Diffusion and creating a large source key light

H

hisonni

Active member
Good afternoon fellow filmmakers!

I'd like to thank you in advance for all of the incredible bits of information you've dropped on my already. Thanks a ton. However, I find myself struggling with creating a LARGE diffused key light for indoor shooting and nighttime exteriors. How have you guys done this? What light/ stands did you use? What type of diffusion fabric? Can this be achieved using Arri L7Cs?

***Bonus question: My favorite diffusion is Roscoe's 112 Opal tough frost. Do you guys have a favorite Roscoe diffusion Filter? Do you have a favorite diffusion fabric of diffusion panel? If so could you share it with me. Thanks again and have a wonderful day!!!
 
The poor man's version is a frosted shower curtain lit from behind by several lights at about 3-4ft makes for a big side source. I find those basic ikea clothes racks for student bachelors/recently-divorced-and-cleaned-out-middle-aged-men does the trick for supporting it. Under $15 total for both with the 'deluxe' extendable version and big as you like. The basic rack is even cheaper but too short for anything but sitdown interview lighting. You could always hang it in any position with a rope and pegs. The curtain even has the holes on one side to thread it through.
 
This isn't an easily answerable question and different circumstances will dictate what you go with. "Large" source is all subjective depending on how big of a room / space you're in. On really really big movies the grips will build overhead frames of box truss that are at least a 40' square, hung from construction cranes and filled with image 80's or something similar. For a small interior, a 4x4 frame with a joker might be large enough though. One thing I can say is for most purposes, stay away from silk. People use that term as a catch-all for butterflies; I can't remember the last time I actually saw an 8x or 12x frame with silk. Gridcloth is by far the most common diffusion that gets used in large frames. If you need something even more soft and can afford the light loss, go with a bounce source.
 
ARRI Baby Max shooting into 1/4 silent gridcloth in a 6x6 is one option.

But as stated above there are many options depending.
 
For interiors, a 6x6 or sometimes an 8x8 is about as large a frame as you can fit inside. The stronger the diff, and the closer you can get it to your talent the softer the light will be. If you can bounce the light first, then put the bounced light through diffusion you start to get seriously beautiful soft light.
 
David W. Jones said:
ARRI Baby Max shooting into 1/4 silent gridcloth in a 6x6 is one option.
Click to expand...

David, I'd find that to be a rather source-y setup (which may be OK depending on the desired effect. If I'm looking to fill up a larger frame with a relatively small source like an M18, I'll add an intermediate 4x4 of 250 or 216 (depending on how much stop I can afford) between the head and the frame, to really smooth things out.
 
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