Ext. House - Night

S

Stormlord

New member
Greetings all, this is my first post and I am relatively new to cinematography, but I know it is my passion.

I am DPing a short film for a friend, as the post says it will be a night exterior of a house, hoping to get the moon in the background if possible. I want the exterior to feel very cold and unsettling, and the interior to feel very warm and inviting. I don't think I'll have a problem taking care of the tungsten lights inside.

We will be shooting on an XH-A1, but the director would like to get RED.

I am just looking to get a general idea of what equipment as far as lights would be required, and what would be necessary to achieve the moonlight look and feel.

I know it depends on how wide the shot is and how large the house is, but would it be reasonable to assume a 1.2k HMI would provide the output and throw? or would I need to go higher?

Any insight into the matter would be greatly appreciated as I am looking to learn all that I can. Thanks.
 
a 1.2K hmi will do fine for lighting a person, but if you see a lot of house, backyard, etc., you might need larger lights to get their edges defined well. You don't necessarily have to blast blue light against the house, especially if the moon is in the background. Rather, you would be looking for a lot of darkness with the bluey moonlight creeping along the edges of the roof, walls, chimney, trees, etc. I wouldn't say you NEED a 4K or higher, but having two or three 1.2Ks could definitely make your life easier without emptying your wallet.

Have you shot on the RED before? If you get one, make sure to bring on a technician and an AC who know what they are doing.

Also, for lighting faces or filling in areas, Kino flos with daylight tubes can do very well. They are soft enough that they can seem to be ambient light, rather than source light.

Consider gels for your moonlight as well, because uncorrected HMI on tungsten film (or chip) can sometimes be a little too poppy. I remember reading once that a combo of straw and plus green could add a silveryness to light, but I think others might have better ideas for that.
 
Thanks for the insight, your tips will no doubt prove very useful. I forgot to mention that it is just an establishing shot of the house, so there will be no talent to light. It will most likely be a fairly wide shot, so I'm just trying to figure out how to make the house appear photogenic at night with a moonlight cast.
 
Is moonlight necessary, then? It will be hard to give a nice backlight to a house without expensive equipment. What about streetlights, garden lights, etc.?
 
I just want to give it something to contrast the interior warm light and outside cold light, I guess it doesn't have to be moonlight, I just don't know what looks good I suppose. I want this to be like a professional photograph, eye catching and interesting... like a spooky postcard or something.
 
Why not have a shot looking through one of the windows at the actors inside? Show the outside wall, some bushes blowing in the wind, maybe some rain on the window. Then a 1.2K hmi would be perfect to simulate moonlight!

What is important is that the viewer knows where the characters are, you don't HAVE to show the entire house, or even most of it. If the windows, or the bushes, or whatever you have in the shot are established to have been part of the house previously, then we will know which house we are at. If not, we at least know that they are in SOME house, which is a whole lot better than just cutting into a dining room.
 
What you could do is tweak your framing. It's very possible to get a wide shot of the house without it being wide enough to demand 2-4 1.2k HMI's to light every part of it. With a well placed 1.2k HMI and some clever framing, you can get the moonlight/night effect you're looking for without having to blast the entire house with a bunch of lights.
 
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