Music Video Lighting for Fashion/Glamour type stylized aesthetic

RMI Studios

RMI Studios

Active member
Hey guys! So I'm shooting a music video teaser for one of my artists this coming week and I'm wondering if the lighting rig I own will provide enough light for the glamour/highly stylized/"shiny" type of look we're going for?

This is my current lighting setup for the main shot of her plus two dancers, on white or black backdrop:
renegadelightingmockupd.jpg


This is an example of the look we're going for:
screenshot20101212at730.png

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This is really a situation where you should go ahead and do some tests. You show a white and a gray BG example, and a black backdrop in your diagram - getting a clean white BG will likely require different uses of your fixtures than a black BG. You may find you want much harder light from behind, and on and on. Looks like you have plenty of fixtures and a fair amount of watts, figure it out at your leisure, not on set.

One big issue you'll have is that 10' backdrop, which will severely limit your shot compositions. Both of your examples look more in the 20-30' cyc range. That 10 ft. width is really going to hurt.
 
Thanks Michael! Yes we are scheduled for tests tomorrow for three background colors (black, white, chroma green for keying), perhaps I'll post some stills from those tests.

I'm hearing what you're saying about the cyc wall, the problem I'm having is that I don't feel like I have enough light to cover a wider space with the brightness that I'm looking for. I'm already a little weary of having the subjects farther back from the lights than I'm used to, I can easily get a pretty high fashion look by having the singer just about a foot from the soft boxes, like this example from a little interview/teaser we shot:

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I feel like if i widen the backdrop/shot I'm going to need waaaaay more light to keep it that stylized -- thoughts?
 
Well, the first problem with using a 20' cyc is getting the use of one - seamless paper can be rolled out sideways but it's not very deep.

If you're shooting 16:9 it's tough, I've been doing music vids 2.35:1 which is even wider.

It's tough to get a white BG evenly lit - you may have some luck extending the background in post with a simple photoshop file matched - don't forget some tracking markers if the camera is moving though!

Going black would make things massively easier to light and even to extend. A very different look though.

For huge soft lighting - the "subject close to the softbox" look - you need a giant softbox. I've had great success rigging a grid of 1/2" or 3/4" conduit (hanging from the ceiling or with stands) and clamping big sheets of sheer white fabric to it, making a 15 - 20' "curtain" about 8-10' tall, with a slot for the camera. Then light the fabric, with lights far enough back to really wash the whole fabric surface. A plus of this is you can use open face lights, or pull the diffusers from smaller softboxes essentially making giant lights with some spill control. Gives you a very big space where talent can move with no hot spots or "key" areas.

You can do high-level backlighting such a setup as well, just use your lower wattage open faced stuff with no diffusion - just get 'em high enough to avoid flares, and use a hood and maybe even some black foamcore as a big french flag.

(I've used that when my friends talk me into shooting their little kids - you can just let the kid do his thing and not keep pushing him back to a mark.

Here's a sketch - for your keys, you may need 4 or six stands spread across where I show two, and you may need it to be sort of an "array", with lights above head level and lower wattage for waist-to-floor level - the main thing being to spread the light to evenly fill the fabric. add some white foamcore to the sides and you're there.

Even a large softbox moved back 6' isn't going to give you room-sized soft light - go to the fabric store, take a couple bolts of white into the sun and see which gives you the least falloff stop-wise. Going with a couple layers of white mesh vs. actual fabric is a cool look, too - a little harder, more definition to shadow areas, but still "soft".
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Ahhh so many lights! Up until this point I've been buying my lights so I might need to think about renting..thanks so much for the sketch and the ideas! I'll come back and post some tests and will let you know if we grabbed a cyc or not!
 
The top model doesn't look like she's lit all around. Seems like there's just a back light on her right and a diffused key light on her front right at a few feet above.
 
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