Lighting during night and dark shoots

S

steve54

New member
Since most of my work is either underwater or on safari where lighting is a whole different ballgame, I am now stuck with a lighting issue for a short film I have been asked to shoot using the producer's cam which is a Sony A1-U HDV . There will be two main locations, one is a dark alley shot at night and the other will be inside in a dimly lit room, lots of candles. I am concerned just how to light these locations keeping things dark, yet not get the grain and dirt in the footage that the A1-U's low light ability produces. I know I can effect many changes in post but what would be some good suggestions in terms of the shoot itself?
Appreciate any suggestions.
Steve
 
Dark scenes tend to mean a lot of light because you don't want to end up with too much noise. For the candles, make sure you have some sort of soft fill other than the candles themselves. For the alley, use hard lights in positions that seem to make sense, possibly letting the reflection of the area act as fill depending on what it looks like. That one you need a lot of light on to do it right. High contrast is good for night. Otherwise I'd recommend shooting it during the day instead, if decent lighting isn't available. Practicals are usually useless for that kind of thing.
 
The more and more I light dark scenes (and I am by no means an expert DP here...) I am finding it is more about contrast then darkness. I can have a lot of the frame fall into black as long as I have something defining the action, even if it is just a rim light here and there.

Contrast. Try it.
 
night shots

night shots

Thank you for the suggestions, if anything, I am convinced that some test shots will need be made prior to the actual shooting days.
Steve
 
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