Susan May

Hi Freya, thanks again for your reply. Sorry I know I am being confusing, this is in part because I changed my concept for the shot after a telephone conversation with the director tonight. I have been hunting everywhere for an example of the kind of effect I want. This isn't perfect but it is the best I can do at the moment. Here are some links to some images from La double vie de Véronique: 1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27392620@N08/...in/photostream/ 2 . http://www.flickr.com/photos/27392620@N08/...in/photostream/ 3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27392620@N08/...in/photostream/ The very bright hardish light that falls on her face is the sort of incandescence I want for the figures in the scene (although the faces will not actually be visible so this light will be falling on their bodies from the neck down). In images 2 & 3 you can see the sort of contrast between the lightness of the subject and the darkness of the background I want in fact I think the back ground will be totally black. Another point to make is that the this film is shot with a special amber filter and I am wanting a more naturalistic daylight colour temp. I was thinking a hard key light like an HMI Fresnel (not sure which kw) with perhaps some diffusion if necessary and perhaps a kino flo daylight for fill as I want the hard light but I will be filming on an angle for some shots and I don't want any ugly shadows. Sorry if I seem inconsistant I hope the images above give a better idea of what I am trying to achive now, any imput will be greatly appreciated. Kind Regards, Susan

Thanks for that advice Freya, I did think about Kinos but like with the other lights I don't really have experiance of them, so I don't really know what effect they will have. I actually just spoke to the director a moment ago and she has changed the scene which will be intercut with the interior scene and wants it to be slightly over exposed so I am thinking that I will need to go for a slightly harder light source, do you think that Kino's would be suitable for this sort of harder light? Also can I draw power for Kino's from a domestic mains or would I need a generator? It would be so much easier if I could just go into a hire place and have the various lights set up so I could see for myself which would be best. My friend who is a DOP did say that most lighting hire places are quite good about that sort of thing but I actually live in a different city to where we are filming so we would not ultimately be hiring equipment from them for this shoot so I am not sure how amenable they would be to having a novice come in and play with their lights! What do you think?

After not shooting on film for a few years I will in a few weeks be shooting a S16mm student film with a very small budget. Most of the shooting takes place out doors with only one interior scene. That interior scene will consist of various shots of a group of singers. The space we are in is quite a large hall but we will only be using a small portion of the space and we do not require to light the space beyond our little section of about 10ft by 10ft, we will expose for the singers and have the back ground dark. We will be filming this scene in the early evening until after dark however after dark however we want the film to appear as though the film is shot in natural daylight (also we are shooting on 500 Daylight film stock) and the director want the interior shoots to flow together with the outdoor shots as much as possible as both scenes will be intercut. I had been thinking to shoot using an HMI however I have not used these lights before and am unsure as to what size I would need. To light the space I have as well as about 6 or so people. We are filming in the UK so I am assuming that it will be cloudy on the day and so to ensure that the indoor and outdoor shots match up I’d like the light source to be bright but soft, but not completely without contrast. The light source will be situated to the rear left of the camera and at about 8 ft from the subjects and about 6ft + off the ground. Do you have any recommendation as to what strength of HMI to use in this situation? We would like to avoid having to hire a generator if possible as money is very tight and that would mean having to plug the HMI into a domestic power supply which I suppose would limit us to no more than an HMI of 2KW. If we did use an HMI of 2KW do you think we would be able to get away with using bounced light to fill or perhaps using a small tungsten light with CTB to create fill? I spoke to a friend of mine who is a DOP who was very helpful and suggested using spring ball lights to create a soft light for the interior these sound good but again I haven’t used them either although I could go to a hire place to take a look at them and see what they are like. These lights are tungsten balanced so it would mean putting a conversion filter on the camera which I’m not opposed to and perhaps correcting things further in the grading (If we can afford it). However I am worried they might be too soft to simulate daylight. Thank you to all who have read this and I would be very grateful for any feedback at all on these questions. I have shot on S16mm before and have assisted on various occasions but as these have all been no / low budget films I have very limited experience with lights and mostly have just used redheads and blondes with gels, so don’t really know what to use to get the effect I need. I am also keen to use something different this time so that I can gain experience of different lights. Many thanks again!