Old Hotel Shoot with a DVX (HOW TO)

[Brett]

so we were fortunate enough to get a hold of the owners of a VERY old hotel in our town to ask if we could shoot a feature film in it, they replied by saying "Only if you all sign an agreement form and if we can get a copy of the movie when its complete!" we took a look at the inside of the hotel today, its pretty amazing.. theres 5 floors, and at the bottom a entrance way, a bar, and a ball room.. I didnt have my camera with me so I took a few pics with my phone.
anyhow im wondering how I should light the scenes.. theres no power but we have electric generators so its no problem. bad news all we have as far as lightings concerned is a few work light that just put out such a harsh light.. but i know theres a proper way to light it even with those kind of lights. Heres a few pics from the hotel.

 

[jambredz]

very nice location. heres a link to diffuse ur worklights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Vk_31hqvY&feature=related ...cheap...easy...effective.


U can also look at image west flouro lighting...i saw someone here recommend them as a good cheap source for flouro's ( i duno about the build quality but he said the quality of the light they put out was really good). u'd have to gel them to match ur tungsen...or not depending....u mite wanna leave them and get a nice blue (tungsten balance camera) in that location

make sure yall tread safely there...maybe dangerous. and get tetanus shots

 

[Brett]

thanks jambredz. very helpful!

 

[jambredz]

no prob man...i've also used wax/baking paper to diffuse them. they resist the heat very well...it mite steam a little sometimes but dont worry they wont catch on fire. And with the baking sheets u can ad more and more to keep on diffusing to ur desired level. the good thing though about the link i gave u is the large surface area of that diffuser that will allow for a really large soft source. as he says...be careful about the heat though...make sure the distance to the diffuser is pretty decent (his seems fine).

to try and control them ive used foil as makeshift barndoors on them...ghetto i know but u gotto to what u gotto do. black wrap/ black foil would be better but i cudnt get any.

 

[Mark Harris]

Sweet location. Where is this exactly?

 

[Brett]

its in Thomaston Georgia. about an hour south of Atlanta. it was built in 1929 and refurbished in the 70s but never opened it again... its one of the creepiest places ive ever been.

 

[Brett]

that seems like a clever way. ive never even thought about wax paper. well the lighting was the only thing i was worried about. thank you so much once again.