How was this lighting done??

M

mattfarkash

Member

Hey guys! First time poster, I am still learning a lot about Cinematography and was hoping for some help/tips on my next project.

Can someone give me some tips on how to mimic lighting like this? I will be shooting a video soon and hope to shoot something in this vein (without the VFX) composition and lighting-wise. It would be shot on 5D and 7D with some Zeiss primes and then Canon lenses (I know about unmatched lens kits and how it will effect the look) and the location is a studio that has a white backdrop with the light lanterns above. I was thinking of using a huge silk from behind the subject and using a 2K fresnel behind the silk. I was then thinking of using 4 bank kinos on both sides of the subject (probably turning off a bank or two and using a dimmer) to get that shadow down the middle effect. I was also going to use a chimera with a 1k open face for shots of a girl I was going to have. Essentially I have the following lights;

1k arrilite open face
2k Arri fresnel
(2) 4 Bank Kinos
(2) Mole tungsten fresnel 650 Tweenies

I haven't shot using silks before so any info/tips would be much appreciated!!! Thanks for reading!
 
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Some of the studio stuff, especially the horse, seems to be large source space lights. I'd guess it's two or three typical space lights with skirts or some light control to keep it off the back wall. Maybe some sort of soft box, but it's more typical to find space lights on a film set these days. So damn easy to use. Plus they are bright as hell (each one is made of 6x1k tungsten nook lights) so it's essentially 6k soft lights. This is good because of their slow motion. When shooting at say, 500fps, you'll need about 4 additional stops of light for the same exposure if you were shooting at 30fps (ballpark 24fps).

Sometimes, the light does look more sourcey and hard, so I think they changed it up quite a bit. Overall, I think the spacelight is the way to go.

In your case, if that is all you have, I'd use the two 4-bank kinos, hang them upside down facing the ground. drape a loose piece of light diffusion cloth across both of them, letting it sag just a little, and then I would build a duv skirt around the sides and hang it just above top edge of camera frame. I'd use your remaining lights to either shoot through soft diffusion or bounce off of a bead board to create fill for contrast control or maybe as a side key of sorts.
 
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Thanks so much Ryan! The studio has 4 2k tungsten space lights so I think I will be good with that for sure. I also do not have any diffusion cloth, would you highly recommend buying some or could I use regular 250 diffusion? Also not to sound like a n00b but I got lost at this part;

" I would build a duv skirt around the sides and hang it just above top edge of camera frame." What is a duv skirt?

Thanks again!

Matt
 
Hi Matt.
Duvetyne is a black fabric that doesn't transmit or reflect light very well. Ryan is suggesting creating a skirt around the light source to flag off spill from reaching the walls of the set. As for the diffusion, the problem with throwing some 250 on each of those lights is that it doesn't really act as one source anymore. I think the suggestion is to create a large soft light from the 6 nook lights by firing them all through the same panel of diffusion. I have used 10' nylon ripstop from a cheap fabric store with success, but do not get that stuff close to the hot lights!


Jason
 
Gotcha, thanks guys! Do you guys think I would be able to find something or the sort at a fabric shop then? If so, what should I look for/request when I am at the fabric store?

Thanks!
 
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Sure. You can use anything you feel will give you the effect you want. But when you buy fabric from a store you have to be extra careful about fire hazards. The diffusion cloth made for lighting is usually more fire retardant than your run-of-the-mill fabric from a fabric store. So be careful around those hot lights.
 
I think that the video you have chosen to mimic is an excellent sample to analyse (and its great lighting as well).

If you take a look at every scene ( or frame if you wish) it is easy to pick up on the cues of how it was lit.

The cues to look for are:

light direction (shadow angles)
hard / soft light ( the way light wraps and contours the subject)
soft light with hard accents ( eg a soft source with a spot for the eyes)
front light, back light, fill light (ratios and effect)

If you know how to achieve the effect of lighting the above..you are golden.

Your eyes are your best tools but dont forget to allow for a planned degree of "digital lighting" in post.
 
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