Give me some tips...

Rylan Zolinski

Rylan Zolinski

Well-known member
I don't have much experience with lighting, so I need a few tips. This weekend I plan on shooting a short and some scenes are indoors. What I have available is:

2 softboxes and a center (flood?) light (with barndoors).

Any tips you can give me with lighting with this equipment?
 
What are you shooting? What kinds of scenes are they and what sort of look are you going for?

Knowing that, I'm sure a lot of people will chime in with advice.
 
The scenes that will be indoors are:

-Bathroom
-Den area (which will be used as a living room; included is a desk with a lamp and the lighting in this room by itself is quite dim. It's just a basic shot of a guy sitting there reading letters and on the telephone)
-Bedroom (small space, hard to get any sort of lights in. This scene will included the main character sleeping/waking up.)
-Night scene on the street (basically pitch black)

The only one I am not worried about is the bathroom. I once did a shot in there and the bright lights above the mirror actually made it look great. What kind of details do you need in order to help me out with this?
 
My story begins pretty normal but get's gloomier. I wouldn't mind shooting the beginning "normal" scenes with just basic lighting but as things worsen in the film, the lighting becomes darker and gloomier.
 
OK, here it is, off the top of my head -- a quick lighting 101:

Lighting is sculpting with light. The tools can be anything that helps bring your sculpture to life. That means anything: aluminum trays, bed sheets, house lamps, ... even pro lighting gear! The best tip for learning is to play with what you have and create all sorts of effects. Make shadows short & long, sharp edges and soft edges, light shadows next to dark shadows next to bright light. Do this for a few days/nights (months is even better) before you go shoot anything. Set up and light Oranges, Grapefruits, ...round objects with textures that imitate a face, and throw in some cubes and other objects; film it. Review it on a TV/monitor. Take notes and determine what you like for your story and remember how you did it, make notes so you can repeat this on set.

There are two main types of light: hard & soft. Hard lighting is direct from the source, it travels in a straight line and creates nice contrast; shafts of light and shadows, think sunlight or a lamp. The other is Soft lighting, think Clouds, this is simply hard light going through material (cloud, spun, grid cloth, etc...) that takes the aligned photons and causes them to scatter and diffuse (go every which way)

1. All Lighting is Motivated. What does this mean? It simply means that the light is coming from some source which appears to be real & appropriate, e.g., the sun through a window, a lamp, a TV, etc... in other words the lighting should not just be there to make it pretty (though it will) it's part of the film world you're creating so it should be percieved as real; not phony, unless that's your style!

Your style, mood is something you should imagine and prepare for ahead of time by actually testing and playing around with lighting and a camera so you know how reality is portrayed within filmspace. The colors in the scene are important also to your lighting design and creation of mood. A gray drab scene will play much differently than a colorful garden of flowers and convey differing moods as a setting in which the drama unfolds.

Overall, motivated lighting means, Lighting serves the story, this small statement actually means quite alot. It sets the mood, paints the character in ways that furthers the emotional experience of the audience and maintains suspension of disbelief.

2. The Key Light is the strongest main light on the subject. During the day when we go outside we have one key light, the sun. In a room we might have a more challenging situation. The key might shift according to where we stand. In one corner a lamp might be the key (on the subject) and when we move across the room another light might be then be the key on the subject. Set the Key to a level that does not overpower the situation. Too bright will wash out your subject. Use scrims or spun or bounce to bring down the key to an appropriate level. A dimmer also works, but the dimmer shifts the light to a warmer color, this affects the look you're after.

3. The Fill is the light that fills out the other side on the Key, it's also motivated (could be reflection off a wall, another light, etc...) the fill gives enough light to help the audience see what you want to show them on this shadow side. The fill provides a modeling effect and helps bring out dimension. Film makers have a crucial need to turn two dimensional space into a semi-three dimensional space; fill helps in this chore. Fill intensity can go from zero to equal the key's light candles. It's best to have Fills about 1/3 to 1/5 less than key intensity. Of course this depends upon your style, mood, look. Small fixtures are employed here and foam core bounce is often used in CUs.

4. Backlight aims forward toward the camera from behind the subject. Often it's either up high or down low and out of shot. It's use is to bring seperation and lift the subject from the background. Alfred Hitchcock believed backlighting is best for B&W films and not needed in color work because the color itself gives contrast to the subject. Backlighting can have great dramatic looks and create nice contour (rim light) slivers on the subject's head.

5. Background Lighting lets the audience see what's behind the subject. This can involve many lights given the endless variety of BG sets.

6. Eye lights: a very very low intensity light or bounce that reflect a small glint on the subject's eyes. You might say this light gives the subject a window to their soul. Compare shots of subjects where the eyes are dull and black, no glint, then compare the look with one where there's a small tiny glint in the subject's eyes, --big difference. Use eye lights for normal character situations and use no eye lights for a sinister or a burnt out character portrayal.

7. Hair lights, kickers, cross lights and others are more adjustments to refine your shots so you can tell your story without calling attention to yourself.
 
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Wow 10s. That was a great response.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words....a video must be worth... um $75 :)
If it were me and I had a shoot coming up that quick with only very little lighting knowledge in my head, then I would strongly consider watching the DVcreator's DV Enlightenment Video *twice* then start experimenting and testing like crazy before the shoot.
Well, at least watch the demo movies and see if some of the looks will be what you're after. I'd also invest in a dimmer from harbor freight and a range of gels. If you can swing it before the weekend, rent or buy a Lowel Pro light or a Litepanels Miniplus. Those are the two fixtures I'd be grabbing for use in small rooms indoors where not a whole lot of light was needed. Also consider renting these items if you're in a town where they're readily available.
 
Hate to sound like a jerk, but lighting basics are covered pretty well in the stickies at the beginning of the lighting forum. There's a whole lot of great info there for just this purpose.
 
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