How to light for Indoor/Outdoor at same time

[mb72378]

I will be filming a scene in which the front door of a house will be open to the outside in the background. How can I light my scene so that the door isn't overblown but you can actually see what is outside? I want it to look as cinematic as possible so I don't want things too too bright.

Thanks

 

[bcheong]

It's a matter of dealing with the contrast - basically reducing the amount of contrast between the outside and the inside so that whatever medium you're recording on can hold detail in both.

You can either raise the amount of light in the interior by adding your own lights, reduce the amount of light you see outside the front door (nets, tenting the door, etc) or a combination of both. You might also have to deal with a color temperature variance depending on how you want it to look.

 

[Noel Evans]

Shoot late or early in the day when the brightness levels are more even, gel your interior lighting to match exterior and white balance to taste.

 

[Andrew McCarrick]

I'd say if you have HMIs that would be the easiest way to go (as they're balanced for daylight.). Just light the interior bright enough to match the outside so its an even balance; Otherwise gel Tungstens.

Does somebody need to come through the doorway? If not, is there away you could get a ND filter in the opening? It would be a big gel, but you'd darken the background a little.... Get something clear that you could stick the gel to and put that infront of the door if nobody needs to come through, so you don't need as much light inside.

ND.3 reduces light by 1 stop
ND.6 reduces 2 stops
ND.9 reduces 3 stops

So if you can do the ND have the door open set your iris.... then close the door, light the interior and set the iris for the interior.... then you can find your required ND from the difference.

 

[wahrez]

hello

something i have done quite successfully in the past is, if the camera is locked off film the interior seperately to the exterior and then composite in post. If you want to have someone crossing frame you could green screen the window.

Another thing I have done is cover the glass of a window with ND gels.

good luck!

 

[Qzar]

Shoot late or early in the day when the brightness levels are more even, gel your interior lighting to match exterior and white balance to taste.

Exactly, every other method is just way too complicated (who wants to gel a doorway?). If you have some powerful tungsten lights you could use that to bring up the overall light level inside (gels generally kill your light output) or you can try using daylight corrected CFLs to bring up the general ambient light. I know the color on them isn't perfect but I can usually get good results (and if I need to I gel them to match better... gelling from around 5600K is much more efficient than from 3200K).

The other thing would be to shoot on a bright day and bounce light inside, I've done it before but it's a lot harder if you are shooting on video and your range isn't all that great.