Lighting upstairs bedroom at night

[Milly Smith]

In a film that I will be shooting soon, one of the locations is an upstairs bedroom. The room is fairly small, and very white and we are scheduled to film at night. There is £400 in the budget for cinematography. We already have access to 2x 650w and 1x 300w Fresnel lights and Canon C300. The room has blinds and I want to make it seem like moonlight is coming through them. Could anyone help me figure out the logistics of this?

Thank you!

[Mike Bao]

What is the story that you are telling? What kind of mood do you wish to create?

Do you wish to key with the moonlight or use a practical lamp?

[Will Barber]

Figure out some way to get a light through the window for a wide, and fake it for the closeups. I've shot in a room at night with nothing more than a 300w Mole bouncing off a blue blanket I had in my Jeep. I think with the blind thing you may be backing yourself into a corner that is hard to get out of. Without proper rigging, shooting on a second story is difficult. I've put a 650 fresnel on a C-stand arm on top of a combo stand and it still was barely tall enough to get to a second story. One option is to buy a long pole and secure the light to it. Then pound a stake in the ground, strap the light to it, and run a couple safety chains to the ground. With a limited kit it's tough to get tricky shots like this, but you definitely have enough lights to light it from the inside if you had to.

[Toby Orzano]

Depending on the building and the ground outside the window in question, a mombo combo stand might do the trick within budget. You could probably use your 650w fresnel, with whatever blue gel you like for moonlight, through a frame of light diffusion (on a second mombo combo) for a nice moonlight glow, then balance the intensity of your interior tungsten lighting to that for proper exposure. You'll be working at really low light levels but in my limited experience, the C300 seems to handle it pretty well. Make sure the stand is on solid ground (if soft grass or mud, put a pancake under each leg to distribute the weight over a wider area so they don't sink in) and is completely level before rising up to full extension. Make sure you have at least one sand bag on each leg, and tie guy lines if it is super windy. Might be overkill for a small head, but better safe than sorry. Also make sure you have a butt plug because the 650s mount to a baby stud and the mombo combos only have a junior receiver.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Toby Orzano

[David Mullen ASC]

I agree with Toby but if you can move the bedroom to a ground floor room you'll be a lot happier...