Tough shoot in a 8x10 room

Green Hornet

Green Hornet

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I have to shoot a scene where there are 3 people in an 8x10 foot room.
Girl dead sitting in the corner of the room, her killer sitting at a table in front of her.

The cop walks in behind the killer, but can't see the wounds of the dead girl in the corner, due to her killer blocking her.
It is night time, and I wanted dramatic lighting, but not sure how to get it without casting double shadows of booms, etc.

Need advise on how to light, and using what?

The room has a dropped ceiling so I most likely can boom from the top.

Thanks
 
Blackwrapped bare bulb or duved (I think I just made that word up) china ball hung from the ceiling maybe? Or you could use some small fresnels hung from the ceiling grid by scissor clips.

What's outside of the door? Pictures would help, of the whole room for that matter.
 
I'd go for a single lighting source - the killer's shadow seems a useful way to hide the girl.
 
Yeah, duved (I heard that before) China ball and heavy haze to get depth.
Plus some bounce boards from below and an eye light.
If the back wall get´s too boring, a little dimmed geled light on the floor works wonders, to get some texture and gradient there.

Frank
 
So the location is firm and motivated - you cant cheat through the doorway into a better location?

(win by picking your battles!)

This room is very small if you have 3 talent, 2 on the camera and a boom op

Its an office (desklamp)? - a store(overhead strip)? - a perverts torture lair (bare tungsten)? - a 13 YO girls bedroom (pink bedside lamp/fairy lights) ? a sports changing room (striplight)? a hippie den (candles)?

What im getting at here is practicals should motivate the light, the practicals that dont appear in a specific shot can be suplemented..

I guess the doorway is key too - if its light outside in the corridor then you have a chance to blast in something from there..

S
 
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clang said:
I'd go for a single lighting source - the killer's shadow seems a useful way to hide the girl.
Click to expand...

This.
There is nothing more dramatic than single source lighting anyway. Make it larger to wrap around the opposite side, if needed. Or add some reflectors.

I am not sure about the haze. It tends to lose depth in small spaces. Not enough distance to really get different density planes.
 
morgan_moore said:
So the location is firm and motivated - you cant cheat through the doorway into a better location?

(win by picking your battles!)

This room is very small if you have 3 talent, 2 on the camera and a boom op

Its an office (desklamp)? - a store(overhead strip)? - a perverts torture lair (bare tungsten)? - a 13 YO girls bedroom (pink bedside lamp/fairy lights) ? a sports changing room (striplight)? a hippie den (candles)?

What im getting at here is practicals should motivate the light, the practicals that dont appear in a specific shot can be suplemented..

I guess the doorway is key too - if its light outside in the corridor then you have a chance to blast in something from there..

S
Click to expand...

It is supposed to be the back room of a night club...the office.
There is an doorway that I will likely blast some light in there, but at some point I may be standing in the doorway to shoot, and now I have to worry about casting a shadow into the room.

I think I will have one light in the ceiling, and a chinaball in the corner.
 
Did you shoot this already?

I'm a lighting newb, so follow this at your own risk, but I do most of my tests/futzing around in a small white room, so I feel like I've learned a thing or two in my experimenting: (Gotta shoot more shorts though!)

- smaller room means you use smaller, and lower-powered lights (sounds obvious, it isn't).
-Harder light is easier to use since you can direct it away from walls easier, less space for flags
-Try to shade the wall (darker at top), in harder light ideally light the bg seperate with cookie or whatever.
-If you use soft lights, lower powered is the way to go for falloff that's in scale with the room?
- Hard Key with blackwrap with random holes punched in it can do moonlight coming through a window
- A 100-200 watt bulb in a scoop with some frost for closeups? El Mariachi was done with that.
-Ive hung a downward pointing scoop light with 150 watt bulb in the room and it shaded the wall and lit the whole place awesome, looked motivated (ie light from a standing lamp). See the movie "TAPE"

I still have yet to apply all this to a movie so take it with a grain of salt.

but yeah think i say think Motivation and Scale.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGC2t4adVyA
 
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In the vein of "what about...?" I suggest a small 150-200 fresnel with barn doors closed as much as possible or a snoot from almost over the killer's face. This might still bounce enough light around the room to see the girl and the cop.
 
would be good to have a picture of this room or floor plan.

You say its an office so I'd use a desk lamp as someone else suggested as my Key. Have it lit so only half of the killer's face...body is illuminated. You can either replace the desk lamp bulb with a bulb made for video that will give you proper exposure or you can "follow source " and use the practical as a prop only and have a proper video/film light off cam to represent that desk lamp. I'd vote for replacing the bulb since space is limited. Shoot a large hard source from the hallway though the door which will be the killer's edge light also it will be the Cop's edge light. The light shooting though the door and also spilling from the lamp can illuminate the girl in the corner. For closer shots you don't have to worry as u can bring in lights closer. Flag/blackwrap (blackwrap will be better to save space)to your desired taste. Haze everywhere ...not smoke machine, but haze. in addition to that u can hang a china lantern above to bring up the ambient level a bit if you want. I mean its really subjective. You say shooting through the door may be a prob because you may have to be there shooting...then raise the light till you are not casting a shadow.
 
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