Shadows from set pieces

[Gerald Martindill]

Hello hive mind,

im shooting in a large corner set, With 3 Arri650 fresnels. When shooting wide shots, I always get shadows from the set pieces close to the walls. 
can someone explain to me how to get rid of them?

the Arris are set up in a 3 point triangle formation about 5/6ft high pointing slightly downwards. Do I need a fill light/panel light Directly above the walls pointing at them? or what should I do?

im usually working in art dept, so please excuse my green question. 
 

 

thanks,

g

[David Mullen ASC]

The classic or old-fashioned way of hard-lighting sets was to try and separate the walls from the actors in the center of the set.  This required a lot of barn doors and flags, and it helped that the lighting was coming from a high angle above the set.  Since the foreground lighting was mostly flagged off of the walls, the walls and furniture along it would get their own spots, accent lights -- a snooted spot on a painting or the center of a blank wall, or barndoors closed down to create a square-ish lit area on a wall, or a down spot on a cabinet, etc.

Since it sounds like you don't have that many lights, my suggestion is to light in a more modern soft light style, maybe a top soft light in the center skirted on the sides to create a cut along the top of the walls.  At least try Chimeras with egg crates on the three ARRI's to soften them.  The lighting should be emulating a practical source like an overhead dome light or chandelier, etc.

[Giovanni D'Onofrio]

On 12/28/2019 at 2:35 AM, David Mullen ASC said:

The classic or old-fashioned way of hard-lighting sets was to try and separate the walls from the actors in the center of the set.  This required a lot of barn doors and flags, and it helped that the lighting was coming from a high angle above the set.  Since the foreground lighting was mostly flagged off of the walls, the walls and furniture along it would get their own spots, accent lights -- a snooted spot on a painting or the center of a blank wall, or barndoors closed down to create a square-ish lit area on a wall, or a down spot on a cabinet, etc.

Since it sounds like you don't have that many lights, my suggestion is to light in a more modern soft light style, maybe a top soft light in the center skirted on the sides to create a cut along the top of the walls.  At least try Chimeras with egg crates on the three ARRI's to soften them.  The lighting should be emulating a practical source like an overhead dome light or chandelier, etc.

Thanks for the good explanation, doesn't get any clearer than this!

Edited December 29, 2019 by Giovanni D'Onofrio