how do you approach lighting for a rooms?

Sithxace

Well-known member
If i were to do diffierent angles in a small room for example, lighting is not the same for every shot. If i shot for one angle and thats it, then lighting would be fine. But how would you keep lighting consistent in a small confinement shooting at different areas/angles of the room for one scene?
 
Use light fixtures in the room for "motivation" for your lights. That is, if you're shooting a day interior, consider natural light coming in through windows. If your shooting a night interior, look at the placement of floor lamps, wall lamps, ceiling lamps, etc., and base your video lighting placement on those sources in terms of angle, direction, and quality of light.

One thing to keep in mind is you don't have to have actors fully lit at all times. It's natural for people to not have full light on their faces at all times. They can be a little dark sometime.

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I had to deal with that recently for a short film for class. Rediculously small location.
We used as many practicles as we could to start with, and then used C-stands to hang lights in spaces that would normally be in shot. Plus something you should watch for, especially in thrillers with strong contrast ratios when lighting placement is more obvious, that lighting changes are noticed less and less the more the camera is moved in angles of degrees.

Example, Minority Report where Cruise is with Leo Crowe and holding a gun at him, in the full face close-up the left side of his face is pitch black and the right side lit, then in his profile of his left side partially lit. Or Munich when they're getting on the train, you see two people in silhouette then cut to the full face close up and there entire face is lit (although the side that the silhouette was shot from has a little less light)
 
Depends how 'moody' you want to light it. Contrast/shadows are a bit more difficult in hard lighting, opposed to bouncing a couple redheads off the ceiling for soft lighting. Windows and other 'distractions' often help, opposed to plain white walls, pending on context.
 
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