Advice on a peculiar setup...

[Jeremy M Lundborg]

Birthing scene. Woman on a bed in a private home. A doctor delivering what is to be a child of some form.

 

The scene takes place at night. Candles surround the bed. The scene is shot in a shrouded room on a long lens from far away, no cheating this one in close ups, people. Shot in 3/4, not profile. Shot around a 2-2.8 so surely something dynamic between a 5.6-8 would do the trick.

 

The effect I am going for a strong, bright, blinding light emanating from the her birth canal. As she begins to give birth, the light becomes stronger and stronger (through a dimmer) and eventually becomes blinding, enveloping the entire room. Now I can augment the light once it gets up to a certain level, but my concern is safety versus output versus practicality. How can I put out that volume of light in a safe way, without giving away a cheated source (ie a molipso or some spotted fresnel bounced off a mirror held between her legs, and back out into the room).

 

I'm curious about the brightest light I can achieve practically and still safely put between the actors legs. I would never do this, but it's a start to this conversation.

 

My first inclination was to have the production designer build a false bed, leaving room for a series of mirrors to relay an off screen source of some brightness. What if we don't have time or money to build such a contraption?

 

FOR EXAMPLE

 

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Well it's not a question of how big of a source you need to use, rather how focused of a source. I'd look into a Dedo Light, and perhaps a real bed with a hole in the mattress into a small mirror. Dedo it under and spotted right into the mirror. I'd not put a light right between their legs, though.

[John Sprung]

What you need is light without heat. Check out Litepanels LED stuff. Expensive, but ideal for this.

 

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.