Red hotel room and satin light

Paul Hirson · December 30, 2010

Hello,

I'm Paul, student in cinematography (not in a school unfortunately).

I'm making a work inspired from a photograph: http://patrickhough.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/erwin_olaf_-_5.jpg

Here are some information about the shooting:

CAMERA: Panasonic AG-HVX500

LENCES: (Nikon adaptor) Nikkor 24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.4

LIGHTING: Arri HMI Fresnel 2.5K/5K and a Kino-Flo, bounce cards, CTOs, CTBs and the casual stuff

RECORDING: 720/60p (that'll be slow motioned)

PLOT: Girl crying in hotel room and then walking in a corridor with paparazzi flashing her.

Here are my questions:

On the pictures, the girls' skin shines in a particular way, like satin. I've thought we could put a particular lotion on them to get this kind of reflectance. Do you think I could/should do something else ?

My plan is to bounce light from the top. Having a fill close to the key and a little cold to get a brownish red on the wall. We need low contrast, the camera sensor clips easily in the highligts, I think of shooting underexposed a little and then stretch the signal in grading.

Finaly, for the flash light, we made some tests with real flashes, we didn't get the reult expected. There is a slomo close-up of the girl's face with the flash burning her face, I thought of doing it with a HMI reflected in a miroir so we make a move with it to orientate the light in the girl face. It would allow us to handle the lighting for that part.

I'm sorry for that message, I'm self-learning and need experienced guys like you to have some feedback about what I'm doing. Some of my questions may sound stupid, but it's hard to do things not knowing if you're going in a right direction.

Thank you !

Deniz Coker · December 30, 2010

Flashes can be tricky indeed and cause your frame to do weird things. I used some flashes (standard camera flashes) a week ago and thought it was so so for at least for what I had in mind. I had about a frame of white. I personally would've wanted something a little more sustained, I'm sure there's flashes you could slow down but the mirror idea sounds about right. I always carry a few small mirrors just for that purpose, to bounce light or shine it into someone's face, very controlled indeed. For that satin look, I may be wrong but it looks like they used a modeling light perhaps. It's good that you're shooting flat, make sure to consult a good waveform monitor and get some good coverage. Those modeling bulbs might be momentary, if so then you just might have to wind up rubbing people down with lotion, sounds like it'll be fun!

Paul Hirson · January 5, 2011

Thx Deniz, I made some researches about modeling light, I'll give a try (tests scheduled in the weeks coming).

Also, we tried the lotion, I love the "look" it gives (and it smells coconut.. ;)

And we finally changed camera for a 550D w/ custom curves.

Stuart Brereton · January 5, 2011

You will almost certainly have problems with the 550D's rolling shutter when using flashes. This will show as partially over-exposed frames.

Paul Hirson · January 7, 2011

Sure, that's why we won't be using any flash.

Stuart Brereton · January 7, 2011

I honestly don't know why I bother.

Paul Hirson · January 7, 2011

Oh sorry, didn't want to be rude. Your advices are much appreciated.

This forum is a cool place to learn from experienced people.

We have studied the rolling shutter, clipping and flicker problems. For the flash effect, we have considered those limitations and found an alternative and validate next week. If it's not conclusive, my friend colorist already made some tests on Lustre w/ a plugin enabling burning blend mode and which gives a very cool result.