Using studio rigged lighting

[daveyboy]

as you know from my previous post (be great if someone could give me some feedback on that) i am a relative newbie to cinematography.

We're shooting in a studio with a mixture of lights already mounted.

 

I was wondering if there's any online articles help files i can read where i can learn about using such lights to the best effect. I can't find any!

 

We're trying to make the scene dark, film noir style so should i not use them and stick to0 using red heads. Should i keep them nearer the ceiling or bring them down closer to the actors.

Will it best to put some sort of tracerr paper over them or close the barn doors a lot to cut down the amount of light it gives off.

Is there any normal/basic sort of setup i.e. one behind one infront one on the side of the actor etc - or should i just try certain things out and see what happens. We only have the studio for two days, so i won't have much experimenting time.

 

Also is there anythnig i need to watch out for, a common mistake i could make to muck the look of the film up.

Also it would be great if someone could explain to me the process of using a grey card when doing light meters, as i'm still not 100% clear of what it's used for. i.e. shouldn't i take a lot reading of the actualy people/objects in the scene not of a grey card which won't be in the scene?

 

I know you can tell i'm a complete novice but anyone's help would be much appreciated.

thanks guys

Dave