How much light do I need?

Steve Shovlar

Steve Shovlar

DVXuser Sponsor
I am shooting a night scene as a couple walk along a quiet road. There will be very little ambient light. No street lighting. I want to mimic a full moon illuminating them as they walk.

I will light it high up from a cherry picker. So what do I need to light it? There must be enough to light them softly and the surroundings evenly, but it mustn't look like a football floodlight shining down on them.
 
If your gonna go to the extreme to get a cherry picker then you should definitely go with a 12K or two, and NO im not kidding. Put this source high and far with a little opal in front and it will look good. Maybe raking through some trees/leaves will break up the source too. The larger the source the more even spread you'll get. A smaller source would give you more of that football field spot look. I've seeen that happen when indie filmmakers don't have big enough sources for night time exteriors. With the 12k there lots of ways to do it. I happen to like using large soft sources.
 
Thanks for the advice. You just confirmed what I thought. Those 12K lights are not cheap. If those bulbs go pop, ouch!
 
In my next project will have some night scenes. I own a cuple of 2K fresnel and I´m asking if will work well (DVX cam)... what do you thimk?

thanks
 
For these types of lighting situations, I always try to use HMIs as they are closer to the color temperature that you will need and have the type of output you will require. I would recommend a single source, something like a Mole 18k Daylite would be my first choice. Depending upon the diffusion of the environment (leaves, fog, etc) you may or may not need to add some diffusion as well. I would try something in the 250 family (252, 251 or 250 depending upon the level of diffusion that you will need).
 
The question isn't really informative enough to provide an answer. We don't lkno how wide the shot is or how deep it is. If you're goong to show a mile long stretch of road you're going to spend a small fortune lighting it. If you keep the shots fairly tight and angles so there is heavy wooded area in the BG than you can save yourself a lot of money and time.

I don't agree with single source, I like to spread my light evenly for nights that are supposed to be lit only by moon. Too many scenes look fake because of falloff
 
More than a few Hollywood night scenes are shot with a small hand held light following the character. It really depends on the framing and of course budget. If you're going with a crane shot then obviously you intend at least some wide shots in which case previous advice of anywhere from 12k to 18k is certainly realisitic.

If that's beyond your budget, then you should probably nix the crane shot because it won't look very good without adequate light. In that case, you can shoot with anything from 500 to 2k depending on the frame and motion...or flo's for that matter.

Try describing the scene and you'll get a lot more definitive advice.
 
Thanks so far for the answers.

The scene features a couple walking home from a clu at the dead of night. No lights on in the houses they are walking past. It's a run down area, and the street lights are broken, so without the moonlight it would be almost pitch black. The shots are a few wide shots of the couple walking along (probably Seadicam shots with the cameraman walking along beside them. A few closeup as they stop and face each other to talk. A wide shot of them walking up the street ( so yes the light has to be even. Drop offs would look stupid)
There's would be no more than a couple of hundrd yards to light at the most, as the street we are filming in has a tight bend and a wall at the end. ( Chosen especially because of this)

Hope that explains it a bit better. The 18K's high up and at a distance, and perhaps through a tree's leaves sounds right to me.
 
Just thinking out loud...

Just thinking out loud...

I'm a bit of a dreamer though...

Wouldn't it be cool to mount your light... say on a tower of sorts... thats mounted on a dolly as well.
If your frame is medium to tight... as your talent is walking, so is the "moon"...
That may be way out there... but it just sounds right to me...
More natural as well...???

OK...OK... I said I was a dreamer... But... I tend to go with strange or innovated
ideas... maybe someday that might get me somewhere...LOL (or not)...!!!

Steward
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top