Thoughts on Lighting a Trunk Scene

blazer003

blazer003

Well-known member
We've written and are producing a short film where 90% of the film is in the trunk of a car. No natural light can realistically be there. The actor is playing the scene like he can't see anything. The scene will open in pitch black with just foley and then slowly fade up from black to see what's going on in the trunk. I'm believing that this will help create the illusion of pitch black and not break the suspension of disbelief.

I own a Yongnuo 600 LED dimable panel, a 150 dimable LED panel, a 50 LED light, a 500w Lowell Rifa softbox.

I may try to upload some of our story board, but:

The actor is trapped in the trunk. For some of it, he is laying across the trunk trying to remove restraints.

Shots will include shots from above down into an open trunk (but will be framed to seem closed as if the camera is just under the trunk lid, in the trunk with him, but will certainly cheat a little).
Some of the shots will be up from the actors feet towards his face (with feet in frame).
Some will be from the actors side (filmed through the open rear seats of the car.)

We're filming these trunk scenes with the car inside a small wherehouse and we'll black out the windows of the warehouse so we'll have complete control of the lighting.

The car is not particularly big, but the trunk is big enough to squeeze our actor and our camera in there. I have a nice beanbag to put the camera on for some of the shots, others we'll stick the tripod in at some odd angles and use it like a crane. The main thing I'm worried about is lighting though. I've been running a few tests the last couple days to see how dark I want to light the scene, and how much I want to bring it down in post. Obviously, it's going to be very dark regardless. The space is so cramped that I'm having a hard time placing lights where I want them. This is pretty technically challenging shoot, but that's why we're doing it.

Our original plan was to actually have a buddy of mine who works at a wrecking yard get us a car that had it's back chopped open like a cross section. He thought he could get it to us for a couple hundred bucks, but his boss wanted much more to cut it the way we wanted and deliver and pick up ($1100 to rent and deliver a hunk of old metal!) and , so we had to nix that plan.

Anyway, I'm shooting on my GH4, and while it's not a great low light camera, it holds it's own at 1600 ISO and below, but we're planning to shoot at 800 and below to be safe. I'm renting the Nokton 17.5mm F.95 for some shots in the trunk. I wish that the 10.5mm 0.95 Nokton was out, but no such luck.

But placing the lights out of frame and getting it to look good, it's going to be a challenge for sure. We might get creative with a few extra light sources.

Anyway, any thoughts on how you'd do any of this would be great! Maybe an idea will change up our strategy a bit.
 
Just throwing it out there. Have you thought about having some items in the trunk that could be a source on the character? I think the hardest part will be lighting it to not look lit and be sufficiently 'black' without being noisy or underexposed. As you said its probably best to light a little brighter than crush it down in post to get clean darkness with just character edges showing.

All of these ideas might not work with your script or how the character is tied etc so I'm just tossing random things out there.

Matches - These could keep fizzling out and let you start from complete black. The light from the match will be super bright and when it fizzles you can settle into your lit value of darkness and it wouldn't seem fake. Like when you eyes adjust. Or keep it really really black and we only see what is allowed each time the character strikes a match.

Road Flare - something common in trunks and striking it can give you a source that lasts and allows you to add more light out of frame making it easier on the GH4. Even the flare fading out can come at in opportune times to add drama to your characters escape. Similar to the match idea but much longer lasting.

Glow sticks - Another common item in a trunk road side safety kit. It would allow for some interesting colour choices in how the light is cast on the character and won't have any risks of real fire that the other two ideas would have.

Flashlight - same idea as the glow stick being a safer form of light and something found in trunks. The cool thing about flashlights is you can get some nice flares if the character hits the lens with the beam while attempting to struggle with it.

Watch - Some watches give off light and can be used as a source

Cellphone - This could only work if it was slightly broken or in a no signal area otherwise that person would just call for help but if the script allows some license can be taken.

Hole in Trunk - Rust hole, Bullet hole, Punched out key hole etc. - A hole in the trunk would let in a nice stream of light that you could position to hit your actor in a certain area and he/she is always moving in and out of that light so the audience sees bits and pieces. You could always do a POV from the actor so they just see snippets of the outside world and not enough to guage where they are going but adding to the confusion as the audience sees little bits of the outside world which is so close yet so far away for the person bound in the trunk.
 
Great suggestions. We debated long and hard about a light source, many of the ones you mentioned. One that we didn't think of was a bullet hole, and that may add something to the unseen, but briefly mentioned backstory as to how he ended up there. On the other hand, we're using our director's wife's car, so I'm not sure how we would pull that off without making her angry. It would have to be a CG/maybe practical special effect (make a fake car exterior panel, or even a real one at our friend's junkyard), but if we establish it's there, we may only have to show it a couple times. Thanks for the suggestions!
 
Brainstorming is my fav part of film making.

I think if you establish it a few times and make a dummy panel for any closeups of the eye looking through or pov of the character it should establish the stream of light. Maybe get some dust in there a little to get it into the light stream for texture. I wonder if your buddy at the junk yard could score you a rear panel or trunk lid that might match the car colour or model (if its a common car). Probably sub $200 instead of an entire car cut in half. Just buy it as a replacement part instead of saying its for film making. Everyone's prices go up when they think there might be extra money in it.
 
May you can use small lights inside the car.
Have a look into the new Alladin Flex Lights. We used a couple of them in our last long movie. The Lights are so small, light and handy.
 
I'd strongly suggest building a trunk set that you can rearrange and remove walls from, will give you FAR more freedom to find interesting frames.
 
Check out Buried, the ryan reynolds movie, for some ideas. Premise is Reynolds's character gets buried alive, the entire movie takes place with him in a coffin.

As for suggestions for lighting and shooting, look into some go-pro's to stick in the tiny places of the trunk to get you more coverage. Backlight and under-expose. I'd recommend very soft sources for more of an ambient light than anything directional.

Best of luck.
 
Can the guy in the trunk find an emergency kit and in it is one of those green glow sticks that ends up tinting the picture things green. (The Descent 2005 comes to mind). This way you can use the lights you do own with some green gel for fill but the glow stick itself can be the "key" "practical" light.

There's also perhaps the "red glow" of the periodic brake lights too if you wanted to mix things up.

Really "lighting" in the majority of films are never "real" so you have to consider it from that aspect too. It's good you're thinking ahead but try not to over think it.

Side note: ever wonder when actors are climbing through air ducts where all that light is actually suppose to be coming from? My bet is they are pitch black in "real life".

Cheers,
 
blazer003 said:
....One that we didn't think of was a bullet hole, and that may add something to the unseen, but briefly mentioned backstory as to how he ended up there. On the other hand, we're using our director's wife's car, so I'm not sure how we would pull that off without making her angry....
Click to expand...

If a whole back section from the scrapyard is too expensive, then perhaps just the trunklid can be replaced with a junk one. Then you can put the bullet hole in.

See what you can do by removing the back seat of your wifes car. There is usually a lot of access that way.
 
You can also use diffused red lights to emulate the rear lights of the car leaking into the trunk section to provide general luminance and supplement it with previous suggestions like flashlight, glow stick.....etc
 
I was thinking along those lines too: very diffused light all across, with diffused red sources at head and feet as if it was light spill from the car rear lights. And I'd shoot with enough light to avoid too much noise, then bring it down in post.

Definitely check Buried, it's a work of art if you're an aspiring filmmaker (incredible how much you can do with so little, I think 80% of the budget was Ryan Reynolds' wage). Also, I haven't watched it but the Tarantino CSI episode has a similar premise.
 
Just re-viewed the buried alive scene in Kill Bill 2. She had a flashlight.

One more thought (to add to the others): Trunks have rubber sealing rings. The conceit could be that those are leaking light. You might be able to remove the ring(s) and replace them later. Then you could substitute some material that just happened to leak a little light. (Maybe the original door wasn't fitted right, or the person kicks the door and appears to make it a little misshapen). You wouldn't have to damage the actual trunk. Just kick, cut to a new position to show the light leak. Obviously sell the kick with sound effects.

It might help if there is something ( a white or grey blanket?) in the trunk that relflects light.

Better budget for Chiropractor fees.
 
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There are really small LED beads - fit on a fingertip - that could simulate the hole in the trunk.

You will have to have a quick sequence that explains it as such but that can be done in a junkyard itself.

Or it can be faked - consider this sequence of shots.

The "trunk guy" locates a sharp object and attempts to pierce a hole in a side wall.

SFX of the metal on metal sound. Clank, clank, clank.

SFX of the hole being punched through. Softer clank.

And outside shot of the "trunk guy's" eye peeking through that hole. (You go to an extreme closeup and it could be a hole in a baking tray)

And then you can light accordingly ... or punch as many fake holes as you like.
 
What about if your hero kicks or pulls one of the tail lights loose? Then you'd have a good light source with an explanation of why it's there. To replace a tail light in most cars you have to access it through the trunk. Your hero can be pulling at the interior panels to get to the lights and then pull the socket out so it is dangling inside the trunk. This could also make for a very dramatic light.
Also, I'd second the idea of using a set or modified junk car over one of your own working cars. There's just no room inside the trunk to easily get the shots and switching angles for coverage will be a nightmare.
One more thing... Safety. Make sure that you don't accidentally suffocate your actor! Make sure there's no way they're going to be trapped in there.
 
+1 for the bullet hole idea. Easy enough to set up a few exterior close-up camera shots (actually of a spray-painted sheet of metal, standing in for the trunk lid), at least one with the victim's eye peering out. And a bullet hole gives the victim something extra to interact with during the trunk interior shots: trying to look out, using the tiny light source etc.
 
I have used Christmas tree lights across actors lap in a car interior scene. Cheap, flexible and adjustable, may be of use in trunk.
 
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