Need help lighting a school gym

[Mark Denney]

I?m just learning the lighting craft and have been reading many of the posts on this forum and have learned a lot. I was hoping for some advice specific to my current shooting situation.

 

Here?s the scenario: We?re taping in a school gym at night. The scene supposedly takes place during the day. There will be about a dozen kids in this gym, which is about a 30? x 30? area with ceilings about 15? high. I have very few lights at my disposal but there is a budget (although limited) for rentals. We have two hours to light and shoot a fight scene in this gym. I don?t envision much time to change the lighting setup going from the wide shots to the close-ups except maybe to fill in the faces where necessary. The master shot would show half a dozen small groups of people spread throughout this area. My goal is to have the people and action well lit with the walls falling off into shadow ? not total blackness, just darker than the people.

 

I don?t know if we will have the time or funds to construct a support system for hanging overhead lights. There are six overhead recessed light fixtures. I?ve never used china lanterns but was wondering if I could somehow suspend lanterns from these fixtures ? getting my power from them. Another thought was to get a couple of 1,200 HMI pars on stands and point them at the ceiling to raise the ambient light level in the room with soft bounce light, though it doesn?t seem that I would have much control over the spill on the walls. These are a few thoughts that I have had but I know that there are many ways to accomplish this and I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[David Mullen ASC]

Are there visible windows in the shots? Are the support beams or pipes running across the ceiling to rig from? Are there bleachers that you can put light stands at the top of?

[Mark Denney]

Are there visible windows in the shots?  Are the support beams or pipes running across the ceiling to rig from?  Are there bleachers that you can put light stands at the top of?

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No, to all of these questions.

 

Thanks for replying!

[David Mullen ASC]

No, to all of these questions.

 

Thanks for replying!

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You're screwed! No, seriously, you could consider another gym. I scouted gyms for my last movie and my current one and places to light from are a big factor in picking one over the other.

 

Given that you can't do any rigging anyway, I'd probably consider lighting on stands from one side as if there were windows there and keeping it off-camera, and getting the director to stage things in side-light. Sometimes it's possible to use tall stands and then get art department to dress them to look like they are part of the gym -- then you could also shoot angles towards the lights in backlight.

[Mark Denney]

You're screwed!  No, seriously, you could consider another gym.  I scouted gyms for my last movie and my current one and places to light from are a big factor in picking one over the other.

 

Given that you can't do any rigging anyway, I'd probably consider lighting on stands from one side as if there were windows there and keeping it off-camera, and getting the director to stage things in side-light.  Sometimes it's possible to use tall stands and then get art department to dress them to look like they are part of the gym -- then you could also shoot angles towards the lights in backlight.

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Let me back up a little. There is one wall with 3 5'x7' windows. I was hoping to avoid showing this wall because it is rather unattractive so that is why I said that there are no windows, and again we are shooting at night. I'm addressing this hoping that it might give you more ideas. Thanks!

[Mark Denney]

You're screwed!  No, seriously, you could consider another gym.  I scouted gyms for my last movie and my current one and places to light from are a big factor in picking one over the other.

 

Given that you can't do any rigging anyway, I'd probably consider lighting on stands from one side as if there were windows there and keeping it off-camera, and getting the director to stage things in side-light.  Sometimes it's possible to use tall stands and then get art department to dress them to look like they are part of the gym -- then you could also shoot angles towards the lights in backlight.

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Also, you mentioned lights on stands. Any recommendations of what types of lights to use to cover this area and fake daylight. Again, I would love to have pockets of light with fall off in the shadow areas.

[Matthew Parnell]

May be you might hire a trus. I use truses for stage lighting, but it could easily be made to work for film. Normally you can get a trus on winch ups (one either end) to go up to 18ft in the air, so height wise its cool.

[Matthew Parnell]

May be you might hire a trus. I use truses for stage lighting, but it could easily be made to work for film. Normally you can get a trus on winch ups (one either end) to go up to 18ft in the air, so height wise its cool.

[David Mullen ASC]

You could put three 1200 watt HMI PAR's with spot lenses in a row, maybe ten feet apart from each other, on high-high rolling stands, along one wall, aimed down into the middle of the floor, creating three hot spots in a row as if there were three windows in a row. Then expose so that the room itself is maybe two-stops under but what's under the spot is overexposed, then stage people so that they move in and out of these hot spots into the shadows lit by the bounce of these lights off of the floor. You could even try some light smoke overall from a hazemaker.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Great minds (well, one great mind and one feeble mind) think alike - that's almost exactly what I was going to say. Get three of the largest possible lights you can afford (I was going to say 2.5K HMIs) and put them outside the window, haze it up a bit, and go for a high contrast sunset look. This is my favourite trick for when doing night for day, as you can do it on quite a small budget.

 

Phil

[Mark Denney]

You could put three 1200 watt HMI PAR's with spot lenses in a row, maybe ten feet apart from each other, on high-high rolling stands, along one wall, aimed down into the middle of the floor, creating three hot spots in a row as if there were three windows in a row.  Then expose so that the room itself is maybe two-stops under but what's under the spot is overexposed, then stage people so that they move in and out of these hot spots into the shadows lit by the bounce of these lights off of the floor.  You could even try some light smoke overall from a hazemaker.

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Thank you all for your suggestions! I like the 3 hmi on stands idea. 1200's are good because we won't have a genie and I can use available AC power for these. I'm especially looking forward to using the Fog machine - never done that before. Any tips that I should know about using one of these effectively?

[David Mullen ASC]

You have to fill the whole space, closing off any drafts, open doors, etc. then let the smoke even out, wafting it with flags, and then spend the day adding to it to maintain the level.