Just curious if anyone has any clever solutions for shooting interviews in a typical hotel room or corporate suite... you know the drill- white, blank walls, not much room for depth and a producer that wants it to "look nice and not like a hotel room" in 30 minutes. Also, no option for change of location. ( My kt includes 650w/chimera, 300 fresnel, 2 200s, flexfil)
lighting an interview in a hotel room
- Thread starter cmlcam
- Start date
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
Bring a nice material backdrop to hand behind the person; like velvet draperie. Maybe a small lamp in the back ground for a practical ambient effect ?
HorseFilms
Look ma no hands
Definitely bring a few things to dress up the place (flowers, pictures, etc.). Using shallow depth of field can help minimize the boring background, as well. Have you considered experimenting with different colored gels to use on the background? That can sometimes help, too.
ian hunter
Well-known member
i like to put a coloured gel (green / purple) over a background light, and place it low on it's stand.
get a plant, and fire the background light through the leaves to create a pattern over the plain walls
ian
get a plant, and fire the background light through the leaves to create a pattern over the plain walls
ian
maverickstunts
Well-known member
I like to use whatever is in the room or in the lobby. Flowers, lamps, plants etc. Usually if you ask nice they will let you use things. The other thing that you could do is buy Walter Graf's dvd about lighting interviews. It is enormously helpful.
http://www.bluesky-web.com/new-pagemerchandise.html
http://www.bluesky-web.com/new-pagemerchandise.html
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Hi:
PLEASE no vases of flowers in the BG. In my work, we get a ton of EPK interviews with movie stars shot in hotel rooms. They ALWAYS have a stupid vase of fake flowers in the BG, it looks so amazingly lame it's not even funny. We make jokes with all of the editors now, laughing and the lack of imagination in shooting hotel room interviews.
Depending on the subject matter, a nice shadow cast in the shape of something having to do with what the person is talking about works. Also, love the idea of draping interesting fabric like velvet, or an interesting texture or fabric with nice slashes of colored light across it along with shadows and texture.
The only thing lamer than the stupid vase of flowers is the dreaded muslin background. OMG, do you really want your interview to look like it was shot at a Sears photo studio? Leave the muslins at home.
Lamps with a dimmer can really help out a BG. We have a dozen different styles here, they are cheap at ikea and a nicely dimmed lamp will throw out some nice warm amber light in the BG, almost always a good thing.
Or how about a video projector? I use three of them and it can work very well if you have images that are relevant to what the person is blabbing about.
No vases/flowers, no muslin, no black duvetine, all of them are cop outs and what almost everyone else who lacks imagination will use.
Best,
Dan
PLEASE no vases of flowers in the BG. In my work, we get a ton of EPK interviews with movie stars shot in hotel rooms. They ALWAYS have a stupid vase of fake flowers in the BG, it looks so amazingly lame it's not even funny. We make jokes with all of the editors now, laughing and the lack of imagination in shooting hotel room interviews.
Depending on the subject matter, a nice shadow cast in the shape of something having to do with what the person is talking about works. Also, love the idea of draping interesting fabric like velvet, or an interesting texture or fabric with nice slashes of colored light across it along with shadows and texture.
The only thing lamer than the stupid vase of flowers is the dreaded muslin background. OMG, do you really want your interview to look like it was shot at a Sears photo studio? Leave the muslins at home.
Lamps with a dimmer can really help out a BG. We have a dozen different styles here, they are cheap at ikea and a nicely dimmed lamp will throw out some nice warm amber light in the BG, almost always a good thing.
Or how about a video projector? I use three of them and it can work very well if you have images that are relevant to what the person is blabbing about.
No vases/flowers, no muslin, no black duvetine, all of them are cop outs and what almost everyone else who lacks imagination will use.
Best,
Dan
Wave of Light
Carbonite Member
30 minutes to set up?
20 minutes load in gear, have the Producer to DP conversation, find camera angle, set up; sticks, camera, monitor, cables, power.
Are you bring a sound man:undecided If not set up sound.
10 minutes to black out windows, put OB light on camera, and do a white balance. See talent sitting in. Someone did do Makup:tongue: while you were setting up right?
Wait for sound man:-HeadPhones(D
It dosen't seam to me that enough time is being allocated. You will have to sacrefice something... time or it looking nice.
-Charlie
quick, cheep, good. Pick two.
20 minutes load in gear, have the Producer to DP conversation, find camera angle, set up; sticks, camera, monitor, cables, power.
Are you bring a sound man:undecided If not set up sound.
10 minutes to black out windows, put OB light on camera, and do a white balance. See talent sitting in. Someone did do Makup:tongue: while you were setting up right?
Wait for sound man:-HeadPhones(D
It dosen't seam to me that enough time is being allocated. You will have to sacrefice something... time or it looking nice.
-Charlie
quick, cheep, good. Pick two.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Hi:
Hmm...30 minutes, huh? Sounds like someone allocating your time is clueless about how long it takes to set up a decent looking shot.
Pre-build camera on tripod and all lights before you walk into building. I get these all of the time at the studios. If you have very limited setup time, best to pre-build everything you can and just carry it in, plug it in and be ready to shoot. You can still then spend at least a few minutes tweaking your background.
I would also have a serious conversation with the powers that be. If they want their talent to look good and the interview to looks good, 30 minutes is not very realistic. For a news interview, sure, but if they want it to look better than news, you really need another 15-30 minutes to setup.
Best,
Dan
Hmm...30 minutes, huh? Sounds like someone allocating your time is clueless about how long it takes to set up a decent looking shot.
Pre-build camera on tripod and all lights before you walk into building. I get these all of the time at the studios. If you have very limited setup time, best to pre-build everything you can and just carry it in, plug it in and be ready to shoot. You can still then spend at least a few minutes tweaking your background.
I would also have a serious conversation with the powers that be. If they want their talent to look good and the interview to looks good, 30 minutes is not very realistic. For a news interview, sure, but if they want it to look better than news, you really need another 15-30 minutes to setup.
Best,
Dan
HorseFilms
Look ma no hands
puredrifting said:
Definitely. I was lighting an interview setup for the owner of a professional sports team. It was only going to be seen internally, but we still devoted 2 hours to the setup because problems can always come up.
ian hunter
Well-known member
Some of us in NEWS do actually know how to light properly, and do take time setting things up so less of the generalization. and less of the cheek
ian
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)
ian
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)