Using fog as a background light

[stephen defilippi]

Hi any help is appreciated

 

I am filming a short on 16mm next month and I don't have access to the location until the day of. Ive seen it and done measurements but I cant shoot any tests there.

 

The film is a basically a modern dance performance. It's a 5 minute piece in a 50' deep by 60' wide room with black floors, ceiling & walls and there are black curtains all around the "stage" area.

 

I have 1'600 feet of Kodak 7274 (200T) coming out of my freezer for this.

 

I was thinking of using a 2k fresnel with large long snoot at the far left side aimed at the far right rear part of the room. It would cross a large portion of the dance area, but not all. (I will also bring a 1k and a 650w in case this is too much light for the room).

 

Originally I planned to hang a 10x16' silk on the right side out of frame to reflect light back, but now im wondering about filling the back corner with smoke to backlight the dancer. Im also using a 650w with soft gel to fill the right side.

 

The dancer will move into and out of the light "beam" and her performance is pretty much central so I don't need to light the whole area, thankfully.

 

I haven't worked that much with fog, except for short scenes and I don't have time to test it out in this room, because it's so booked up with performances.

 

any ideas?

 

Would it be best to use the large silk to bounce light, the fog or maybe both. I can alway add lights, but would prefer to keep it darker.

 

Cheers

 

Stephen

[timHealy]

Hi any help is appreciated

 

I am filming a short on 16mm next month and I don't have access to the location until the day of. Ive seen it and done measurements but I cant shoot any tests there.

 

The film is a basically a modern dance performance. It's a 5 minute piece in a 50' deep by 60' wide room with black floors, ceiling & walls and there are black curtains all around the "stage" area.

 

I have 1'600 feet of Kodak 7274 (200T) coming out of my freezer for this.

 

I was thinking of using a 2k fresnel with large long snoot at the far left side aimed at the far right rear part of the room. It would cross a large portion of the dance area, but not all. (I will also bring a 1k and a 650w in case this is too much light for the room).

 

Originally I planned to hang a 10x16' silk on the right side out of frame to reflect light back, but now im wondering about filling the back corner with smoke to backlight the dancer. Im also using a 650w with soft gel to fill the right side.

 

The dancer will move into and out of the light "beam" and her performance is pretty much central so I don't need to light the whole area, thankfully.

 

I haven't worked that much with fog, except for short scenes and I don't have time to test it out in this room, because it's so booked up with performances.

 

any ideas?

 

Would it be best to use the large silk to bounce light, the fog or maybe both. I can alway add lights, but would prefer to keep it darker.

 

Cheers

 

Stephen

 

why don't you try and do a test in a large outdoor space or a similiarly large indoor space. Mark or tape off boundries just to get an idea of the space and use your 2k and whatever bounce you like to see if you get ssomething that you like.

 

best

 

Tim

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

Regarding the fog, what fog machine will you be using? Here's a recent thread on fog/smoke machines: http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...;hl=fog+machine

[Michael Nash]

Any fog you use is going to dissipate pretty quickly, so what may start out as a bounce will quickly become a general fog and then diffusion for your key light -- which will both diffuse and diminish its output.