How did they light Jeff's Apartment in "Dahmer" on Netflix 2022

[Dan Quigley]

I tired to find an interview or something but no luck.

The rooms have a ton of practicals but there has to be some ambient light there as well. Do you all think they maybe just did a large booklight or did they dare bounce off the ceiling? 

It could have been all sound stage with lights from above but there are shots where the ceiling is seen. Say there was a ceiling at all times, was there maybe just a china ball or a litemat? 

[Albion Hockney]

I'm sure this was shot on a sound stage, just because of practicality for a tv series.

Often times sets are built with ceilings, but they can build in mounting points or in some cases even remove sections of the ceiling if needed for lighting a certain shot or scene.

I just saw the trailer and its clear they are using a lot of practical lights, the DP probably worked closely with the art department.

That said you can also see that there is lighting to manage contrast ratios and light the talent in some shots, its likely most of this is coming from the ceilings or units outside of frame from the ground on stands.

All the techniques you mentioned are possible to use in different ways to create a similar look, but yea Litmats would be a popular choice for soft light motivated by lamps and to create low level soft fill light.

 

[Chris Pritzlaff]

I was the lighting programmer for the show so I can answer most of these questions. I'm assuming you are asking about his apartment which was one of the more heavily used sets. The set was lit mostly with practicals.   The ceiling was unbleached muslin and there was a softbox above it that could be turned on for some ambiance but it was rarely used, only in closeups.   Astera titans and helios tubes wraped in muslin were frequently tucked into corners of the set just out of frame when needed.   The windows were hit with ETC Fos 4 fresnels for a sodium vapor look at night and Arri T12s for daytime.  

Edited September 27, 2022 by Chris Pritzlaff

[Dan Quigley]

Thanks @Chris Pritzlaff, that is incredibly helpful. The ceiling as a giant softbox is very interesting.