Hey all. Before I go and shoot my short film, I am spending some time learning about lighting. I've been reading a few articles and books which talk about three point lighting, but they never really go into detail about where and when I should use this method. Much of my short film will be shot on a cloudy day. I would like to know what kind of lighting would be used for a scene like this:



I know that I could normally use the sun as the backlight, and then a reflector, but in this case there is no sun. The scene set at a school, but I don't like the way most highschool films turn out. One thing I've learnt is lighting helps give the production a film-look, among other things. I'm really not sure about what to use, because It has to look cloudy (ie, no yellow lights), in fact the picture I posted pretty much covers exactly how I want the light to look. If I use no light, it's going to look like a crappy home video. I am willing to pay to hire out the lights (not a LOT, but a decent amount).

Thanks,

-Chris

hmm... you'll need to experiment with the setting, and all your available lights. you can white balance to remove the yellow look of normal electrical light, or white balance to something that isn't white for other shades.

What kind of camera do you have? That could maybe give us some more ideas on what you are working with.

There is also some good suggestions on this post: http://forums.studentfilms.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=2086066451&f=2246029451&m=1741071521

I currently have a sony DCRHC40E. It can be seen here: http://sonystyle.co.nz/shop_detail.asp?ssid=1644793088&ssm=2791&ssc=2794&sku=DCRHC40E.

However, for my shoot I will probably rent a Panasonic AGDVX100A.

-Chris

In lighting there are three key factors:

-Quality of Light
-Direction of Light
-Colour of Light

Light ranges from Soft Light, that bends around corners, to hard light, this creates harsh shadows. How hard or soft a light is, is known as the 'Quality of Light'.

There are numerous ways of achieving different QoL. However softening light is always easier than hardening it.

There are 3 Main ways of Diffusing(softening) light.
1. Scrims and Diffusion Screens used to filter the light, and are placed in between the subject and the light itself

2. Polys. Polys(also known as bounce boards) are generally white pieces of material that 'bounce' light. To achieve diffusion with these you 'punch' your light into them, and direct the bounced light onto the talent.

N.B. Do Not confuse bouncing light with reflecting light, when reflecting you generally use a Silver or Gold reflecting material, which produces a harder light.

3. Light Distance. Large Distance between subject and Light = Hard QoL. Short Distance between subject and Light = Softer QoL.

Different Lighting fixture produce slightly different variations of white light. The colour of light is measured in temperature(Kelvins[K]). White light is a mixture of all light together. Say a light is 3200K, then the peak temperature of the light produced is at 3200K. The other temperatures are still there, but not as strong as the 3200K.

The best way to change the temperature of a light is by using correction gels.

White balance also can be used, but lighting methods were developed for film, where there was main only two colour types of film. Tungsten Balanced and Daylight balanced.

All you need to do, is look around on a Cloudy day and work out the Quality, Direction and Colour of the light, and use the methods described about to achieve that,

experimentation is always good.

Thanks for that. I don't want to spend money I don't need to, so I'm trying to find out as much information as possible before I go out and rent these lights.

Let's pretend I was lighting the scene from the Last Samurai posted above. Roughly what equippment would you use and where would you place it? I guess I still don't understand when and why use a reflector -- would I even use lights out in a scene like this? It doesn't really look like there's much here.

What colour gel would I use for an overcast day? or maybe no lights outside? Could I get away with a reflector? What would the professionals use, and what would be a similar alternative for a lower budget?

Thanks,

-Chris

Im just gona decrible the lights i would use to light the main actor

I would be using 1x 6k HMI, 1x 12k HMI.

I would use the 12k punched through a 6x6 diffusion screen to the right of frame as a slightly frount-on side light.

I would then use one 6k as a cross light. A cross light is generally at an angle that creates a 135 degree angle when you draw a line from the lense to the main subject then to the light, and creates reflective flares on the faces of people.

I would then use a Poly to bounce light from the 6k onto the left hand side of the faces to act as a fill.

Unfortunately the hire cost of those lights is about $600 per day. but you might be able to achieve the same thing in a blacked stage using a 2k blondie to replace the 12k and a 600w Redhead to replace the 6k. and just use correction gels to get them to the right temp.

Thanks. Yeah, David Mullen ASC suggested I use some reflectors or a white card for an overcast scene. Apparently Toll (cinematographer from the last samurai) used large black flags on one side of the face, and then had a soft key light coming from one side.

David told me in his movie northfork he used a 575 watt HMI in most scenes. If I added a 1/4 CTB blue gel it would cool it off a bit, and look less 'lit'.

Anyone tried the black flag idea toll used in the last samurai?

Also, can I use wax paper as diffusion? or what's a good material to use?

-Chris