How would I light a bedroom for a night scene while the character is sleeping?

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Filmkid2003

Well-known member
Hey everyone. I'm completely new to lighting and I can't afford to hire a DP for my film. I have a scene where the main character is sleeping in his bedroom at night (obviously) and wakes up from a dream. I know its hard to tell someone how to light a room over the internet but if anyone could give me tips I would greatly appreciate it. The bedroom is small, about 10' x 20' with two windows that will have blinds covering them since it takes place at night. The walls are white. So is the actor (if that makes any difference). The bedroom door will be closed. I have three 1,000 watt softbox lights and I can buy some china balls or whatever else I'll need to light the room. I'm guessing I'll need to buy some gels and a reflector? Anyway, the mood of the scene is just neutral. Not scary or anything like that. The main character wakes up from a dream in which he finds a poker chip in the middle of the desert and so he sits up in bed and finishes what he was saying in the dream. He looks around the room and realizes it was just a dream, and lays back down. I have a HPX170 and I am shooting the movie in 720/24p at 1/48th shutter. Thanks.
 
Do you have pictures of the location?

Usually to simulate moonlight you just need one big source. Sounds like you're close with the 1000 watt softbox if you gel it half blue. You can also have another tungsten light, maybe a bit harder, shooting in from the other window to simulate a street lamp and not just have the whole frame just be blue mush.
 
Remember that moonlight is very hard light when in the right direction. I would use a 1k with half ctb up on a high rise stand through a window with blinds slightly opened spilling in on the bed. (I dont know the location but if these were the circumstances this is how I would do it) Then I would throw a tungstun source somewhere if it makes sense IE. street lights, cracked windows, get creative and move/distort the light as if it were passing cars. Night time interiors are one of my favorite setups. Just remember that less is more, its night time.
 
Why would moonlight be very hard? It's not a direct source like the sun, it's just bounce.
 
The moon is small (from our point of view) and so it is not that soft. In fact it is probably almost similar to the sun in hardness. But of course moonlight coming through a cloudy sky would be very soft (similar to overcast I would think)
 
Funny enough, the size and distance of the moon compared to the size and distance of the sun, make both about the same size as each other. Crazy huh?

Moonlight can be soft with clouds, otherwise it is hard... but that doesn't mean you have to make moonlight hard. Steve is right about moonlight being hard, but then again he gels his moonlight blue and we all know that moonlight isn't 'really' blue. :) So my point is, you don't have to make it 'fresnel lens' hard. Moonlight has its scientific qualities, but then many liberties are often taken by cinematographers when re-creating it. I'd say whichever gives you the look that supports the mood best. Story wins.... if the story calls for hard moonlight, hard moonlight it is. If it's a softer moonlight which sets the mood, do it. Many larger liberties are taken in film everyday, such as two sun sources. It happens all the time. How do you think two people have a conversation and both are always backlit by the sun in the singles? They're not on Tatooine, I can tell you that.




Hard and soft moonlight is used all the time... for instance soft is often a byproduct of when they use the giant HMI-helium lighting for moonlight. Those sources are about 10X larger then the actual moon.

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Ah yes, very true. I did forget about how far away the moon is. But yes, it definitely can be harder or softer depending on what the film calls for.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. So, you are all saying that I should not have any lighting inside the bedroom, only outside the window shining in through partly opened blinds? That should be fairly easy because the window closest to the bed looks right out onto our back porch so setting up a 1000 watt light out there will be easy. Also, should I put a blue gel over the light or the window? And, what gels do you guys recommend from which online stores? I haven't bought a single gel yet. Thanks.
 
CTB is a good place to start. If you're not looking to break the bank, maybe just a sheet of quarter, half and full will do you. I'm not sure how expensive gels are, but it's always very nice to have a set of CTO and CTB on hand in varying strengths.

As far as where to buy em from...beats me. I just know of my local expendables place...

(Also, CTB = color temperature blue, CTO = color temperature orange, they just basically convert the light to other color temperatures.)
 
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