Hi, as you can tell, my name is Charlie Piché. Im a 17 year old high school student in Montreal. Me and some friends are collaborating on a feature film project roughly based on Peter Pan. We are blessed to have decent equipment (3 Sony DCR-101 and Final Cut pro). The thing we lack (and cannot afford to rent) is adequate lighting equipment and experience. I have chosen to be the DP on the project because of my undying love for the visual aspect of film-making, and it is infact my aspiration to go to film school after graduation. I need advice on how to light certain locations with perhaps makeshift equipment.
Most of the film will require a dark and grainy look (perhaps comparable to Rodrigo Pietro of Amores Perros fame) however i'm not sure this is possible to acheive on DV by a group of teenagers. One of the locations I need to light is a dark basement full of clutter (the key location to become Neverland), it is fairly open and already very dark, i need to light it so the actors will appear on camera when i film but the place still should look pretty dark. I have tried a combination of different lights to no avail, it is either too bright or too dark, the exposure has been boggling my mind as well. i understand that its hard to ask a cinematographer for lighting advice when he himself has not seen the situation, but im open to any suggestions at all! thanks a lot.
Charlie
