Lighting Ambiance

[Malik Sajid]

I am about to shoot a sequence set in a living room. The room is quite enclosed with no outside light coming in, no windows or anything. I just need your suggestions here:

 

since no outside light is coming in, how would you light the ambiance(to enhance it infact). Would you put a big source(a flood maybe) in a corner and bounce it from the ceiling. Or would you reflect from side or something like that.

 

Want to know the personal experience or anything.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Depends on what you're trying to do and how you're trying to do it. Perhaps something as simple as the practices in the room would suffice with, as you mention a bit of a pick up from a bounced unit off of maybe a wall which is not in frame, or the ceiling. If there is a door then you can throw a big soft light out through there, or a hard on if you'd like for more dimension in the frame, or you can just say "this wall has a window" and create a "window" effect with some units. Of course, if you ever see all of the room, then you can't just "create" a window, but if you never see 1 side, then hell, whose to say there is no window there?

[David Mullen ASC]

Yes, it just depends on how much you want to lower the contrast / increase the ambient fill in the room compared to whatever your key source is in the room (unless you are talking about no logical or visible source at all in the room, and thus your ambience is the "key".)

[Malik Sajid]

yes, the main point was of the room with no window. Ambiance is the key.

 

well, what if there is a window i there, would you throw a source through that window from in order to increase the ambiance, or would you prefer to bounce from ceiling from inside the room.

 

Adrian and David! i am grateful to you guys, you are always helpful, thanks

sajid

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Hmm... for myself, I prefer motivated sources, that's just me. If you want just a "dim moody" room, then bounce off the ceiling and expose to your liking. I'd add in a bit of back-light from somewhere for separation, though. Maybe under-expose a little bit to make it look "dim."

[David Mullen ASC]

So story-wise, there can be no source of light in the windowless room? Why not establish a source -- is the room pitch-black naturally?

[Christopher Arata]

So you cant have any motivated sources, there can not be any practicals in the frame to play off of? Being a living room there has to be something.

 

- David beat me too it, disregard.

Edited December 14, 2008 by Christopher Arata

[Dominic Cochran]

It would be helpful to know if you're talking Day Int or Night Int here.

 

I mean, even if you aren't motivating an interior source or daylight through a window, it would help to know what scene you're cutting from, or what you're cutting to after.

Edited December 15, 2008 by Dominic Cochran

[Malik Sajid]

ok, its day Int. sequence. Its a living room so yes there are tubelights in the room, and there is a table lamp that i may be using.

I dont want a moody light in there, a flat lighting is in mind.

Edited December 15, 2008 by Malik Sajid

[DJ Kast]

ok, its day Int. sequence. Its a living room so yes there are tubelights in the room, and there is a table lamp that i may be using.

I dont want a moody light in there, a flat lighting is in mind.

To boost your ambient light, I like foamcore on the ceiling, and bounce a light into that, just to give you a few stops of light to work with. Then I'd punch something through a "window"( could be a wall the camera never sees that you could make a window). Then, add motivated sources. That's my suggestion.

[David Cronin]

I think we are going to need more of an explanation as to story and character. Lighting is about relationships and ratios. What is the audiences relationship to this character? What is the audiences relationship to the location. The reason why lighting is so creative is because it can and should be different for every situation. Are you shooting on location or in a sound stage?

 

We need to know the situation.

[Doug Durant]

On a daylight INT. what would be a stop to work at for the background room ambience compared to the key light if exposing for the key, while making sure to keep depth in the frame, with the foreground key slightly brighter from the background. Would 1 to 2 stops work?