Overhead light + key?

[Andre Mascarenhas]

Hi there, 

I  have two scenes set at night where I'm planning to use an overhead source and also soft key light source and I'd like to know if you have reference/ examples or suggestions. 

Overhead light: For both scenes I'm planning on having an arri 650w or 750w on a chimera pancake to be the ceiling light. 

Key: Because I'd have practicals in lower levels (small lamps or fixtures built in in the wall - think an old house), I'm thinking of using these to be the key light (or a prominent backlight). 

-Scene1: a large room with a long rectangular table. Two characters are seated, each in one extreme of the table. In general it should be a darksish feel, but still getting some warm tones from the practicals. 

I'm planning on having an overhead (fairly soft, in the chimera pancake) coming from the ceiling and a soft key from one of the sides (the motivation is a 8 lamps practical in the wall). My idea is to make the overhead not as strong as the key, but I plan to play with the levels to see what works best,  of course. Still, I'm a bit worried about potential shadows. Should I be? From all my research about dinning scenes the key (mainly Shot Deck)  is pretty much always the overhead. I haven't really found examples that seem to match this. 

Scene 2: One character is in a room with an overhead and is moving around in a room with different practical lamps. My idea is to make these either key light or backlights. Again, should I be worried about the overhead? 

In theory the overhead has been playing almost a part as fill in my mind, bringing up shadows and not keeping the room in the dark too much. Still, I don't want it really to be playing a significant part on the light in the character's face , at least in the close-ups where I'm using a key light. I'm ok having the character moving around in the darker areas of the overhead, of course, as it is part of the room. Again, as in Scene 1, should I be worried about shadows or weird combined shapes of light? 

I feel like it will be fine and when doing my pre-light I can see what works best. Still...

...Any suggestions but also examples/ references would be highly appreciated! 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Andre Mascarenhas
forgot one detail

[Stephen Sanchez]

Welcome Andre!

I shoot commercial, so other folks in the narrative world will have better practical advice. I've give some theory and approaches from my world.

Cinematography is so subjective because it deals with what "looks good," which is dependent on the DP/director and the audience you're going for. For me, multiple shadows and bare-hard light is negligent because it doesn't present the products or people attractively. So, you'll have to define what's good and not good. If it's a gritty action, horror, period film/scene, the many shadows might fit the world. Practically, if you can't get away from multiple shadows, you can always throw in opal or hampshire out of frame for closeups and that will blur the sources. And also consider bulbs that don't show the filament, or frosted fixtures.

My approach for spaces has been getting more and more natural. So in situations like night interior, I'd throw a quite soft "moon" through the windows that will touch a lot of set, and fake more "window light" out of frame or fake soft warm interior light out of frame (216 frame). Then place practical or practical-motivated stuff. But I also like side-light, which is why I start with those. But this is generally how a house would really appear, if only romanticized, and it takes care of "filling the room."

As for Scene 2. Eggcrates on softboxes choke not only the degree of spread, but also the intensity of light at closer proximity. As your subject gets closer to the eggcrate, the slats begin to cut light from the furthest distances. The effect is that you don't get too hot. That would be my solution to your toplight. And as for those practicals playing as backlight. Backlight to me is quite strong, and making those practicals bright enough to edge the characters' back would make them comically hot. If you want a back edge and preserve the practicals, then find a way to place your own backlight out of frame. But again, maybe your look is more like Ocean's Eleven, where you don't mind burning parts of the background.

Here's examples of table-lighting. Also consider that you're table will be longer and thus these solutions won't produce the exact same effect. It depends on if you wan't to be realistic to the set with a single chandelier, or cheat a source each for the talent. Remember, that would leave a dark spot in the center of the table, so maybe you'd want three center lights.