Location/lighting ideas for this shot

[shaun_au]

Hi guys,

I have a shot which is set up as an interrogation room. The idea is to have a large pitch dark room with an overhead light hitting the table below it. See the illustrated storyboard below. The subject walks into the light from darkness. She takes a smoke , then sits on the table. I would like to know some ideas of where I can find a large open space like that. I don't have a big network of people. I thought about a professional car garage, but the owner is not a buddy of mine(we're just friends). I also thought about a large classroom or a ball room, but that would require after hour access. The other idea is to find a warehouse. The places I called up they only have small spaces. If you have a strong overhead light like that, you can see the walls around it instead of an endless black(not enough depth).

Also, how to hang an overhead light like that is another challenge. This is basically a lock down shot except the close up which might have some addition lights to illuminate her face better. So if I find a large open space, then I need to build a rack(or boom) of some sort to hang the light. The boom will have to be behind the camera and over the table.

Any suggestions and comments are wecome. Thanks!

 

[Sad Max]

Looks like you don't need much space...why not just hang blacks? If your light is all pooled around the table, some carefully placed blacks ought to do the trick.

 

[shaun_au]

Looks like you don't need much space...why not just hang blacks? If your light is all pooled around the table, some carefully placed blacks ought to do the trick.

Thanks, but what's "black"? Sorry, I don't know too many film terms.

 

[Fitz1980]

For a shot like that it looks like you could even use a 2 car garage or unfinished basement. As for where to put the light. An easy answer would be a C-Stand with a grip arm. If you don't have one of those perhaps attack it to the ceiling. Most unfinished basements or garages have bare joists overhead. Get a pipe clamp or a maffer clamp or something like that and attach the light. If you use any of these methods make sure you secure that light. We’ve nailed maffer clamps into joists to make sure they don’t fall (it has a small hole near the end for the nail to go through) we also hammered in a nail one time to attach the safety cable to so if a pipe clamp (attached to a joist) fell off the light wouldn’t fall to the ground (or an actor’s head)

 

[stonelock]

Thanks, but what's "black"? Sorry, I don't know too many film terms.

"Blacks" here is a term from the theater that refers to a sheet of black material (typically it's a thick, black curtain but in the guerrilla world it's whatever black colored material you can get your hands on) The material is usually quite dense so as to absorb as much light as possible and in the stage world you can see them hanging near the wings or any area that needs to be "masked".

Sad Max is right on in that, if you look at your storyboard, you only have a small section of set that actually shows in frame. To make a fake, vast room you could set a table - even in the middle of a smallish room - and light it with a strong, focused downlight. You then "hang blacks" in the portion of the background that actually shows in frame - meaning curtain off the rest of the area or otherwise disguise it. On camera, this black will disappear (again, if your light does not spill onto it) and the eye perceives it as infinite space.

Readjust the blacks for your CU angles and you can use the same little ol' room multiple ways.

 

[shaun_au]

To make a fake, vast room you could set a table - even in the middle of a smallish room - and light it with a strong, focused downlight.

Ok, so what kind of light would you recommend for a shot like that? Can this light be found at home depot? If so, what're the precaution for using it(white balance)?

 

[stonelock]

Ok, so what kind of light would you recommend for a shot like that? Can this light be found at home depot? If so, what're the precaution for using it(white balance)?

Sure, just remember that the biggest challenge with lighting is not the generation of light (although that can be tricky) but the control of light. Meaning more expensive lights are often more expensive because they are focusable, controllable .. and so on. But control is the biggest issue you'll face in your design.

That having been said, it's possible you could pull this off with a PAR lamp and some creative fixture construction. PAR lamps come in many shapes, sizes and wattage (they're the lights you'll probably find in the outdoor section if you're at the 'Depot') and they're the lights that come on magically if you get too close to people's garages at night. PAR stands for 'parabolic aluminized reflector' and they basically look like headlights for a car. The advantage for your design is that's a good start in getting light heading all in one direction, namely down. The trick will be that it might spill too much, depending on how bright you have to go, how small your room ends up being ... so you may need to experiment with ways to shape the light even further - the most basic of which is actually another old theater trick: stick the PAR lamp in a big coffee can.

Voila. Behold, the PAR can.

So start the gears turning from there? White balance shouldn't be a problem, it will only be one source so use your card in the light, or adjust it to your liking. Your iris will be your bigger ally here in that you'll likely be stopping it down to roll the blacks off into darkness.

Also remember (again another trick from the freakin' thee-a-ter') that the easiest way to get a light to cast "beams" like the defined lines you have in your sketch, is to shine a strong light through something with more reflective particles than good, clean air. Hence all the crazy smoke in the air in many dramatic scenes, no matter where the location. From a smoky bar to a suburban back yard waiting for ET to throw the baseball back ... fake smoke helps light beams look dramatic and also hides backgrounds.

 

[shaun_au]

From a smoky bar to a suburban back yard waiting for ET to throw the baseball back ... fake smoke helps light beams look dramatic and also hides backgrounds.

Yeah, I'm thinking about the fog generator Walmart sells, hehehe. That should do it right? Also, about the coffee cans, where do you think I might be able to find one? And does it come with different sizes?

 

[bcheong]

I've done this kind of setup on many occasions from my garage to a school studiospace. Fitz is right about clamping the light overhead. This normally is an option and a maffer and c-clamp or a cardellini will work perfectly. I've also suspended a piece of pipe between two stands (c-stands or Sky High's) and clamped a light onto the pipe overhead. I find blackwrap (black heat resistant foil) works to direct and control spill. Setting your Master Ped to -15 on the DVX helps darken your surroundings also.

 

[discs of tron]

a lot of places that you can find with free/cheap access have drop ceilings. (2x2' or 2x4' panels with a frame/grid type arrangement that holds them up.) if you don't know what i mean, just look up the next time you're in a state school or any type of corporate facility. anyhow, lowel lights makes this nice scissor-clip type thingy that clips onto drop ceiling frames and has a standard light stud. this will hang just about any cine/video light, but for heavier instruments you should also use one of those chains as a backup so that your light doesn't come crashing down onto your starlets head. also, smoke shows up best when it is backlit.

 

[matthewd5]

i did an interrogation scene in a short i shot...

we used a second floor bedroom in an old carriage house with a pretty high ceiling.

we kept it to a fairly small area for the cameras field of view.

i setup one light on a tall c-stand with a snoot (picture a coffee can with both end cut out and put it over the front of the light to really keep the light in a tight targeted beam.

then we shot it straight down at the table so all you could makeout was the person at the table and not much else.

we pushed back the things in the room that were near the table and by having zero light in the room besides the light i rigged we got a nice tight shot where the light was very controlled.

and btw, we used an actual coffee can as i didn't have a snoot for the particular light that was appropriate for the shot.

if you need to control other light that is spilling in just get a black drop cloth or some cheap black fabric from a fabric store.

matthew