How do I film actor carrying flashlight in the dark?

R

Robdarren

New member
How do I film actor carrying flashlight in the dark?

Im using a Panasonic HVX200 and want to film a scary scene where the actor is going down a dark hallway with a flashlight. How do I get that look the best way?

Thanks a bunch
Rob
 
There's really no need to post the same question in several different places at once.

It depends on the look you're going for. If all you want is the scene to be lit by the flashlight then a very small, controlled spot simulating the flashlight to the actor's face will work. If the hallway is meant to be "movie dark" (i.e *looks* dark but you can still see the surrounding) then you're going to have to light it, either from overhead fixtures or from motivated source within open doorway or even bounced light from the ceiling that are flagged to prevent spills.
 
get a fog machine and give it a small (very small ) puff of smoke, fan it around so it fills the hallway evenly. This will create a volumetric light with the flashlight.
 
Light the hall with a single bright fixture near the camera, and gel it dark blue (use a couple sheets of Full CTB).

The scene will be properly lit (so you can see the actors face and surroundings and won't have a problem with noise), yet appear dark as if only moonlight is coming through a window. The flashlight will be piercing white in contrast to the blue.
 
pmark23 said:
Light the hall with a single bright fixture near the camera, and gel it dark blue (use a couple sheets of Full CTB).

The scene will be properly lit (so you can see the actors face and surroundings and won't have a problem with noise), yet appear dark as if only moonlight is coming through a window. The flashlight will be piercing white in contrast to the blue.
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Sounds about right to me. I would light the hall very well and gel blue also, if thats the look you are going for. The flashlight will stand out in contrast and because of the direct brightness towards the camera. You can always darken it in post but cannot bring the light up.
 
Also if you want to lower the power of the flashlight either swap the bulb out for a lower rated one watts wise or get some ND gels and cut and tape a circle to the front of the flashlight.
 
PaPa said:
you should check out the scene from I am legend. Good example there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7CC0kbGj6s

at 1:45. You can see based on his eye light there is a small spot probably being follow spotted on him.
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I remember reading an interview with the DP from that film in which he said that they shot at 2,000 ASA and lit everything with the bounce from the flashlight onto his hand.

But I would have to agree, it certainly looks like there is a second source.
 
The old X-Files trick was to conceal bounce boards around the set. The actors were basically choreographed to hit the boards with their flashlights at a certain position, illuminating their faces with the bounced light. Mind you, they were using those huge, mega-powerful halogen flashlights ;-)
 
Ozhair said:
The old X-Files trick was to conceal bounce boards around the set. The actors were basically choreographed to hit the boards with their flashlights at a certain position, illuminating their faces with the bounced light. Mind you, they were using those huge, mega-powerful halogen flashlights ;-)
Click to expand...

I was about to say they did the same thing in Se7en.
 
Yeah, bounce boards. I shot one once with just a headlamp and what I did was had a bounce board carried right above camera and had an assistant with another flashlight shooting another high powered flashlight into the bounce. Ideally I'd have a lot more bounces setup and I would have had a more powerful headlamp, but luckily I managed to get a pretty good looking exposure out of just that. Which is surprising with the HVX.
 
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