Shooting interior with pratical light

[Guest Jonathan Rippon]

I am shooting an interior scene for a short film in a couple weeks and wanted to achieve a "natural look" like the interiors of the Michael Douglas character?s house in Traffic and the interiors in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I was wanting to know if anyone had any suggestions on how to achieve this look. I've heard of replacing the bulbs in the practical lamps with 250 watt bulbs - but would this be enough light? I heard that on Eternal Sunshine they hid little refrigerator bulbs and other small bulbs behind lampshades and furnature to help fill the room with more light. I also heard that the DP pushed the Fuji Reala 500D a stop to brighten it up (I'd be shooting either the Fuji or the Kodak 500 V2 Expression).

 

If anyone knows anything about shooting in lighting situations similar to this, please let me know. I understand that this style of lighting can look very amateurish, but I really like how natural and realistic it looks, not to mention that it is cheaper then renting big lighting kits. I'm a student and know very little about cinematography so any feedback you can give me would help tremendously, thanks :)

[Raffinator]

"I am shooting an interior scene for a short film in a couple weeks and wanted to achieve a "natural look" like the interiors of the Michael Douglas character?s house in Traffic and the interiors in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

 

There was an article on Ellen Kuras' ( Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) work in the April 2004 issue of American Cinematographer. Here's a link:

 

http://www.theasc.com/magazine/april04/cover/page2.html

 

Hope this helps.

 

"I was wanting to know if anyone had any suggestions on how to achieve this look. I've heard of replacing the bulbs in the practical lamps with 250 watt bulbs - but would this be enough light?"

 

Enough light for an exposure? It all depends on the size of the space that you are shooting in and what your tastes are. I would also be careful about putting 250 watt bulbs in your household lamps ... I could be mistaken, but I don't think that the housings for your everyday household lamp can take the wattage and heat that a 250W bulb will produce... Anyone know for sure?

 

Regards,

 

Raffi Kondy

[DavidSloan]

The whole thing with shooting available/practical light is that it takes a lot of experience to understand how to manipulate such light to make it look good. Just because a 250 watt bulb will give you an exposure doesn't mean it will give you an aesthetic image. Considering that you are a beginer, you're probably better off using traditional movie lamps to simulate practicals. Wait until you have trained your eye before you show up on set with a bare bulb and a b-board.