Gel/lighting choice for dream sequence in bathroom: tips/advice?

[Liam Meredith]

Hey all,

Relatively new to this board but diving straight in! I'm due to be DPing a short drama in the next month and two particular scenes take place in a dingy bathroom, the second of which is a dream sequence.

 

I am likely going to use a couple of cool white Kino tubes to motivate the existing fluro practical above the sink, but in the dreamscape I'm intending on having these produce a sickly, washed-out green that falls flat across the subject's face. The background would be a slightly more saturated/greener hue, with some shadows/falloff around the edge of the frame.

In terms of inspiration, the below still from Wong Kar Wai's 'Fallen Angels' is closest to what I want to achieve. Our female protagonist will be fronting up to the mirror (where the camera will be), similar to here:

 

 

I was wondering if anyone knew/could speculate on how this scene was lit from this angle, and whether the colours were something achieved with a particular choice of gel (i.e. plus green?) or something else entirely,i.e. in-camera with white balance adjustment.

Cheers! :-)

Liam

Edited July 28, 2015 by Liam Meredith

[John E Clark]

Looks like a single light, on camera right, defused to some extent and somewhat distant from the foreground subject. There seems to be fill coming from camera left, and could be from a large diffuse 'pannel', or perhaps daylight from large picture windows to the street. Since I have not seen the film I don't know what other shots would give time of day, and the set geography.

 

As for color, I think it has been enhanced a bit to bring out the yellow in the distant background, perhaps 'gelled' to enhance the yellow, and the foreground give a more cyan look. If the film was Film film, then there was some processing to shift colors, or gelled lights to do it mostly in camera.

 

As for using this sort of set up for a 'bathroom'... unfortunately most bathrooms are so small, that any light makes for a huge light. In any case one can these days get small battery powered LED lights, essentially flashlights, and set up for some 'interesting' pools of light on elements of the bathroom fixtures, using things taped to the ceiling or with bars spanning across the bathroom ceiling, and the lights light enough to hang, and with framing to eliminate the lighting from view.

 

For a shoot I did with a bathroom scene a while ago, I had a light on a stand in a corner, angled so it appeared to match the over the bathroom mirror light, a defused light panel outside the bathroom to give fill, and the camera outside the bathroom door, angled so as to just have the subject and deeper into the bathroom.

[Mike Bao]

Could anyone guesstimate what lens it was shot with please?

[Satsuki Murashige]

Probably a 12mm or a tad wider. Could be an Aspheron wide angle adaptor on an 18mm Super Speed, which would account for the barrel distortion.

[Liam Meredith]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Agree with Satsuki - likely in the 10-18mm range. Can't find what glass/camera specifically but spherical and 35mm, not sure what stock.

I think the shape and tone of the light will be relatively easy to emulate, but I was just wondering if anyone knew whether achieving a similar colour range would be best A) with a particular choice of gel, B ) adjusting white balance to something cooler and punching in green via the camera, C) grading in post, ... or all of the above? Would say that I guess it'd be down to physically playing around with the lights and seeing what looks best but will only have the kit for X amount of days (not sure if I'll be able to do a tech recce/lighting test) and want to go into the shoot with some kind of clear idea.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Liam Meredith

[David Mullen ASC]

Chris Doyle said in some interview that a lot of "Fallen Angels" was shot on a 6.5mm lens. I would have guessed the 9.8mm Kinoptik if I hadn't read that.

[Robin R Probyn]

I don't think those back ground florries were gelled.. its just the way they happen to look on film.. and are different from the ones used in the main room of the restaurant.. from what Ive read about this film and Mr Doyle .. they wouldn't be poncing about gelling back ground tubes.. it is true that he tries very hard to put over this persona of just shooting and not really being into the tech side.. but obviously he does know a lot but plays down that knowledge for his over all "image".. all these films had very small budgets and I believe they kept things very simple lighting wise..

 

Yeah the film is shot a lot wide angle and moving around the whole time.. some slow shutter stuff too.. but if its just the look you are after.. just shoot with Kino,s.. and with video you can now give it that blue/green very easily in post.. shoot in log if you can and you,ll have total control in post.. rather than trying to bake it in on location.. if your not happy with the look you can just start again from scratch ..