Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

G

Gundorf Dunderklumpen

Well-known member
The inside of the bar has hunter green walls and from the chair rail down the walls are wooden rich, dark brownish amber colors. Lots of colors inside but the room is fairly dark with candles on the table. The ceiling is about 12 -14 feet high. I would like to get the same effect as what the human eye sees when you are in there but it is too dark to shoot. Any suggestions? I will be shooting on the DVX100.
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

What equiptment do you have at your disposal? The Green and Wood sound wonderful in terms of set design; I'm assuming no natural light is pouring in (which is a good thing). Tungsten; warm.
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

No natural light, this will be filmed at dark. I will probably rent the lights if necessary. There is a gaffer in town with a truck load of lights. mainly, what Im asking is advice on light selection. Looking to keep with the warm inviting atmosphere and make the place look like it does now, very dim and cozy. The problem is, In low light the DVX likes to get a little noisy and I'm not yet very savvy when it comes to this camera. to make matters more difficult I will try to shoot it all in one choreographed camera movement for 30 seconds. So I will be going from outside on the patio to inside the cozy room. The outside is no problem. there are torches and candles and white christmas (string) lights everywhere.
toughy... :-/
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

I'd start by diagraming this sequence out to start.

I am not the lighting expert so cant tell you what to use but I'm thinking the use of practicals to start and the use of bounce with maybe
curved showcards?

I wouldnt stress the noise issue. If you light this properly you'll have nothing to worry about.

Anyone care to chime in with specific reccomendations?
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

as far as the sequencing goes thats no problem. its mostly worked out. Ive not heard of curved showcards. where can I find those?
by the way, thanks so much for your help and responding so soon John!
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

Just remember not to go crazy with the lighting. Keep it simple even indoors. replace any bulbs with brighter ones in some areas you want to. Make sure you play it safe and keep your actors lit if worst comes to worst, even if the lighting is flat. You don't want to brighten your shot in post. :)
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

are there "faux candles" out there that might help with lighting faces? I would like to put the candles at the center of the table.
thanks!
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

Curved Showcards are basically BOUNCE CARDS curved (Use tape or string to hold the curve) into a 'U' pattern.

Your subject or area you want lit is:

.............................. X ...............................
...............................U................................

You angle the light into the 'U' and it bounces it out with some control and doesnt spill everywhere. You can put them behind objects or just below the frame.

I use them and its a nice effect for me.
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

GREAT thanks! I have a few bounce cards that I use for photography. I will try that. Ill just have to be creative in hiding them, as I will be using a steadicam and will be all over the place (360) By the way, are those screen shots on each of your posts? (JOHN HUDSON) if so they look great!
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

Thanks high8

First grab is a dolly test; second is an Undead Test, Third is a day drunk with my brother at Fishermans Wharf (Seond time I fired up camera in 2003), Fourth is just shooting around the beach.

Like you needed to know :P :D
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

Don't know if its too late but what about a chinese lantern? Gives that nice soft fill that makes for great DV textures.
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

Chinese lanterns are quick and uniform, and you can add some 300w - 650w fresnel specials to add some depth or add splashes of light near practical fixtures like overlhead lamps, sconces or tabletop lanterns.

Remember, the narrow latitude of the DVX must be considered when adding fixtures for depth from your baseline. So, if you have chinese lanterns with say 500w or 1k globes at 100%, you might need to bump practicals a bit more to match them.

Conversely, if you're exposing wide open, you will want to watch that your highlights aren't more than a stop or a stop and a half over. Otherwise, you will start to lose detail and potentially blow-out those in-frame practicals.

e
 
Re: Lighting a restaurant and bar commercial

You mentioned you had a gaffer in town with a truckload of lights. If he's been in business a while and knows his stuff, take him by the place you are going to shoot and get some advice from him. Hire him to help you if you have the budget. A good gaffer who knows his stuff can make your life much less stressful in a situation like this. Good luck with your shoot.
 
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