Lighting a cinema

[Stefan Neubig]

Hi guys,

 

We shoot a student film project in a cinema (on HDV)

Our actress is sitting with a few other people in a cinema and watching a movie.

 

 

The room is pretty small. It has about 12 rows.

We're on a small budget but are able to rent some lights. But don't know what yet.

 

 

Since I'm doing this for the first time I ask you for some advice or tips on lighting this scene. How would you approach it?

 

I thought about bouncing a light off the screen.

 

 

Thanks in advance

[John Holland]

Quiet easy really try and get the projector beam in shot [ a bit of smoke helps] if you cant ,backlight the subject as a fake projector beam a 1/4 CTB helps and bounce some light of some poly if screen is to far away from subject , get someone to slowly wave their hands between light and bounce to give a flicker effect .

[Alex Haspel]

if the cinema has digital projection you might get a second beamer (something mid-ranged should be enough for hdv) and use the same feed for it.

then use it to light your subjects with it, trough some diffusion.

an emergy exit light might justify a stable, not flickering kicker if it gets to funky for your tastes...

 

those are just some ideas, do whatever you find fitting....

[Michael K Bergstrom]

I had a shoot last week where we were replicating a theatre. We put a 300w fresnel simulating the projector light, and introduced a little haze into the theatre so the camera (Sony EX1) could pick the beam up. We lit the actress with a 650w with a chimera (gridclothe) with a 250 diffused backlight, we put another 250w on a dimmer and diffused and had a PA wave his hands in front of it to mimic the screen action on the actress's face. Hope this helps.

[Tom Banks]

I posted a topic a while ago in Production that gave a little detail on my last cinema set up

http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...showtopic=29400