lighting an elevator

[tommy holman]

Hey,

 

im lighting a short film this week and one of the scenes is in an elevator, about 5'0 by 6'0, the elevator will be static so we can run cables in through the doors, but obviously the space is limited, does anyone have any good suggestions of lighting in a cramped space with 2 characters in side?

 

At the moment the only real lighting is from cool white tubes above and thats it, the walls are wooden panels on all sides,

 

many thanks for your time,

 

tommy holman

[tommy holman]

sorry i forgot to say the only real lights at my disposal are 300w, 650w, 1kw fresnels, 150w dedos, 4tube kino flo's.

 

thanks again,

 

Tommy

[David Regan]

Sounds like plenty for what you'll need. It all depends on what the film calls for though, if you want less dramtic, higher key stuff, I'd say the Kinos you have can probably work fine, rigged up to the ceiling, and perhaps some below for fill. If you want lower key, more dramatic, perhaps your dedos up high spotting down on the characters, keping the light off the walls.

 

Good Luck

[tommy holman]

Thanks David, the whole film is quite low key, so i was thinking of rigging the kinos down on to the characters before, thanks for your advice,

 

tommy holman

[Xavier Plaza]

Hey,

 

im lighting a short film this week and one of the scenes is in an elevator, about 5'0 by 6'0, the elevator will be static so we can run cables in through the doors, but obviously the space is limited, does anyone have any good suggestions of lighting in a cramped space with 2 characters in side?

 

At the moment the only real lighting is from cool white tubes above and thats it, the walls are wooden panels on all sides,

 

many thanks for your time,

 

tommy holman

 

 

I would use an Autopole or pump cup attached to the elevator roof using Kinoflo (i guess you have a 4x4) That as ambient light. Perhaps adding an 300W or 650W bouncing to the caracter as a fill light obviusly bouncing with careful you don't want to ruin your low light...

[Valerio Sacchetto]

Depending on the way you're shooting, aside from something above, i'd put a kino tube (i.e. out of the plastic case) in one or two of the unseen corners of the elevator, carefully balanced they should give you a nice overall light and if caught in some reflection they'd look like some high style, modern design elevator lights (if that's desirable!).

 

But that's just a thought, i've never done that. Any opinion about this?

[Xavier Plaza]

Depending on the way you're shooting, aside from something above, i'd put a kino tube (i.e. out of the plastic case) in one or two of the unseen corners of the elevator, carefully balanced they should give you a nice overall light and if caught in some reflection they'd look like some high style, modern design elevator lights (if that's desirable!).

 

But that's just a thought, i've never done that. Any opinion about this?

 

 

Valerio to me sounds great your option, working with individual tubes (kino) could give you more freedom...

[Alex Wuijts]

You can skirt the toplight with some black cloth to make the walls a little friendlier to look at, and use a small bounce to create some fill if you want.

[James Brown]

Hi,

 

One of my favorite scenes i have shot was of two brothers in a elevator. It was quite a dark film and later transfered to B&W. I lit the whole thing with a 2 foot double magic armed from a lip above the doors. It was a bit more sidey then 3/4. Just have the actor on the key side take half a step back to allow the light through. Using something like a 4ft single can get you out of trouble with reflections.

 

Sometimes simple is the best.

 

Regards James.