How to light Laundromat?

[musehead]

Hello,

Young student soon to shoot a short film which takes place mostly at a laundromat, at night
Not too sure how to create an; unsettling, tense, cold, bare, dark - mood for this picture.
The space is big and has one large window.

One of my concerns is that flickering green hue that the florescent bulbs produce.

Wondering perhaps if it's a good idea to leave the florescent-tubes as they are( with the green-hue ), apply a "greenish" make-up on the subject's face and then in Post, take-away all the Green ( - ) out. Ive been told that that would "normalize" and balance out the colors.
Wondering if anyone could tell me if that is true and is good approach...?

Also thinking to minimize some of the bulbs being turned "on" the ceiling (or have just one light flicker), to create that tension, anxiety in the atmosphere.

Any suggestions would be helpful and highly appreciated!

Thank you

Simona

 

[Paul Hudson]

Use plus green on all your lighting instruments and color correct in post.

 

[Paper_bag]

Some thoughts:

-- Would green actually add to an unsettling mood? Do you need to get rid of it?
-- To minimize flickering, play with shutter speed...
-- Best option, actually, is to not show the ceiling. Then you can turn the fluorescents off and light without them (which solves flicker and colour problems; and also allows you to have more shape to your light if it's not coming from directly above). Alternatively, don't show the ceiling, and wrap the fluorescents in gels.
-- If you really want to light with the fluorescents already there, you can, without adding any makeup to actor, use the three-way colour corrector in FCP, or Curves or Color Finesse in After Effects, to adjust colours in post. Not an ideal solution at all, because you're not going to get the colours looking completely normal, but you'll get a watchable result. If you're going down this direction (or any sort of "fix it in post" direction), make sure you test the results before the shoot.
-- You can also replace greenish bulbs with other colour-balanced fluorescent bulbs, but you'd still have flicker...

 

[Greg Smith]

I think leaving the practical fluorescents on to contribute their sickening flickery green glow to the background might be exactly what would set the right mood for this scene. I'd use legitimate movie flos with good color correction to light the actors, but let the bilious practical lighting dominate the rest of the set.

- Greg

 

[Shooter]

Some thing I would do ..and you could do..is recce the location and take some decent still shots under the available light. ( I call that free light).

Shoot using the various color balance modes (take notes).

Take a look at your stills and see what you get, what you like and from that..what you need to do to make it look like what you want.

Try some CC / grades. Find the 'look".

Now you can consider the technical aspects of what you need to light the shoot.

Worth shooting a little test footage as well under the free light. Check if you have any flicker issues.

 

[David G. Smith]

Some thing I would do ..and you could do..is recce the location and take some decent still shots under the available light. ( I call that free light).

Shoot using the various color balance modes (take notes).

Take a look at your stills and see what you get, what you like and from that..what you need to do to make it look like what you want.

Try some CC / grades. Find the 'look".

Now you can consider the technical aspects of what you need to light the shoot.

Worth shooting a little test footage as well under the free light. Check if you have any flicker issues.

I second that.

What are you shooting with, Film of video? What camera and lenses are you using? What light level do you want to work at? Have you shoot any footage at all in the location?

My big question is, are you sure your getting flicker and a sickly green color out of the flos at the location? I shoot a low budget feature in an unused hospital a while back and we shoot more than a few sequences with the ceiling mounted flos as the main source of lighting and did not have any issues with green or flicker. As a matter of fact, we had a scene where we wanted the sickly green color and I had to set a radical custom white balance to get it. What I did was take the camera into a dark room and then set my white balance to the light of a pen light, with fading batteries, shining on a white card. This brought out the sickly green of the flos in the hospital morgue and it worked very well actually. I would not do that today, as I would just add the green in post. However, that was not an option on this project, as I would not be around for any color grading. I made sure I got the look I wanted on set. The thing is that modern consumer flo lighting has come a long way lately and the issue with the color and flicker just doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I would shoot some footage at the location and play with it as shooter says.

A few suggestions about creating a more foreboding look. If the place has the flos in evenly spaced 2 or 4 bulb fixtures, evenly spaced along the ceiling, think about pulling the bulbs from a few of the fixtures and then, maybe, placing a border of foam core, black wrap, or even strips of cardboard along the edge of the fixtures, like barn doors, to shape the light straight down and control the spill off to the sides. This will give you pools of light that the action can move into and out of. Put reflectors on the floor under these pools of lights to give a soft ambient light from below, which I have always liked. Taping down white sheets, or what ever will serve this. For supplemental lighting, think about picking up a couple or three cheap two bulb flo shop lights from Home Depot, which can be had for about $10.00 a piece. Put in bulbs that match the location lighting, bolt a baby plate to the back and you can put these on stands with a grip head. Shape the light with black wrap barn doors and black gaffer's tape blocking selected parts of the bulbs, ect. Don't be afraid of mixed lighting. When we shot that movie in the hospital we would often exaggerate depth, especially down the long corridors, by lighting down a gradient from warm to cool, with the foreground warmer than the mid ground where the action was staged, then the lights down the corridor gelled more and more cool. Something like that may work in a large laundromat at night, subtly of course.

One thing else to consider is that, "One large window". If you show it, you are going to have to think about lighting what you see outside of it. It also can be a source of light for the interior of laundromat. If there is, or can be placed, signage with lighting out the window, then that could be used for interesting lighting inside. Car headlights, street lighting and the like can also be interesting to see outside, and may light the inside.

Well, my two cents.

 

[clang]

Definitely go to the location and shoot some test shots of stand-in actors with the actual lighting already there, with a variety of white balances and exposures. As others have said, I suspect the existing lighting may give you most of the "unsettling, tense, cold, bare, dark" look you want.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

I think leaving the practical fluorescents on to contribute their sickening flickery green glow to the background might be exactly what would set the right mood for this scene. I'd use legitimate movie flos with good color correction to light the actors, but let the bilious practical lighting dominate the rest of the set.

- Greg

I asked on Roger Deakin's forum about "In Time"(2011), and lighting in an industrial area (real location near downtown LA). In particular I asked about the use of existing low pressure sodium lights... His response was... (paraphrased) "The place was actually pretty dark, and lights were brought in, and filtered to give a 'sodium light' look"...

Elsewhere he mentions various lighting setups, and it seems he has some number of fixtures/setups made from rather ordinary lighting. But of course, he can put a 20K light somewhere if he needs it...

 

[darrellayer]

I would white balance to tungsten and let the lights produce their own sickening color. I'd also go thru the laundry and slowly twist bulb off contact to change ratios. leave a few in spotty contact so they create that look naturally. if that is too risky (fire and all) find bulbs that are dying to add into the fixtures if you can. The rest would be exposure. But I would make sure at least half of the lights are off so you can get some shadows in the place. Also make a few dirty plastic sheets with coffee and place them under the diffusion panels so it looks a bit more water logged if that adds flavor and you see the lights.
Good luck.