Shot - a test lighting/VFX shot

MatthewC

MatthewC

Well-known member
This is a short lighting/VFX shot test I did yesterday for fun.
http://www.splatfilms.com/flvplayer.html

I just recently got two 650w lights, and have been having a few issues lighting with them, as they both really want to overpower each other, and I cannot find my bounce.

My major complaint about this is the shadow change between the first and second shot, and how the actor on the floor (actually me), wasn't lit that well. I had a friend of mine with no camera experience telling me that you could see my face and that I was framed okay, then afterwards I realized I was pretty darn dark and tried pulling a China ball out near my head for the later shots. You can probably tell when we started using it but I tried to make it not that noticeable.
You probably can't see the VFX shot that great due to compression/size, and I tried to just make it very subtle.

I know I'm going to have to buy myself a 300w for some kicker/backlight work, as the other 650 is just simply too strong and almost tends to overpower the key.
The walls are acting as a natural bounce because they are white. That shadow being cast is EXTREMELY hard, but I didn't really have a way to soften it. A 300w light with a diffuser at a distance might've helped a bit.

I would love to hear thoughts on my choices of camera angles, editing, etc.
I would've loved to have made it a bit more suspenseful, a few closer cuts of my face, the cigarette burning, the gun loading, the crazy rifle dude sitting there, and slowed it down a bit, but the actor with the gun (my roomate) really wanted to go to bed, and most people don't have the patience for stuff like that if it's only a quick fun test shoot.
 
use a sheet of foamcore for a bounce
get a few pieces of diffusion material and just clothes peg it to the barndoors
 
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It's not terrible for being thrown together. Some of your shoots don't match up britghness wise you may want to play around with that. To me the dark shadows work, because it help the dark mood of the subject matter. The tied up character could have used some more light. You might want to add a soundfx for when he kicks the tied up man's face if there is one the sound of this hit to the heater/ac unit over takes it. Also I'm not sure why there was a fade in of U2 over the Avenged Sevefold song... did I miss something? And yes, that is one hell of a pellet gun.
 
Don't light the walls, light the figures. Try hanging the lights on the ceiling with some flags or something, and point them straight down. That way the first thing you see in the composition is the two men, and that'll give you the scene's 'lay of the land' a bit better.
-By the way, that's one mean guy, he can't stop beating/ kidnapping and shooting joggers for a second!
 
jeremytuttle said:
It's not terrible for being thrown together. Some of your shoots don't match up britghness wise you may want to play around with that. To me the dark shadows work, because it help the dark mood of the subject matter. The tied up character could have used some more light. You might want to add a soundfx for when he kicks the tied up man's face if there is one the sound of this hit to the heater/ac unit over takes it. Also I'm not sure why there was a fade in of U2 over the Avenged Sevefold song... did I miss something? And yes, that is one hell of a pellet gun.
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Yeah, I know the lighting didn't always match up. I started using a China ball in the corner after a few shots to get a little bit more light on my face. The problem is if I stuck my 650 over to the side and tried to light me on the ground, it would've been too bright and washed out any of the darkness I was trying to achieve. I definately need a 300w I can start using in places like that.

The U2 song is supposed to be the guys phone ringing. The bad guys says "Hey, can you get that? Oh, you can't." I didn't really bother with the audio levels, when I should've.

Matthew Bennett said:
Don't light the walls, light the figures. Try hanging the lights on the ceiling with some flags or something, and point them straight down. That way the first thing you see in the composition is the two men, and that'll give you the scene's 'lay of the land' a bit better.
-By the way, that's one mean guy, he can't stop beating/ kidnapping and shooting joggers for a second!
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I was lighting the bad guy from an extreme angle so the other side of his face was darker. A 300w placed on the other side of the room at a distance would've gotten rid of the sharp shadow and still worked, BUT, I don't have a 300w sadly. I like the pointing straight down idea but yeah, I can't screw anything into my roof. LOL



Thanks for all the comments, and thanks for realizing it wasn't an uber serious thing. I'm just trying to pick up some quick tips and ideas on lighting, etc. and you are all a great help. Cheers.
 
I don't understand why the interior was so dark? Did you stop it down to this level? Even if you wanted a dark feel you need to bring the levels up at least in some of the shot. I agree about putting the light above. Think about how much better it would've looked with the contrast of the bright light and the shadows. The light behind the TV also looked strange to me. In fact none of your lighting seemed to have a source.
 
bluegrey said:
I don't understand why the interior was so dark? Did you stop it down to this level? Even if you wanted a dark feel you need to bring the levels up at least in some of the shot. I agree about putting the light above. Think about how much better it would've looked with the contrast of the bright light and the shadows. The light behind the TV also looked strange to me. In fact none of your lighting seemed to have a source.
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Because I only have two 650s, if I pulled the other one out it wouldve taken all the colour out. I had a green gel on the one light and I was having a hard time having it show up. Two lights just sort of got rid of it. The main light is just offscreen and can be assumed to a kitchen light, etc. off screen. I would have liked to angle it more on a 45 off him, but there wasn't any place to put it, and it would've softened shadows on one side of his face.
The lighting near the TV looked strange and I knew it, but I didn't really have a choice. I just threw a light in a rice ball behind the TV to lighten it up after I realized how dark it was. It's the last time I'm trusting people to tell me they can see my face.
I wasn't worried too much about the lighting, I was hoping more to get some answers on the questions I raised about lighting with such limited resources, etc.
I'm going to have to try a roof bounce next time and see how that does it.
Thanks for the input, it's all great.
 
I'd agree with the guy on the other page. You DON"T want any spill on the walls... and/or to use the walls as a bounce. Just takes the attention away from the subject and it really produces very unsightly images. That's probably one of my major rules of lighting... to keep the spill off the walls at all costs.


2nd... if you only have a 650 why not just get some scrims and bring down the output that way. I do that with my lights all the time. Throw on some diffusion... spot the light/ flood it. Turn it around and use it as a bounce.. Lots of options here.


I have used the china balls and they are not bad in a pinch... For ultimate do it yourself cheap lighting kit.. I'd go to your local camera store and buy a bunch of color balanced photoflood bulbs. They come in 100w-500w, atleast at the local place here. Then go to home depot and buy some ceramic work lights that can handle the wattage and you are then off and running. I've been able to get the bulb and the light fixture for 10 bucks each... You can even build some homemade barn doors and viola. For 30 bucks you could get a 100, 300 and a 500. They can be mounted to a stand... a wall or ceiling. Great cheap lights and since you are in videoland whitebalancing isn't a big deal.. as they do loose their color temp after a while.. but not a major problem.... I a pinch they do the trick.. and for cheap.....
 
Guy falls the wrong way

Guy falls the wrong way

MatthewC said:
I would love to hear thoughts on my choices of camera angles, editing, etc.
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I wouldn't have crossed the axis between the shooter and the victim, ie., the shooter is shooting from screen right to left, so the victim should fall from the right of the screen to the left. I found that cut disorienting.

That's just my opinion. It is also debatable, because in reality a gun doesn't really send a person flying (if it did, it would also send the shooter flying in the opposite direction), but in movies we've come to expect it. So I would cater to the audiences expectations and wouldn't cross that axis, unless you are intending to disorient the viewer, then it's OK.

Looks like fun! Again, just MHO. :)
 
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