Lighting a nightclub or a dancing scene...

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DVX100Shooter

Veteran
I would like to hear or see some suggestions of how best to light a nightclub or a dance sequence. I am shooting a music video next month. I really don't want to use the lights in the club as they are in my opinion "rinky dink"! LOL! I want to set up my own lights. Now I want it to still look somewhat dark but it needs to be light enough to clearly see the artist and dancers.

Some ideas I had was to hang some sort of light balloon over the dance floor area to bring up the base light some; Maybe use Kino Flos positioned in front or around the dance floor to light the artist or I can use my LED 1x1 panel whichever.

Any other thoughts. As for camera, I am not solid on one yet. Its between the HVX200 and a new Nikon HDSLR camera to be released any day now.

Thanks!
 
one idea I've seen done (just to list something different than the obvious which you brought up) is for the dance floor to have "pools" of light that are bright in some areas (via overhead fixtures like open head lights shining down) and others to be dark to have this sort of contrast. It can look more exciting as opposed to just flatly bringing up the entire ambient light level but it's up to you
 
I would rig a bunch of fresnals, I'm hoping they have a grid so maybe you could smooch off that with pipe clamps and safety chains of course :) The pools of light sounds great, little uneven pools would be wonderful. Maybe a cookie here or there and some fog. Flag it where you don't want it, get some sharp beams. What we did at my old company for a Cobra Starship video was take little dedos and hold them by hand moving them around into the lens from just off the frame. This gave the shots life as they were singing and flared into the camera really nicely. Also hand moving them lets you paint the talent however you want. Make sure those are colorful. This wouldn't work for wide shots, for that video it was limited to medium to close up shots only but it gave it a cool feel. Goodluck and be sure to show us what you come up with!
 
I like all those suggestions too. I'd add that it's very effective to use backlight in a situation like this. Use a hazer and put a couple of 575W HMIs on either side of the stage up high, as far back as you can get them and aimed forward toward the band, the dance floor and the audience. Use as much tungsten light as you need for key and fill from the sides or overhead to make those pools. Cheap rock and roll PAR cans would be fine. Set the camera to tungsten balance. The blue haze and clean colors where you direct your ungelled lights will look great and you can use whatever party colors you want to get the nightclub look you'/re going for.

Have fun. I think clubs and bars are fun to light because you can bag worrying about motivation and just go for striking colors and texture.
 
Beside all that, if you're worried about noise in the shadows and want some ambient fill, you can bounce some off the ceiling or rig some reflector boards up high to elevate the levels a little.

I'd like to see the results when you're done. Let us know what you did exactly. Peace.
 
Your idea sounds good.
Someting from the top... Baloon and/or Kino will work fine. Some bounce from the front for faces...
keep your ambiance level low and cut through with kickers at will :)
 
Another idea that may or may not work for you depending on the production design is to have the floor / table the people are on / around be reflective.

If they are sitting around a table you could glue little pieces of mirror or sparkly stuff to the table that will provide some bounce fill and not look out of place.
 
I have been looking at various music videos and I have noticed the flooring looks glossy or reflective. I am not sure what they put down before they start shooting but I have been curious about this for some time now. Someone told me they roll out some Lynoleum (spelling?) but am not sure.
 
What they use on stage decks is called Marley. It is most often used for dance shows. It is a heavy vinyl type product that helps cushion the dancers feet and make a smooth surface.
 
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