Specific lighting scenes - With tungsten or hmi, or no difference?

[DDirector]

So, I have Arri tungsten lights so far, and so far thats all I have been using. I havent had the chance to do any major dramatic scenes that require special or specific colours in the scene. Such as a moonlight colour.

Lets stick with the moonlight colour for example. There is a gel for moonlight, and its very similar to Blue.
But, is there a difference if you were to put that gel on a tungsten light vs compared to an HMI? Wouldnt it cause a different colour effect?

So, there is a moonlight gel, but in order to achieve this colour, which lights should you be using? Tungsten (3200K) or HMI's (55-5600K)?

Its not just the moonlight colour Im talking about. Im just using this as an example as this is the only example I can think of.
I dont really understand which colour temperature light I should be using if I want to create a specific colour look.

Sometimes when I watch films, and sticking to the moonlight colour example, often I see that the moonlight blue is very suttle, and looks great. But other times when I see it its very blue and looks like a fake night scene that has a lot of blue colour in it. Would this be an issue of using the wrong colour temperature lights to achieve a specific lighting colour?

Help?

 

[Paul Hudson]

Experiment with different amounts of CTB until you get the color you want. There is no right way to do this. It is really about your tast and the feel of your scene.

 

[DDirector]

I don't get it.

So, there is a gel that is supposed to produce a specific colour tone. But isn't having the wrong light going to produce the wrong colour in the end?
Like 'moonlight blue' with a tungsten it may be correct, but with an HMI it may be wrong or off and looks weird or not as good.

 

[Paul Hudson]

I don't get it.

So, there is a gel that is supposed to produce a specific colour tone. But isn't having the wrong light going to produce the wrong colour in the end?
Like 'moonlight blue' with a tungsten it may be correct, but with an HMI it may be wrong or off and looks weird or not as good.

Not if you properly white balance before adding gel. You can white balance tungsten and the light with an HMI for good effect. This is a shot from a film I recently did. Here we white balance to tunsten and lit with an HMI.

 

[DDirector]

Oh... Now I feel dumb for asking :/

 

[starcentral]

delete the thread then.. thats what I do! :S