Lighting Pickle -- Advice req'd

Paul Kell · April 5, 2010

I'm a US/CAD DP shooting in Bombay at Future Studios and I've got a tricky setup that has me searching for advice.

It's a bedroom scene where the principal is asleep on the bed. His wife walks into the darkened room (we dolly with her) and at the far end of the room she stops to pull open the bedroom's curtains.

Through the window a stark shaft of (what is written as) daylight falls on the man in bed. His eyes squint open. From here there's a match cut to the beam of a bright torch light.

My problem: how to make the daylight A ) look real, yet B ) be a visible shaft of light that will match cut to a torch beam. To add to the problem, there is only about 3.5 feet of space between the window and the studio's concrete wall. The window is about seven feet high and the bed is in front of it, approx six feet away.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Paul Kell · April 6, 2010

anyone?!

Satsuki Murashige · April 8, 2010

Hi P,

Please first go to My Controls and change your user name to full first and last. Those are the forum rules here, thank you.

Now, I'm not quite understanding the match cut to the flashlight - are you cutting to another scene, or is the "daylight" actually motivated by a flashlight?

Assuming the former, if you want realistic sunlight coming through the window then you will need to put a large fresnel-type light further back than 3.5' from the window. What I suggest is to rig a mirror, or series of mirrors, on the stage wall above the window and reflect a large HMI into it. This will give you the distance you need for more realistic falloff and parallel rays.

Alternately, you could use a light with a spot lens that produces parallel rays like a Joker Bug with the Leko adapter or the Dedo 400D inside the room. They may not be bright enough for what you need if you put them outside the window, but up close they would work great to create a shaft of daylight.

Obviously, use a hazer or smoke machine to get the light shaft to show up.

Paul Kell · April 9, 2010

thanks for the heads up satsuki. i'm a n00b here, so any guidance is greatly appreciated.

to answer your first question, yes, the flashlight from the first scene motivates the sunlight. the flashlight flares into the lens which provides the edit point to cut to the flaring sun light through the window.

your suggestion mirrors (lame pun intended) what i've already come up. i've got an HMI and mirror booked for the shoot in addition to the indian solution to a smoke machine: smoking incense coals. gotta love this place...despite not being able to rent one single HD camera top monitor in ALL of bombay.

cheers.

Hi P,

Please first go to My Controls and change your user name to full first and last. Those are the forum rules here, thank you.

Now, I'm not quite understanding the match cut to the flashlight - are you cutting to another scene, or is the "daylight" actually motivated by a flashlight?

Assuming the former, if you want realistic sunlight coming through the window then you will need to put a large fresnel-type light further back than 3.5' from the window. What I suggest is to rig a mirror, or series of mirrors, on the stage wall above the window and reflect a large HMI into it. This will give you the distance you need for more realistic falloff and parallel rays.

Alternately, you could use a light with a spot lens that produces parallel rays like a Joker Bug with the Leko adapter or the Dedo 400D inside the room. They may not be bright enough for what you need if you put them outside the window, but up close they would work great to create a shaft of daylight.

Obviously, use a hazer or smoke machine to get the light shaft to show up.

Hal Smith · April 9, 2010

Any possibility of cutting a temporary hole large enough in that wall to shoot a big HMI from a more suitable distance? Labor can be quite cheap in India, particularly traditional manual labor like masons.