Need lighting Tips for Horror scene

B

bodytemple

Member
I'm shooting a micro short film, "4pgs" its a ghost story it takes place at night.
I own two cameras a DVX 100A suited out with a Letus Extreme I'll be using
a 50mm Lens @ 1.8 f-stop and a Lensbaby @ 2. f-stop. the second camera i own is a Canon 7D. I'm struggling with the conversion of it in to my editing software, which is Vegas Pro 9 converted by MPEG STREAMCLIP "NO MATTER WHAT I DO IT STILL STUTTERS ALONG WHEN I CONVERT IT INTO AVI" so I'll be shooting it on my trusted DVX 100A.

this is my lighting kit: All LOWEL

2 OMNI Lights / 500
2 DP Lights / 1000 K
2 PRO Lights / 250 watt
1 TOTA Light / 500
1 Extra Large Photo Flex Multi-Dome / 1 k
4 Flags - Solid Black 18x24,
Double Net 18x24,
White Silk 1/4 Stop 18x24,
White 4x4 Silk 1/4 Stop
2 C-STANDS
1 Super Clamp with Standard Stud
3 Clamp Studs
2 Super Clamp Grip Head

THE LOCATION:
Its a room with two windows that has shades and curtains on them
i'll be placing one end table Lamp "Practical" at 100watt bulb there
the ghost comes to pay the person a visit which later the ghost kills

SO THATS THE SCENE
NOW THE QUESTION:

I want to paint the room in a way where I have enough light to show the subjects but at the same time the whole room is not washed out by light.
I'm not geeked out so if you answer please keep it simple lol
I find that the 7D lets to much light in maybe its just me since I still don't know how to use it fully I'm still trying to learn how to use the ISO {is the ISO like the IRIS on the DVX 100A} and with the Letus and 50mm, I find it hard to build a scene with pools of light which looks great to the eye but comes out to dark on the DVX 100A and since now I'm using the Letus adapter my whole approach to lighting has changed cause of all the stops of light I'm losing.

Please help?
I'm lost on what to do.
 
Sorry that you are having such editing woes that you are resorting to the dvx100 over the 7D and a big hello to a fellow NYC filmmaker. I'll try to help you where I can.

A big problem with the media from the 7D is that it uses h264 and possibly one problem with your avi files might be that you are retaining h264 as your new codec with AVI as the container. You need to edit in an I-frame codec not a long gop codec. I've written about this before with in more detail here (LINK).

As for your room, here's what I would do. Paint it a dark matte color so that it will hopefully bounce as little light as possible. Go to Adorama rentals (LINK) down on 19th st and try to rent a softbox & speedring for either the tota, dp or omnis or all of them if you can afford it. They may not have any but take what you can get. This should drastically reduce light bouncing in a small room by keeping 100% of your light coming out the front and none out the back and sides.

Using softboxes will create a lot of nice shadows in the room that will show up on your LCD. These shadows could be useful for a luma key later if thats what you plan to use for the ghost. Can have him fly/levitate and sh*t - luma keys are lots of fun.

As for ISO - it would be comparable to the gain on your DVX100. The higher the ISO the more noise in the image you will see. The aperture of the lens on your 7D would be the equivalent to the iris on your DVX100.

The value of ISO doubles per one stop of light. So going from ISO 200 to 400 is increasing the sensitivity by one stop of light. When u start with the 7D try to keep ISO under 1000 to avoid a noisy image.

When is your shoot? PM me if you have more questions. I might not answer immediately as I might be working or shooting. BTW - I'm Queens based.
 
Last edited:
wow thanks alot
please tell me you was only playing about painting the room black...lol
cause for a 4pg script i think no i know my wife would kill me...which is funny cause i teach martial arts and i'm sure that wouldnt stop her anyway lol

the stuff you mention about the 7D...you lost me...lol all the codec stuff I-Frame / GOP i'm still trying to work that out cause i dont have a clue of what that stuff means. i'm going to read your link hopefully that would help.
How do you change the codec is that on the computer in the editing software or in the Conversion software?

i did change a setting on the camera along with settings on Media Streamclip and at one point i converted a clip that did play perfectly in a AVI file but that was before i changed the settings now it even after i convert it to AVI it still stutters along

the lighting soft box thing well i do have a softbox now but its an extra large one which would throw across the whole room, but with out buying more gear i think taking your idea an snooting the lights then dressing it with 216 dif, might also work, I'll try that too.

Hey I'm Bronx bound my self
if we can link up so you can show me some stuff on the Canon 7D , my wife makes some nice pasta dinner would be on me.

As for the shoot date, I'm holding a script reading tomorrow, and from there I'll find out my thing is i been gaffing for so long now with my DPing on the DVX for the last 4 years and now with the CANON 7D i'm my hands i'm kind of not to quick to shoot with it.
i even was offering it to be used for free for small productions so that i can pick the brain of the DP using it, but i havent had any luck with that.

anyway thanks alot and I'll keep you posted
 
None of the settings in camera will make a difference, it is the setting in mpegstreamclip that makes a difference. You need to select the correct codec - maybe run a bunch of tests. No need to paint room black, any dark color or even mid range color, just to get it away from white. Snooting and diff is good too.

Thanks for the offer for dinner too. Unfortunately I am so swamped with projects that I struggle to find time to have dinner with those I hold dear.

bodytemple said:
i even was offering it to be used for free for small productions so that i can pick the brain of the DP using it, but i havent had any luck with that.
Click to expand...

It doesn't surprise me. 7D is so new that DP's who shoot with it probably also own it.

I'm often working in midtown. PM me if u wanna brief meet up there - BX is a world away from my routine.
 
I'd say once you get that 7D worked out you should go to your set and start by just turning on one light. Move it around until you see something interesting in the monitor. Next I would light from the windows. Now if you can get away with one light source and the light coming through the windows then you are golden but usually that isn't the case. Best thing to do I think is start off with as little light as possible and work your way up to that look you are wanting. Just because you have all those lights and equipment doesn't mean you have to use them all. But if you just start with that first light and work with it the most you can build around it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top