Interview lighting help

[Paul Overstrom]

looking for any tips or diagrams to succesfully shoot an interview with proper lighting and two lights/stand/umbrealls


Im shooting a subject on a black background. I have two lights, 500watts i beleive. and one umbrealla that i can shot the light through and one that i can refelect lifght from.

When i asked my teacer his ideas, he said the following

Hi Paul,

With two lights, try this. Think of the line between the camera and the subject as 0 degrees. Put the main light (with the shoot thru white umbrella on it) 45 degrees off of the 0 line so it is striking the subject from his left side (as you are looking at him). Put the fill light with the bounce silver umbrella on the 0 degree line - essentially above the camera.

Distance between subject an background - in an ideal setting - should be 6-8 feet. Distance between subject and lights is a function of how poerful you want lights to be (therefore what f/stop you will use). The main light should be brighter (technically by about 1 to 2 f/stops) than the fill. You accomplish this by moving the fill further away from the camera (but sitll on the 0 line) as needed.


A third light, which you don't have, would be positioned over the subject pointed down at the top of their head and shoulders.


Just wondering if anyone has anthing to add, or improve on?

And if anyone can post some ideal dvx scene files for an interview, that would help too.
Thanks

 

[Glen Gustafson]

You have a good teacher. I can't recall how many times I've seen video shooters light people like a copy stand, with the fill over to the side 45deg opposite the key. Looks like cr*p with a butterfly nose shadow or a "badger" effect.

Your fill should also contribute to the key side, which you will get by putting it above the camera as he suggested. Lighting ratios in cinematography are not "key to fill" but key PLUS fill to just fill. If the subject is turned slightly, set your key on the side away from the camera to model the form of the face.

Also raise the key a little (every face is different) and look for a little triangular patch of light to form on the far side of the nose, under the eye. That's what is meant by Rembrandt lighting (not the warm browns that actually come from the old varnish on his portraits). It's a convention that can be broken, naturally, but people find it pleasing.

Try to make your fill source broader by bouncing it off of a piece of foam core or using a piece of diffusion, and if you have the space, move the subject out away from the wall so the shadow from your fill can drop out of sight behind the chair.

I agree that a third light would be nice, but I'd position it up and *behind* the subject so it didn't rake the forehead or face at all. The trick is to keep it from also hitting your lens and wiping out your contrast, so a snoot of black-wrap or a barndoor on the light can help. You can live without it, though. A clumsy, unbalanced rimlight can be distracting.

I'll leave the scene files to the HVX experts - I just got mine and am still weaning myself away from the old Mitchell... sure glad Barry made those DVDs.