Lighting a Hallway

D

DDirector

Veteran
So, I am not stuck in this situation as of now, nor do I know if I will be sometime, but I was just curious about it. If you have a hallway with no windows or anything, how would you light it?Let's say all you have are some fluorescent fixtures above. It is a decently large hallway but itsnt incredibably long that you have to yell to the actors from the other side.I'm just curious how it would work.

How would professionals work in this situation.
A) the camera is a steadicam following the actors as they walk/run in the hall.
B) the camera is at the end of the hall as the actors approach forward.

Hallway:
A) No lights but fluorescents above.
B) A hotel hallway with lights above and on the walls.
 
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DDirector said:
So, I am not stuck in this situation as of now, nor do I know if I will be sometime, but I was just curious about it. If you have a hallway with no windows or anything, how would you light it?Let's say all you have are some fluorescent fixtures above. It is a decently large hallway but itsnt incredibably long that you have to yell to the actors from the other side.I'm just curious how it would work. How would professionals work in this situation.A) the camera is a steadicam following the actors as they walk/run in the hall.B) the camera is at the end of the hall as the actors approach forward.Hallway:A) No lights but fluorescents above.B) A hotel hallway with lights above and on the walls.
Click to expand...

If you put the camera high enough and slightly look down upon the actors, you can avoid seeing the ceiling... thus use any fixtures you want. Even tunsten units. You can rig them with scissor clamps, a short pole-cat, or drill baby plates into the ceiling.

If you need to see the ceiling, you can replace the lighting already there with bulbs of your own desired wattage/color temperature. You may be more restricted because of this, but people are very forgiving between wides and close ups. You can always mold the light more to your liking the the tights.

You can also use door ways or other openings to motivate some lighting.

The sky's the limit.
 
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Sometimes a location just wont work and the D.P might suggest that it is unsuitable. That is part of the D.Ps job.

Then again..it is also part of the job to suggest that the art department might add some practicals in to the location.

Then as Ryan says...one can add lighting via "rigs" and frame around them accordingly.
 
In the case of the Steadicam shot, an eyelight may be added either handcarried behind and above the camera, or mounted to the camera above or below the lens (fluorescent or more commonly now an LED). This will carry the actors when they are between the overheads, if desired.

I consider a pretty rare situation to be able to hang much from the ceiling in a hallway if you plan to shoot from more than 15 feet from the end, as the boom up/tilt down thing starts to really limit the shot (and unless the floor is particularly interesting, it becomes more about that than anything else). A notably high ceiling old-style hallway will help, especially if it happens to have headers at stated distances as you can hide lights behind these quite effectively.

If one is looking to create a mood, it may simply be a matter of removing light, i.e turning off individual bulbs/tubes in the overheads to create more contrast as the subject walks through.
 
Here is your A) case with no other lights, just flos above:
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/893/revolutionaryroadw.jpg

Note the contrast that Charles is talking about (here created simply by the spacing of the practicals above): Kate in the light pool, Leo in shade. This can get much more extreme, of course, with either space, or more directional lamps.


And here is a variation of B)
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/6844/bartonfink.jpg

It looks flatter, cause the lights on the wall even the illumination, even though the hallway arches are skiritng the top lights. On the other hand these same wall lights help create depth by diminishing perspective.
 
cpc said:
Here is your A) case with no other lights, just flos above:
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/893/revolutionaryroadw.jpg

Note the contrast that Charles is talking about (here created simply by the spacing of the practicals above): Kate in the light pool, Leo in shade. This can get much more extreme, of course, with either space, or more directional lamps.
Click to expand...
Yeah, this example seems a bit more difficult than those with high ceilings or additional lights in the hallway. Seems like I'll have to face this kind of a situation soon.

So with this example, how was this exactly achieved?
- Were the fluorescent bulbs were replaced with something else? (with what kind)
- Will it even be that much brighter than the regular bulbs already there?
- Wouldn't you need to shoot at a fairly high ISO/ASA?
 
So with this example, how was this exactly achieved?


This shot, from Revolutionary Road, shot by Roger Deakins, was lit
from the overhead fluorescents alone-no other lights were used. I
do not know if they used the existing bulbs or changed them for
Kinos or some other.
 
I once had to do a dolly shot in an ugly tenement hallway in NYC. It was an old building, and we weren't allowed to wire up anything high powered, couldn't drill into the walls/ceiling, and since we needed to use dolly track we had to hide that and shoot at a lower angle where you would see the ceiling. So I replaced the practical bulbs with photofloods, and had a dimmed china ball on a boom pole that we had someone holding (and also helping weight down the dolly). It worked and the shot was acceptable looking. Not beautiful, but the grittyness worked for the project. I'll dig through and see if I can find the shot, or some bts photos.
 
bruce southerland said:
This shot, from Revolutionary Road, shot by Roger Deakins, was lit
from the overhead fluorescents alone-no other lights were used. I
do not know if they used the existing bulbs or changed them for
Kinos or some other.
Click to expand...

Having done Steadicam for Roger (including a few hallway walk-and-talks, on "In the Valley of Elah", he will often take the simplest and most naturalistic approach to lighting. I recall that it was a simple change-out of the tubes to Kino tubes and no additional light.

As amazing as it was to work with him, I often came away more baffled than enlightened on how his images are so consistently beautiful, in that we were under available light so much of the time and the nuancing he added were so subtle that I could barely register what effect they may have had.
 
CharlesPapert said:
As amazing as it was to work with him, I often came away more baffled than enlightened on how his images are so consistently beautiful, in that we were under available light so much of the time and the nuancing he added were so subtle that I could barely register what effect they may have had.
Click to expand...

Throw in that he's such a proponent of shooting for the final look vs. grading the daylights out of everything.

I love the threads on his forum where he's talked about running into department stores to get bedsheets for bounce. Next time you're at the mall, watch for that big mop of white hair!
 
cpc said:
Here is your A) case with no other lights, just flos above:
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/893/revolutionaryroadw.jpg

Note the contrast that Charles is talking about (here created simply by the spacing of the practicals above): Kate in the light pool, Leo in shade. This can get much more extreme, of course, with either space, or more directional lamps.


And here is a variation of B)
http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/6844/bartonfink.jpg

It looks flatter, cause the lights on the wall even the illumination, even though the hallway arches are skiritng the top lights. On the other hand these same wall lights help create depth by diminishing perspective.
Click to expand...

From Deakin's response to a question about fluorescents on the 'Hallway" Shot from "Revolutionary Road"(2008), was that the shot was lit by the fluorescents alone, and since he did not add anything about replacing the bulbs... I'll presume they were the existing practical lights.

In the case of the "Barton Fink"(1991) while I've not seen a specific comment, that one has plenty of 'hiding' places for lights with the crossbeams that periodically cross the hall along its length. The practicals may have also had replacement higher wattage lights.
 
FWIW.

There is a perfect tungsten balanced fluoro tube available. (Phillips IRC).

These are the large tubes (ie standard commercial size not Kino Flo size).

I have used them as replacements as well as for creating large banks of soft light in the studio ...and also as on screen sources ( part of the set).

They are highly efficient and provide a beautiful illumination. Very nice on skin.
 
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