Hotel Room
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Steve Laramie
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Assuming its just a normal hotel room and there is absolutely no genre to it... Find all the light sources wether it be windows lamps whatever and enhance the light coming from them and shape the light to your liking. If its horror get creative throw more shadows in there and cut the light way down. As you can tell I don't have nearly enough info to truly help you. Give us more info...
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
Look at this video... all shot in a hotel. Every single time you are 'seeing' inside a hotel room... it is the same room! I re-arranged the furniture and re-created different lighting schemes/setups for each one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZIN-SJYv3Q
My greatest tool was the use of "Polecats" the type that extend from 7'-12'. This allowed me to hang very lightweight lights from a man made "grid" hidden above the cameras sight. Very useful when 2-3 walls can be seen in every shot!
Lighting from the floor is much to difficult. I'd recommend lighting from a pole cat grid or wall spreaders. Just make sure the lights are extra light, to prevent falling equipment. Safety first.
Best,
-Ryan
ps: sorry the video looks like sh*t. Please turn up the brightness and select the higher quality (although almost indiscernable) the director had problems uploading and exporting the video. I'll be reposting a highdef version when I make a thread for DVXuser later this week.
I hope it's good enough to at least get an idea of what the HD video looks like and how I utilized the hotel room for many. If you have any questions on any of the particular rooms, just let me know here or via PM and I'll give you more detail on that specific setup.
Best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZIN-SJYv3Q
My greatest tool was the use of "Polecats" the type that extend from 7'-12'. This allowed me to hang very lightweight lights from a man made "grid" hidden above the cameras sight. Very useful when 2-3 walls can be seen in every shot!
Lighting from the floor is much to difficult. I'd recommend lighting from a pole cat grid or wall spreaders. Just make sure the lights are extra light, to prevent falling equipment. Safety first.
Best,
-Ryan
ps: sorry the video looks like sh*t. Please turn up the brightness and select the higher quality (although almost indiscernable) the director had problems uploading and exporting the video. I'll be reposting a highdef version when I make a thread for DVXuser later this week.
I hope it's good enough to at least get an idea of what the HD video looks like and how I utilized the hotel room for many. If you have any questions on any of the particular rooms, just let me know here or via PM and I'll give you more detail on that specific setup.
Best.
UtahDPDude
Active member
Polecats?
Polecats?
Hey Mr. Ryan. I am not familiar with the term "polecats" is it just another name for a wall spreader or something that is a bit different? Lighter weight perhaps? I would love some info on that. Thanks.
Polecats?
Hey Mr. Ryan. I am not familiar with the term "polecats" is it just another name for a wall spreader or something that is a bit different? Lighter weight perhaps? I would love some info on that. Thanks.
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
A pole cat is like a wall spreader, but not quite.
It is a very lightweight metalic pole which extends between two lengths.
The ones I used were 7' long and could extend to 12' long. Once you have extended both ends flush to each of the walls, you apply pressure to a lever on the polecat. It extends the pole cat a couple of extra inches which applies a great amount of force pressing against the walls. The lever locks down tight, and now the pole is secured between both walls, staying up from the outward force. It can hold a considerable amount of weight, but because of safety reasons I will not put more then two arri fresnel 650's on it, when extended to its maximum reach (12ft)
It is a very lightweight metalic pole which extends between two lengths.
The ones I used were 7' long and could extend to 12' long. Once you have extended both ends flush to each of the walls, you apply pressure to a lever on the polecat. It extends the pole cat a couple of extra inches which applies a great amount of force pressing against the walls. The lever locks down tight, and now the pole is secured between both walls, staying up from the outward force. It can hold a considerable amount of weight, but because of safety reasons I will not put more then two arri fresnel 650's on it, when extended to its maximum reach (12ft)
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
Here is a really bad photo. This is a pole cat which is NOT extended yet. You can see the lever which will apply the extra pressure outward, once you have the polecat spanning the distance needed.
The best clamps to rig the polecat with, in my experience, are cardellini clamps.
http://www.lighting-rentals.com/autopoles.jpg
The best clamps to rig the polecat with, in my experience, are cardellini clamps.
http://www.lighting-rentals.com/autopoles.jpg
Cardellini clamps look to be pricier than the Manfrotto stuff I've used, have you found super-clamps to be inadequate? I've never put anything so heavy as a pair of fresnels on my autopoles, but I've thought about it.
BTW, I really love my autopoles in small spaces- sometimes I even put a camera on one, get shots that I couldn't with sticks and the setup is quicker too. Very versitile, but they do scuff up ceilings a bit if they have that textured paint.
BTW, I really love my autopoles in small spaces- sometimes I even put a camera on one, get shots that I couldn't with sticks and the setup is quicker too. Very versitile, but they do scuff up ceilings a bit if they have that textured paint.
Steve Laramie
Veteran
If you dont have the budget for a pole cat and clamps dont be afraid of c stands with arms. C stand is one of the most useful tools you can almost replicate a grid but its not recommended to have more then 1 light on each stand.
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
Lairhair, C-stands almost never replicate the grid system, hence being called lighting from the floor.
The c-stand is a great tool for cinematography, but a gobo arm only has a maximum reach of two-three feet away from it's base. Hardly enough reach. You can double up gobo's... but only for flags, nets, etc. Nothing over a 300w fresnel would work without using up all of your sandbags and applying so much torque the gobo arm bends. C-stands, in closed quarters such as a hotel room, are only good from shooting from camera right, center, or left. Usually limiting the scene to frontal or 3/4 lighting.
When shooting anything but a closeup, c-stands quickly become useless if you need light positioned or shooting from behind a subject, as there is no room to back up the light or hide it within the shot.
If you somehow have a gigantic hotel room, you could in theory use two c-stands and a long piece of speed-rail across the two, creating a long rail from which to rig lights. Same thing as a pole cat, but has visible sides and bulky bases, yet can hold much larger weights more safely.
The c-stand is a great tool for cinematography, but a gobo arm only has a maximum reach of two-three feet away from it's base. Hardly enough reach. You can double up gobo's... but only for flags, nets, etc. Nothing over a 300w fresnel would work without using up all of your sandbags and applying so much torque the gobo arm bends. C-stands, in closed quarters such as a hotel room, are only good from shooting from camera right, center, or left. Usually limiting the scene to frontal or 3/4 lighting.
When shooting anything but a closeup, c-stands quickly become useless if you need light positioned or shooting from behind a subject, as there is no room to back up the light or hide it within the shot.
If you somehow have a gigantic hotel room, you could in theory use two c-stands and a long piece of speed-rail across the two, creating a long rail from which to rig lights. Same thing as a pole cat, but has visible sides and bulky bases, yet can hold much larger weights more safely.
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
What do you use? Super Mayfer clamps? I find they are pretty good as well, although I prefer cardellini.
Pipe clamps would have been my first choice, but I found that their 'bite' is too harsh for the soft metal the polecat is made from. The cardellini spreads the grip over a wider base and seems to work really well with the circumference of the polecats I have used in the past.
UtahDPDude
Active member
Ok well of sounds like the polecats is basicly a wall spreader. I was wondering if it was some kin of device that weighed less or cost less or something. Maybe to be technical a wall spreder can use speed rail and a polecats is a unit that is self contained.
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
A pole cat is a wall spreader, but only in purpose.
It is different because a pole cat is a metalic pole contained within itself and adjustable. Wall spreaders are usually two pieces of hardware spanned by a long piece of lumber.
Speed rail is simply a long pole. It does not have the ability to adjust and perform the final extension which will keep it wedged between the walls, like a polecat. I have never seen a wall spreader connected to a piece of speedrail. The reason people use wood, is because you can cut it to the right length and it is relatively cheap. Cutting speedrail to fit the dimensions of the room might be a little costly.
If you want to know which is cheapest, I have a feeling the wall spreaders connected by lumber is the best bet.... although you will need to know the distance of the span ahead of time and have cut pieces of 2x4.
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Mickey Munday
Well-known member
ryan do you have any BTS photos of the use of your polecats on set?
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
Yes. But only for one of the setups... the onset photographer was only there for a short bit. I will send some via uploads on DVXuser... but in the future I will have them on my website. Been too busy to get around to updating the thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZIN-SJYv3Q
Putting up the Pole cats for the prayer scene.
Here is my crew... yes that was all of them for this little video. Good workers! Of course I helped, but I'm probably eating right now. lol
Two polecats were used in this scene. One to get a light to shoot at the actor in 3/4s profile. This is to illuminate the area of the bed he is at, his 'away from camera' side of face, and the bible. The second pole cat is further down stage to get on top of him. It is his top light, but carefully positioned backward as to hit the away from camera side of his head. This is important because I wanted him to be more 'sillouettey' then illuminated.
Here you can see me, the DP, 'hollywooding' a flag and a soft LED ring light. This was for his close up. Wanted some nice soft and warm light on his face, but not his clothes... mainly because his shirt was much more reflective versus his face. Wanted the audience to focus on his face with little distraction.
You can also see the ghetto rigged single kino bulb taped to the wall. We flagged it off with a 7-up cardboard box from crafty. This way it only hits the curtains, our desired target.
We taped it to the wall because we could not have ANY stands because of the wide shot. The polecats and the taped kino allowed us to do whatever we wanted without stands.
We shot the wide first, so that is why it is setup as it is. For the close up we could have snuck in stands instead of polecats, but by now it is clear why we went for polecats.
Gotta love creative solutions.
Here are some more photos I came across. This is the 'party scene' in the only hotel room which was not the one we recycled. (if you watched the film, all of the hotel rooms except for this one were the same room, re-lit and rearranged.)
For this scene, I needed lots of hard color sources around the room. We used two polecats again... but this time vertical. I needed to get two lights behind the couch, but there was not enough room for a c-stand base. There was only about 5 inches from the couch to the wall. I erected a polecat vertically and taped up the lower half with two inch black gaff tape. Boom, got two lights up and you cant see the pole. Even if you could, it is quite forgivable in a party location.
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Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
I should probably reiterate safety with these.
We always tested strength and never loaded more then two 650's onto the poles. As you see, we mainly had one per pole. Sometimes we had two.
If you have the ability, safety chain the poles to existing fixtures in the ceiling, or if you have the ability, drill small hooks into the ceiling and safety the poles to them.
We mainly blocked our actors to never stand under the polecats. This was easy enough because non of the lighting was ever called to be directly overhead the actor(s).
BTW there was never an incident and the poles held their own the entire time. Nothing I was worried about. Precaution none the less.
We always tested strength and never loaded more then two 650's onto the poles. As you see, we mainly had one per pole. Sometimes we had two.
If you have the ability, safety chain the poles to existing fixtures in the ceiling, or if you have the ability, drill small hooks into the ceiling and safety the poles to them.
We mainly blocked our actors to never stand under the polecats. This was easy enough because non of the lighting was ever called to be directly overhead the actor(s).
BTW there was never an incident and the poles held their own the entire time. Nothing I was worried about. Precaution none the less.
Capt Quirk
Veteran
Well, a lot of porns get by with your standard work lights, but a cooler light would really be best. Try bouncing your light off the walls and ceiling to get a more even spread.
Ryan Patrick O'Hara
Veteran
I see somebody has been reading the "color balance CCD" thread.
All lights were tungsten, Arri 650's, 300's, Kino's Tungsten, and the Tungsten balanced ring light.
For the prayer room you can see I warmed it up with 1/4, 1/2, or 1/8th CTO.
I mean this in the best possible way: Don't start freaking out about technical specs and blue channel noise just because you're shooting tungsten. Yes the HVX has more then usual noise, but the new HVXa (I used regular HVX) is much more clean. We have all seen great results from the HVX and shooting tungsten on modern daylight balanced chips is something we all must do. I would never, in my life, tell people that you can't use a Panasonic HVX200 in tungsten balanced environments because it looks bad. It clearly works, and I've been doing it for years. If you want to light with HMI's and Daylight kino's, that is always an option open to you. If you have enough light, you can always save money on HMI's and shoot daylight balanced CCD through a CTB lens filter. You lose about two stops, but a sacrifice you might have to make for piece of mind? For me, if the audience notices the small difference, I and the director have failed miserably.
Your observation has truth to it, but I believe it's negligable.