an easy way?

[Allen Achterberg]

is there an easy way for lighting DV? I often find myself out of frustration exposing for the highlights and tossing more light on subjects. I am constantly swapping bulbs and stuff like that, and its time consuming. any good tips?

[David Mullen ASC]

You're supposed to LOVE lighting, not see it as something to get around doing as quickly as possible... And how you light the scene should be based on how you want the image to look. So I can't tell you the "easy way" because the lighting is specific to what effect you are trying to achieve. Swapping bulbs and adding some more light seem like pretty basic techniques so I'm not sure what's faster other than not doing anything.

[Allen Achterberg]

I DO love lighting, I just dont like fighting lattitudinal issues with DV, especially lower end dv cameras, I always come out with something i'm proud of, for the most part, but I spend so much time working on the lighting and AD's dont like it. like last weekend, I spend 45 minutes on one set up because some practicals were a little hott and I didnt have a bulb on me lower than 100w and all I had were open faced Lowel light kits that the school provided, but I got what i wanted and did it as fast as I can, ehh this weekend was just harsh, we knocked out 14 pages in one day so time was an issue. and the AD was constantly breathing down my back. :(

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

When shooting, especially DV, I like to keep a hundred things with me that cut light. All kinds of ND sheets, rolls, panels, nets, 216, blackwrap and window screen both metal and plastic in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It doesn't take any time to wrap a bare practical bulb in metal screen mesh if you don't have anything to spray on them. If it's in a shade you can wrap ND gel or some 216 inside the shade. Carry some lower wattage bulbs with you or some dimmers.

 

When the rubber hits the road lighting is really about light control. The more you learn about it the more you'll realize how to utilize all of the tools and how you're crippled without them. Looks like that's what you're running into. Try to plan more in depth and try to anticipate problems to stay one step ahead of them.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

In extremis, all you have to do in those too-hot-practicals situations is expose for the practicals and bounce your open-faced stuff for fill. That can often then be too much fill, since video doesn't demand a lot, but... that's the sort of problem-solving the job entials!

 

Phil

[David Mullen ASC]

Some of the time-savings happens in prep, for example, being prepared to swap out light bulbs and having someone do that while you are working on another shot where the lights aren't in the frame.

 

But shooting 14 pages a day is an exercise in sadism or masochism (depending on who's idea it was) and there's almost nothing you can do to be fast ENOUGH. You're screwed from the moment you show up on set, time-wise. However, any lighting plan that takes 45 minutes to set-up on a day where you have 14 pages scheduled should probably be simplified or done partially in advance with a pre-rig crew.

 

Basically if a day looks impossibly huge, it's in prep that you work out plans to make it more doable so that you are minimizing lighting time and maximizing shooting time. But it's near impossible to not compromise the lighting just to shoot that much (assuming there are a lot of set-ups attendent to those 14 pages.)