Cinema Lighting

ryanweiss89

ryanweiss89

Active member
I was browsing through my DVDs yesterday and after watching the Special Features of almost every DVD I owned, I began to notice something. A lot of the "big budget" motion picture sets i saw looked to be lit with a very minimalistic amount of lights. I noticed several scenes of different movies being lit with only one large softbox as a key and not much else???

I don't know if it's just me, but has anyone else noticed that?
 
Yes

and No

Janusz could light a scene with a lightbulb better than we could ligh with a full Grip Truck.

Lighting isn't just about having light; there is an art to where shadows fall on your talents faces; nose shadows for example .... I too see many films that seem to be using a minimlist amount of lighting, but stop and think of the greatest shot films ever ?

My Favs

Schindler's List
Titanic
Se7en
The Godfather I and II
The Deep Hunter
American Beauty
The Aviator

These films weren't using a single light source for the most part.

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But yeah; sometimes one needs a simple Kino overhead with natural light coming in through the windows.
 
I picked up a couple of these lately also. I think a big part of this process is choosing right location, time of day and useing those things to your advantage.

TO echo John, not one of my fav films, but one I thought was beautifully (heavily) lit and shot - Pride and prejudice.
 
Since most of the films we're talking about are shot on 35mm, in your opinions, do you think it's the fact that they're shot on film that really seems to pull the talent from their backgrounds and give it a more dimensional feel, even while using little lighting?
 
I big time agree with the idea of minimalist lighting. Too many indie sets are covered in 3-5 lights (for let's say, a bedroom scene) whilst the same set in a Hollywood picture would be a Kino 4' 4bank and a 150w kicker.
 
I think for the most part big budget flicks are overlit. I've been on many. One thing to consider when lighting "dark" looks or minimalist sourcy lighting is you need to have tons of flags and stands to control the spill. It really is all abot having the right equipment.

Sometimes that shaft of light on the character's face is actually harder to make than a soft look would be.
 
the most beautifully lit film I have seen in the past five years is "The Birth" and I wouldn't call it minimalistic, but diffused. I think many indie films don't diffuse enough and overuse hard light.

Video doesn't need as much light obviously and there is a tendency for people to want to mimic the big budget films with overly complicated set ups. This mixed with the overuse of hard light makes many look over lit.
 
shawneous said:
I big time agree with the idea of minimalist lighting. Too many indie sets are covered in 3-5 lights (for let's say, a bedroom scene) whilst the same set in a Hollywood picture would be a Kino 4' 4bank and a 150w kicker.
Click to expand...
True for a lot of "small area" scenes.
But when it comes to "large area" interiors or studio setups, the big shots usually use more light(s) than an indy production has at hand.
A lot can be solved through carefull planning though and smart choice of location and shooting time (as with big productions...)
 
Its pretty incredible how small amount of light you need with these DV Cams. You can do quite a bit with just a few well placed 30w CFL bulbs under controlled conditions. All that changes though when you start using the 35mm adapters of course--as many of you do.
 
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