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!
