am going to use a Chinese lantern to light the scenes. Here is my question? Should I use a white Chinese lantern with a white light and add the tone in post when I color correct or should I use an orange light inside the lantern and shoot the scene that way or again and orange lantern with a white light inside. I am thinking the first but I’m not really sure.

I do plan on doing some test at the restaurant before my shoot dates, but I know some of you out there have done this before, and any advice would save me time and trouble. Thanks in advance Gary

I will post some scenes after the shoot.
 
My thoughts....
Shooting with 3 cameras at once means your lighting director really has to be on the ball, and your lighting coverage has now increased from shooting a single angle to every angle, which means more outlay for enough lighting instruments to cover this.

The overhead lights my be tungsten, but that does not mean you have to use them... Judge accordingly, you may need to disable or flag selected lights.

Are you sure a single Chinese lantern will provide the proper illumination?

You could go tungsten in the lantern with a white balance slightly favoring daylight to give you a warmer tone.

As always for best results take the time to test and learn your tools.

Good Luck!

Dave
 
I dial in tone with the FS100 kelvin setting increments - it's great for that. consider some mixed light: adding some blueish rim on actors, maybe some bluer tones in the windows and such. Look at the clip RAIN VODKA here -
http://calebcrosby.com/blacknwhite.html

I keyed these two models with a household edison bulb. I saw it looked good when blocking the shot. I set an HMI 2.5 PAR 30 feet away for some edge and to keep agency types having a good time.

lighting is easier than some people admit ;-)
 
He will have a hard time rimming with blue light when there are 3 cameras rolling. :) Not impossible, but lots of flagging is needed to keep it off the other actors.

There is a popular trick for this kind of table scenes with multiple cameras. Have a ring of bulbs, or a few china balls directly over the table. Then place a small spot in the middle of the ring/china formation (a par64 or par56 with VNSP or NSP should do fine) and aim it down towards the table. Make sure there is enough clean space on the cloth. This is your fill. Anytime an actor leans forward their face is catching more of this bounce. You need to have the table top out of frame but that's not hard with some clever blocking and set dressing. Generally, just keep your wide shot camera in a low position. Closeups shouldn't be an issue.
You may still need light for backgorunds but this is largely dependent on where your three cameras are aimed at.
 
I forgot he said 3 camera, I've lit a bit of three cam. The more you get A right, the more you screw C up. it's quicksand.
 
Thanks for the advice. I am now thinking I will shoot it
once with two cameras and then again with one from the side I
will add the slightly warmer tone in camera by increasing
the Kelvin after I white balance. The idea of placing a small
spot in the middle is intriguing.
 
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