WHITE CYC WALL

[Bejan Azi]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am going to be filming a white cyc wall and am doing full body shots. I am trying to achieve the look of the mac vs pc commericals with possibly the lighting on the talent a little more on the contrasty side.

 

I have a 2k, a 1k, 2 tweenies, and 2 teenies. Do you guys think I can achieve this look with the lights I have? I am filming with an HVX200. Are there any special settings I should set on the camera?

 

Thanks for any advice!

[Bejan Azi]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am going to be filming a white cyc wall and am doing full body shots. I am trying to achieve the look of the mac vs pc commericals with possibly the lighting on the talent a little more on the contrasty side.

 

I have a 2k, a 1k, 2 tweenies, and 2 teenies. Do you guys think I can achieve this look with the lights I have? I am filming with an HVX200. Are there any special settings I should set on the camera?

 

Thanks for any advice!

 

 

Oh and I have a redrock 35mm adapter if that makes a difference, thanks!

[DS Williams]

I would like advice on this as well. Anyone?

[David Regan]

Is the white cyc you are shooting on in a studio, i.e. is it pre-lit with cyc or space lights? If so, shouldn't be too hard, just tweak those lights to ensure the white is lit evenly and without shadows.

 

Assuming not however, and all you have is your lights, you need something that can just be a large broad source to light your cyc. A 2k just aimed at the wall is going to create hotspots, so you need some way of diffusing the light to get it to spread evenly over the white.

[Matt Irwin]

Is this a flat cyc wall or a cove (cyc with 2-3 sides & corners)?

 

I've found that large lights (5k ++) are the way to go in these cases. It's easy to evenly light a chunk of the cyc to around 90 IRE with Image 80's and kino 4x's (or spacelights with some $$), even from the floor if you have to (bring your spot meter if you don't have a real waveform). The hard part is balancing the talent and getting a workable base exposure so that their fill side and dark detail doesn't disappear into mud or noise.

 

I have boned myself before (shooting HVX, as matter of fact) with an actor who was wearing a black suit: lit him lower level with diffused kinos and small tungsten-- he looked great, except the detail in the suit was completely gone and visually overpowered by all the white around him. Nowadays, I would use baglights or a couple of 5k's or mini-9's either bounced or diffused through frame or chimera, or both, as a soft key- and a large overhead soft source to fill out. You tend to need a lot of light to compete with the white BG and the extra contrast it forces on the eye.

 

I understand you may not have access to larger lights, but hopefully this will give you an idea of what to watch out for...

I'd worry that you may not have enough heat with that package you listed to evenly light the white and properly light the talent (especially through an adapter!).

 

On an unrelated note, bring loose duvetyn to throw on the white floor close to the edge of frame. This will help control any unwanted spill on the talent from below.