Creating Textured Lighting Shooting through Blinds

[Tanner Shinnick]

Hello all. I'm filming a commercial in an office setting and and am wanting to be able to have a nice dramatic feel on the main subject. My thoughts were to shoot a couple 1.2k HMI Pars through the two windows. Also to run a hazer to bring out the shafts of light coming through the blinds.

Couple of questions: Are the 1.2's going to be enough punch to give me my desired look? Should I bounce them into anything or shoot it through a diffusion? If so which would be best? Also, will bouncing it or shooting it through diffusion effect how the shafts of light look?

Also, what's the best method to lighting such a large space without using the overhead florescent lighting?

[Adrian Sierkowski]

1.2Ks probably won't throw far enough into the place to be really useful for anything beyond an accent light for your wides. I'd look at something like a couple of 6Ks backed off and maybe punched through some Opal frames to take the edge off-- though depending on how much haze you have that can help as well. And then i's augment with desk lamp practicals (motivaitional light) with photoflood bulbs so they're warm, but not too warm (augmented further by some small divas or the like with 1/4 or 1/2CTO on them).

My big concern, actually, would be those walls-- the orange and yellows look pretty awful and you'll need some stuff to break them up somehow.

[Tanner Shinnick]

Thanks a ton Adrian. That's all awesome advice. I hadn't even thought about bringing in practical lights into that scene. That will really help it out a lot.

I agree, the walls are awful and distracting. Luckily, I'll be able to avoid shooting towards those walls completely. After the initial wide it's all punch in's for closeups.

Thanks again.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

My pleasure. If you're just worried about wides, and you can find them, the new Arri 1.8 HMIs might be well worth a look and get you a good happy medium for shafts of lights with less power concerns, especially if they don't have to carry super deep into the scene (which you can throw out of focus, and punctuate with interesting things--- glittery decorations or the like-- stuff that'd look good in the bokeh )

 

Though i think your biggest problem will be the fact that those windows obviously get natural light-- which you'll be fighting against to control-- so you may need to tent them or shoot night for day.

[Tanner Shinnick]

I'll call around a few rental houses and see what I can find out. If I can't find them, what about upping it to two 2.5k HMIs? Should I also shoot those through an Opal?

[Adrian Sierkowski]

2.5s would be fine, but you'd need to think about how you're going to power them-- they'll need a genny. And as for opal, tht's a personal thing I put most thing through it because I lvoe it.

[Guy Holt]

.... what's the best method to lighting such a large space without using the overhead florescent lighting?

 

 

You may want to consider using a combination of hard and soft light to create contrast in a situation where the overhead fluorescent lighting is usually very flat as we did in a short film called "Act Your Age" that takes place in a senior center (see the production stills attached.) However to hang anything larger than a 650 or to hang kino banks you will need something like the hangers pictured below:

 

One of the biggest challenges in situations like this is getting light into the eyes of your talent. If you don't, your talent's eye will look dark and bruised because the very toppy light of the overhead fluorescents won't dig into their eyes.

 

 

You may want to consider the approach we took in the production stills above, where we hung 4'-4 Bank kinos with Opal coved below the fixture to make a "Bay Light." Coving the Opal under the light, redirects it horizontally so that it will dig into the talents eyes.

 

As you can see here, with the right rigging equipment, you can use drop ceilings like a studio grid. Use this link for

more pictures of productions that used drop ceilings on location as if they were a studio grid.

 

 

2.5s would be fine, but you'd need to think about how you're going to power them-- they'll need a genny. And as for opal, tht's a personal thing I put most thing through it because I lvoe it.

You can run a 2.5 HMI off of common wall outlets. Most offices have a 240V receptacle of some kind. Common 240V circuits in offices include, Copier receptacles, range receptacles, and special receptacles installed for coffee makers. The latest generation of 2.5/4k HMI ballasts will operate on either 120V or 208-240V and fit comfortably in these circuits. If you are using an older ballast that runs only on 120V, you can step-down a 240V circuit to 120V with a transformer. A step down transformer will convert the 240 volts supplied by 240V receptacles to 120 volts in a single circuit that is the sum of the two single-phase legs of 30/50 amps each (60A usually). Now that you have a larger 120V circuit, you can operate larger lights like 2.5 or even 4k HMIs, or more smaller lights, than you could otherwise. A step-down transformer can do the same with the enhanced 7500W/240V output of a Honda EU6500is Generator. By giving you access to more "house power" through common 240V household outlets, a Transformer/Distro can eliminate the need for dangerous tie-ins or expensive tow generators (use this linik for details.)

 

Guy Holt, Gaffer, ScreenLight & Grip, Lightng & Grip Rental in Boston