Greg Araki lighting - beginners advice needed!

Ralph Poes · January 28

Hey all!

I'm a student and complete novice and would love your advice for an upcoming test I'm shooting on an old digital camcorder. Any tips on how to achieve this kind of Gregg Araki-esque lighting with limited budget?

Thank y'all!

Gautam Valluri · January 28

I believe he used to light with a Lowel Tota kit. Here is an old article that breaksdown his costs and approach to the making of his film The Living End:

https://www.peterbroderick.com/writing/writing/abcsofnobudgetfilmmaking.html

Basically try and shoot with old tungsten lights like the Tota or the Omni, using colour correction gels, diffuseurs, barn doors etc. If you're filming on an old digital camcorder, the 2/3 CCD sensor might actually come closer to emulating the gritty 16mm images of Araki's first films, but you have to take care to protect your highlights.

I would get some old tungsten lights, they're probably pretty cheap to get on ebay and do lots of tests with the camcorder, and keep experimenting. Unlike film, you don't have development costs so no reason not to do hours and hours of test footage.

Edited January 28 by Gautam Valluri
More detail

Ralph Poes · January 28

That's SO helpful, thank you! Looking into Omnis now @Gautam Valluri

Any other advice / ideas on lighting setup with the omni and diffusers?

Ralph Poes · January 28

Especially these 2 shots

Gautam Valluri · January 28

2 hours ago, Ralph Poes said:

This looks to me like undiffused tungsten light (probaby 800W-1000W) on the left (slightly back) of the subjet, probably shaped with a flag. Then a second (probably 500W) light, probably filtered through doubled-up blue gels, coming from the front right of the subject.

2 hours ago, Ralph Poes said:

This looks like three frontal spots, either colour-dialled or cool white with blue gels on them? They also look very soft, so maybe heavy diffusion? These could also be fresnels? Sorry I'm not so sure about this one. The lamp on the nightstand is a practical, probably fitted with a 150W-250W photoflood bulb.

Your advantage is that you're shooting on an old digital camcorder, so test, test, test. Shoot a lot of tests and see what you can get. There's nothing like experimenting live and seeing the results. You might find something about your camera that is very unique- so do a LOT of tests. On digital, it costs nothing, so might as well.