lighting a highschool gym homecoming scene

Danny Lachman · April 11, 2009

I'm doing a photoshoot next week in a highschool gym.

I'm trying to make it look like a dark homecoming dance, I'll be shooting on large format.

I've got a 2k, 650, 300, and two 1000 watt open face soft lights. I've also got silks and overheads and other stuff so keep that in mind. I'm going to be doing 1 - 2sec exposures with a bit of controlled motion blur for some of the background 50s high school dancing teens, while having the main subject hold still.

I was told that par can lighting would work well if I shot it on certain parts of the dance floor. I'm considering a kind of "eraserhead" look with strong overhead lighting and deep shadwos on the eye sockets - except for the main subjects where I was thinking of shooting the 2k through a 1/2 grid cloth or 1/4 silk (either 12x12 or 6x6)

My biggest concern is making it look dark yet properly lit - I'm afraid of loosing details on parts of the models if I don't light them but I'm afraid to ruin the night look by over lighting them.

I'm only shooting about 6-10 models with 2 max at the front of the frame that are important. I won't be shooting the whole gym either - only a portion I'm decorating with streamers, balloons, and hanging stars.

Hollistically, it's supposed to look sort of dreary and depressing. 50s teens are having this formal and social culture of finding a "mate" imposed on them in an ugly high school gym, so it's supposed to be kind of awkward and sad feeling.

any suggestions would be great - I'll have all day to shoot.

http://www.cinecultist.com/archives/2007_0..._eraserhead.jpg

http://www.connors.cc.ok.us/gallery/qdig-f...m(2)%201960.jpg

I was originally going to do a frontal flash, but it looked to "crappy" with the blown out faces, so I'm looking for something else.