Dimmed lighting - an intensive scene

[David Evans]

Hi,

I'm shooting a scene inside a small room, with two actors sitting face to face. I'm trying to create the ilusion of no space, nothing but darkness and their dimmed bodies and half-lit faces. So no ambient lights or reflected lights. I'm using a Canon XH A1 with a SG Blade, wich will consume a lot of light. I wanted to have dimmed light effect on my video, but with sharp image. Any ideas how to acomplish this?

Thanks!!

 

[Paul Hudson]

For the sharp edges use a strong, high position, backlight. Then just bounce some light back into their faces or use a very soft key source. Flag everything off and shoot.

 

[David Evans]

For the sharp edges use a strong, high position, backlight. Then just bounce some light back into their faces or use a very soft key source. Flag everything off and shoot.

Thanks! Very silly question: if I'm shooting one of the actors from a 45º angle (showing 2/3 of one side of his face and just a bit of the other side), where should I place the backlight? In line with the camera? Or in a 90º angle with the camera?

Thanks!

 

[filmat11]

Are your actors hiding in a closet ? Give one of them a flash light, and bounce their light off of a white or taupe colored dress or coat in the closet. Just a thought.
If they are not in a closet, the flash light gig can still work off of foamcore.
You could also light them brighter than normal and tweak it in post. Better to have some detail in the blacks, than none at all.