Need your help guys!! Lighting a pub!!

[Phil Thompson]

Hey Guys!

 

I need your help. Im about to shoot a scene for my 16mm feature in the upstairs of a pub. See attatched pictures. I need to know the best way to go.

 

I will have two people playing pool, a kareoke woman in the corner, bar with customers and some people dancing and some on sofas.

 

If you look at the pictures all the lighting in the ceiling is the inset variety, but the lights around the edge are normal (i believe). Do you think the best idea is to put photo flood bulbs into these sockets? Its for an evening scene, so i want it quite low key. Plus i think i will be shooting on 100T asa film (only stock we have).

 

 

Any help, much appreciated!

[Mathew Rudenberg]

100 asa is pretty slow, I think you'll be a challenged to do anything but low key with that speed film :) you may want to push it a stop just to make your job a little easier, depending on what lights you have access to

 

Still, totally possible - I'd probably shy away from photofloods in the confined ceiling fixtures or those wall sconces which seem to be made of glass (the heat could shatter them... or start a fire)

 

If you want to use the ceiling cans to make pools of light I would look into mr16 or standard base par 38s - they'll focus the light downwards without spreading it everywhere. Also a common trick it to lay a couple of kino bare globes behind the bar to bring up the bartender and the glasses. Usually the pool table has a light over it which kind of takes care of that.

[David Mullen ASC]

With 100 ASA stock, even bright bulbs and bigger lights are going to probably render the scene as "low key" if you can't get enough exposure for your lens.

 

I'd start with swapping out the bulbs to something brighter, but not photofloods, they would probably overheat and pop a circuit in those overhead spots. I'd probably try 100w globes at the most, but carry a selection. You could use mushroom-shaped spot PAR globes instead of round globes -- you'd lose some ambience but get more intensity in the spot -- a 75w narrow-spot bulb is pretty intense. I've used those for the lights over the bar counter.

 

Luckily the ceiling looks white, so you could use some Source-4's or whatnot and bounce off of that to build up the ambience. Where you can get the ceiling out of the shot, there is also the possibility of using paper lanterns. And Kino tubes around the bar, etc. In the end, you may have to add some small table lamps, and also may need to just add some selective side-lighting from off-camera, just to keep the room from getting too dark.

 

Hopefully you will have some fast lenses.

[Brian Drysdale]

Photofloods around the edges aren't really going to do much in the centre of the room. With 100 ASA film, I'd consider hiding film lights within alcoves or where ever possible within your wide shots and use the practicals as motivation for your film lights. If the lights over the table are fluorescents, I'd check them for green.

 

Chances are the overhead lights may be 12v and it could get an expensive operation uprating them. Although, I would check I'd they're on dimmers, because they can too bright for an atmospheric pub, so they may fade them down.

Edited January 3, 2011 by Brian Drysdale