"Noir" in a bright, white, sterile laboratory

[James McManus]

Hello,

I am writing a low/no-budget screenplay which I will also be filming (err, video-ing) mostly for practice. Overall, the picture is to be very dark, smoky, and creepy. However, I am now to a scene which involves a laboratory that I'm visualizing as very bright and white with very few shadows, etc. Are there any tricks to preserve the creepy atmosphere in such an environment? What comes to mind is to keep the camera tight on faces, lit from below to give the "ghost story over a campfire" effect, and to rely heavily on the background sound effects, but I am really not sure how to project this visually. I welcome any tips or references to other films I can watch that might be inspiring. Thanks!

Edited October 20, 2006 by James McManus

[Mark A. Rapp]

Hello,

I am writing a low/no-budget screenplay which I will also be filming (err, video-ing) mostly for practice. Overall, the picture is to be very dark, smoky, and creepy. However, I am now to a scene which involves a laboratory that I'm visualizing as very bright and white with very few shadows, etc. Are there any tricks to preserve the creepy atmosphere in such an environment? What comes to mind is to keep the camera tight on faces, lit from below to give the "ghost story over a campfire" effect, and to rely heavily on the background sound effects, but I am really not sure how to project this visually. I welcome any tips or references to other films I can watch that might be inspiring. Thanks!

James, watch some Stanley Kubrick films. He always seems to be able to draw a creepy atmosphere from a bright, sterile setting.