Lighting Problem Solving!!!!!

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Dyrseve989

Well-known member
ok, heres the scene, slow Motion dolly up to subject. The scene is a girl in the shower(believe me, this is no porn, it is done in good taste, and is important to the story). there is one very slim window, small width, and tall. The window is located behind the shower, directly opposite the door.

I would like for the light to come through the window very brightly, creating a shilouette of the girl in the shower from behind the semi clear shower current.

I live in an apartment that sees the alleyway, so the surrounding buildings choke any light, so Im going to have to get the ligt effect with little help from daylight. Also I live on the 3rd floor, but technically I am 4 because the alleyway is lower so I cant really put lights out side too easily.

I have two sketches, one is my apartment layout, the other is a light setup I think might work. Please help if you have any tips.

I also want to make the illusion that it is soley the light from the sun that lights up the bathroom. I figure I will blast out the shower and the current will act as a diffuser for the rest of the bathroom.


Apt setup:

198017098_l.jpg

My setup:

198017622_l.jpg
http://myspace-622.vo.llnwd.net/00198/22/67/198017622_l.jpg
 
Dyrseve989 said:
... The scene is a girl in the shower(believe me, this is no porn, it is done in good taste, and is important to the story).
Click to expand...

I believe, I believe! :cheesy:


Are you going to have a fogged up shower door or a translucent shower curtain? If so, I'd really try to blast some light through that window. Instead of reflectors, you might want to try mirrors. You can use highly reflective mylar, spray-mounted on pieces of foam core. You'd better have some powerful lighting instruments because the inverse square law is not your friend in this situation.
 
I'd just build a little platform frame that hangs on the window frame a piece of spun glass in the window frame and blast some light into it, be sure you tie it off with a safety lanyard in case it falls. Else put a light on a boom out of the window in room 1. Yet another option is use a condor in the ally.
 
hmmm.....

now that you got me thinking, mirrors would be the smarter way to go, only problem, gotta get some big mirrors that i can mount to hang outside the windows shown, 4 stories high. I would really like to put the lights outside, pointing in, and have been trying to figure out if i can maybe hang them from the roof....the roof door is broken open, and its 7 stories up, im 4.

its gonna be a translusent shower current, but it has a texture to it, so naturally it creates a shiloutted person when in the shower. It is diffused enough that I will be needing small accent lights in the bathroom in front of the shower curtain in order to light the room.

Does my layout look somewhat idealistic? Im not sure if I should try and poition the reflecors/mirrors somewhere else
 
ohh, yea, i forget to point out that i only have access to 3200k lights........wich if i totally flood out the window, then i guess i want have to worry about mixed color temps from the sun........or mayb i should just do it at night?
 
You trying to get light into that 12 inch by three foot window? And what are these lights you are using (wattage)? And how many floors are above you? How about spraying the window with diffusion so its blurry, or is it already. Or if you can, hang a wood frame with 216 or opal and lower it to cover the window. You could put a single fixture 200 watt Joker ($150 rental) on a hi hi stand from Matthew's ($20 rental) in the ally. Or throw a rope from one of those windows to another fasten it taught and put a smaller Lowel DP or Omni fixture on a pulley and pull it out to where it is right in front of the window. Or using the diffusion frame, simply aim your light directly onto it from the window on the left.
 
hmm....walter.....your making me think..........alot..........i might b able to get access to 600w lowels, or 1k arri's. I like the hi hi stand idea, but im not going to spend money if i think i can possibly pull it off w/o. do you think its worth it to figure out a design to get a 1k arri directly infront of the window, or is it better to use the reflective boards? The light will pass through the window and then hit the diffused shower curtain before it hits my cam, as it shows on the sketch(kinda).

im just tryin to figure out the easiest setup with the best results......its a very hard thing to set this up with the lights needing to come from outside the window.......

I have acess to older versions of these 2kits

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...149&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...816&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation
 
Ok hang the frame from the roof with opal or 216 on it. Aim the lights directly at the frame and you're done. Those reflectors? A bit of a breeze and they make nice sails so I would not use them. Hard light fastened down using something to diffuse it before it gets to the window. Rope from the roof, even adding 2x4s above to move it away from the window. Rope to the alley below to fasten it.
 
thats sounds like a plan.......i guess I should start building a mini painters deck for the lights. Hopefully all will work, Ill use that for my exterior, and then I guess use an umbrelled lowel to give the rest of the bathroom a small soft light.

Thanks Walter, you have beena big help, if anyone else still has suggestions im open to them, I would like to hear any and all options
 
Umbrella might be bright. How about just a white card in a ceiling corner. Make your frame light weight (1x3). And use screws to build it (drill holes too before you screw), not nails. And Eye hooks for the rope.
 
ok let me think outside the box a little bit...

you have a girl in a shower and inbetween her and the camera is a semi-transparent shower curtain.

behind her is the light source...

so you need to get light behind her to cast the shadow/outline on the shower curtain...

how about putting the lights IN the window opening? i mean does it open? or put it right in front of the window opening on the INSIDE.

do you need to have the shower running or would a great soundtrack of the shower sound make it seem just as if the shower was running?

i mean, put the light where you want it, get your effect and put the water sound in on a different layer and nobody knows the difference?

alternatively, be really safe and careful and find a way to run the shower and have the lights in front of the window but wouldn't it be neat to do it without the water actually running and just make people think it is?

i think that would give you way more control having the lights inside the window.

matthew
 
im going to design a platform that I can fit 2 1k arris, one on top of the other with a diffuser infront of them, it will be directly infront of the window. I figured out a good way to put an angled white card behind the area that I will be dollying through. All should hopefully work out, and if it dosent, then....it will suck.....and I will be wasting alot of peoples time trying to set the mood of this one shot.

Thanks all for your help

PS - matthewd5, I would like to puit the lights inside, but the distance between the window, and the subject is too close, and the shower curtain is semi-see thru, so the cam will def pick up that there is a light there,mostly because of the spread of the light, where as, if the lights are outside, the lightsource is far enough away from the subject that the shadows will look natural, as will the cut off of the window frame.
 
She's behind a shower curtain? A tall and narrow window throwing light on her? Kinda fluorescent-light-shaped?

Does anyone ever actually see the window? Or just the light and shadows?

See where I'm going with this?

Dan
 
Yea, simpler is better. The 216 frame outside the window is a common method in filmmaking. BUt making some elaborate set up might not be necessary. I would first try firing some Omni's or Lowel DPs at the frame from the window on the left. Might do what you need. I see from the diagram that the window is right behind your talent. It will not take much to make it glow. Also might be a nice effect to add a filter like a pro mist that will give it all aglow. It's a shower and the pro mist makes the illusion of a misty shower.
 
Oh but wait, she's behind a shower curtain? Clear, or white? If it's white you can put the lights directly behind her inside.
 
the shower curtain is a greyish curtain that is faintly opague. But I am unable to put lights on the inside, the distance between the window, abnd the subject will be within a few inches, it is a very tight space. If I put lights inside, flag them off to make it seem they are coming from a natural light source outside the window, the light wont reach the subject, its as iff I am throwing a light 2" away from the subject.... interior lighting willl not give me the correct effect
 
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