lighting advice

[Kate Wurzbacher]

Yesterday I lit a scene with a girl walking through pools of light with candles in lanterns hanging in the background. We shot on the Red at a 320 iso and the director was pretty happy with it, but I had a problem with the candle flames. I was taught that practicals should be 2-3 stops above your keytone, but our flames were reading at a 2, and the only lens we had was the Red 2.8 zoom lens. As a result the flames were just little balls of light.

 

I'm shooting a similar scene in the next few days- dark with a single candle in a lantern- and was looking for some advice. I was thinking of putting a gold reflector on the ground in front of the subject and bouncing light off that. Bigger candles maybe? I'll be shooting on the XTR prod and havent chosen my film stock yet, so advice on that would be welcome as well!

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Normally we'd use 3 wick candles for a scene such as this; also you can look into some diffusion filters for the camera which will cause halos around specular highlights.How big of balls do you want 'em to be? If they're out of focus you can move 23 candles closer together as well to get 'em bigger.

[Rob Vogt]

Your stock should be 7219 ;). If you want like a fire effect to bump up the exposure you could use a gamtorch outside of frame to the fireside. Just have your gaffer strike it and kill it on cue.

[keith]

Yesterday I lit a scene with a girl walking through pools of light with candles in lanterns hanging in the background. We shot on the Red at a 320 iso and the director was pretty happy with it, but I had a problem with the candle flames. I was taught that practicals should be 2-3 stops above your keytone, but our flames were reading at a 2, and the only lens we had was the Red 2.8 zoom lens. As a result the flames were just little balls of light.

 

I'm shooting a similar scene in the next few days- dark with a single candle in a lantern- and was looking for some advice. I was thinking of putting a gold reflector on the ground in front of the subject and bouncing light off that. Bigger candles maybe? I'll be shooting on the XTR prod and havent chosen my film stock yet, so advice on that would be welcome as well!

 

 

MY FIRST QUESTION WOULD BE ARE YOU PLANNING ON INTER CUTTING THE RED FOOTAGE WITH THE FILM STOCK STUFF YOUR DOING NEXT ? CAUSE UNLESS YOU GOT A BIG BUDGET,ALOT OF TIME,AND A TALENTED TELECINE ARTIST/POST HOUSE,,,,,,,,,, HIGHER SPEED FILM THROUGH OLD GLASS NEXT TO DIGITAL HD CAPTURE W/poop GLASS.....????? TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT LOOKS MY MAN. AND PROBABLY NOT THE BEST SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM.

 

IF IT WAS ME, ID JUST GO RENT SOME BETTER GLASS. SOMETHING FASTER, 1.5 TO 2 STOPS FASTER AND FOR SURE NOT A ZOOM. IVE SHOT ALOT ON THE RED THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS AND AM A FAN, BUT THAT ZOOM IS JUNK, OK WELL NOT JUNK, JUST NOT GOOD. THERES PLENTY OF OTHER PL MOUNTED LENS OUT THERE THAT'LL MAKE YOUR RED RESULTS LOOK JUST THAT MUCH BETTER. EVEN ISO320 @24FPS UNDER CANDLELIGHT CAN BE BEAUTIFUL ON THE RED.RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB IS WHAT ME POOPS SAYS.

GOOD LUCK MY FRIEN,MY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

[Kate Wurzbacher]

They're two different projects so they won't be intercut, just similar setups. I'll try the 7219, thanks!

[David Mullen ASC]

They're two different projects so they won't be intercut, just similar setups. I'll try the 7219, thanks!

 

Yes, basically fast lens, fast film, and special 2-wick or 3-wick candles if you can find them (and tell us where because I have trouble finding them...)

[Kate Wurzbacher]

Yes, basically fast lens, fast film, and special 2-wick or 3-wick candles if you can find them (and tell us where because I have trouble finding them...)

 

I couldn't find any, but I picked up some extra wicks from an art supply store and used an awl to run them through the candle . It worked really well and I was able to control how bright the flame was by adding/getting rid of extra wicks, which was very helpful because I had a limited lighting kit!

[Pat Murray]

Yes, basically fast lens, fast film, and special 2-wick or 3-wick candles if you can find them (and tell us where because I have trouble finding them...)

 

2 and 3 wick candles can be found here

 

http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/eng/products/collections/indiahicksislandliving/casuarina/casuarinascented3-wickcandlecasuarinascented3-wickcandle?53606

 

and here

 

 

http://www.villagecandle.com/features/wicks.aspx

 

I don't know how convenient their locations are, but hopefully it's helpful.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Pat Murray

[David Mullen ASC]

2 and 3 wick candles can be found here

 

http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/eng/products/collections/indiahicksislandliving/casuarina/casuarinascented3-wickcandlecasuarinascented3-wickcandle?53606

 

and here

 

 

http://www.villagecandle.com/features/wicks.aspx

 

I don't know how convenient their locations are, but hopefully it's helpful.

 

Neither of those candles are what were are talking about, the wicks are spaced apart (two flames with the village candle and three flames for the crabtree-evelyn candle.) What we are talking about are two or three wicks right next to each other so that they create one bigger flame - the candle burns faster as a result. They are generally special-made for movie and stage work.