Outdoors Night Music Video

[davesb]

Basically I am shooting a music artist outdoors, at night. Two main locations; walking down a path in the woods, and on a couch in the middle of the field. I want the shot to feel like he is truly walking around in the middle of the night. At the same time, I don't mind if it looks like there is unnatural light shined on him; it might add to the strange feel. Possibly. Anyway, I need to be able to see him, as well as the area around him.. trees, path, and for the couch scene; ideally, a large surrounding area.

This is my first time actually shooting a project (I'm usually just the concept guy). We have a very small budget but do have access to some rental equipment. We can't lug a 6k generator, so we are thinking of renting a 3k generator. On that, I'm trying to figure out exactly what to use, and how to best utilize. I know I need a basic 3 point lighting system, though I could maybe get away with two, a key light and back light. I also know I need the background lit. I'm wondering if I could get away with using a 1200 arrisun plus par for a key light, and am wondering if it could also serve to help light up area surrounding him. Beyond that light, and I'm not sure exactly what all I can pile onto the 3k generator, I have access to a joker 800 bug light, 575 arrisun par, joker 400 bug light, 200 arrisun, or 125 arrisun.

So i'm wondering the best way possible lighting is. Also, I would like to shoot at the dead of night so I don't have a small window to mess around with, but I'm thinking it might have to be closer to late evening?

Also, I don't want that typical over-blue look that you see with HMI's as night, it feels a little cliche, something a little warmer might feel right. Would that involve a gel?

Sorry for the lack of knowledge, trying to shoot at the end of the week and looking for all the help I can get. Thank you!!

 

[Airboxlights]

Ok, sounds you've got a bunch on your plate.

here's what I would do- get more smaller lights and get 2 honda 2k generators, those are light for carrying. Then you can place one generator far away for background stuff and one close by for lighting talent. if you key your talent with a 1200 in the middle of the night in the field, you wont see anything else. the spill beyond them will be much reduced. Remember the inverse square law- with each doubling of the distance, you get only 1/4 as much light. You don't need something that powerful for your key, it will be too much and you'll use up all your available power. Plus 1200s can be flaky on portable generators. here's what I would do- get more smaller lights and get 2 honda 2k generators, those are lightweight for carrying. Then you can place one generator far away for background stuff and one close by for lighting talent. make sure to get wheels to tote all that crap around.

serious bang for your buck for night work that wont let you down- source four pars and par cans. I always have at least a few of those when I'm doing nights. from a theatrical type rental house, a par can probably rents for about 10$, a source four par a little more. you can put a bright spot way way out in the distance with a vnsp par or a source four par with no lens. Serious throw. A little hard to control though, there arent any barn doors or scrims. Blackwrap will do it though.

I find what makes night look real is do a lot with edges. At night, everything's dark. You don't see a lot of flatly-lit surfaces and objects, you just get the idea of them. Define everything with gleams and edgelights, very little frontlight. A few patches or pools of far-off light.

For keying the person, do it very sidey, so you can still see their features, but soft. And an edge on the far side to define the dark side of their face. So do something like a sidey bounce to key them, with an opposing edge light. Work on their background with a few distinct far-off hot spots and some well-placed edges. You can define a dark person against a bright patch in the background instead of giving them a backlight too, that can work well. Another nice look that still feels dark is doing a sidey key that's a bit under, an edge on the far side, and then a gleam in their eyes from a little obie light right over the camera. I've used a litepanel with one of my Airboxes on it for that, but any smallish source over the camera whose intensity you can control well will work. keep it dark, just bring it up enough until their eyes start pinging and you get a little definition in their features.

I assume you're shooting with a fast camera like a 7D? Scout your location at night, see if there's any available light that your camera can see. Light to that exposure. Although since you said its a forest, There probably won't be.

If you make it too bright looking to get a good exposure, but you keep all of your bright areas happily within the latitude of the camera, you can bring everything down in post. Be careful that you don't lose the less brightly lit areas when doing this.

Good luck. Get extra stingers.


-Tom Guiney
Gaffer/DP/LD in NYC
Maker of Airboxlights.com
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