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Class room lighting


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About to shoot a scene in a college class room at night with a full crowd. Tight Budget. Wondering if theres a better way to light the wide scenes then just keeping it natural. Close ups i was thinking kino flo's. Depending on schedule, the scene might be shot during day, causing us to close the blinds so exterior light might not be an option. The only source would be the top Florescence.

Edited by Dustan Lewis McBain
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Wondering if theres a better way to light the wide scenes then just keeping it natural.

 

Nope :)

 

Seriously though, as always it depends on the story.

 

If it's just a regular classroom shot in a naturalistic manner your best bet is to use what exists and augment it with kinos and HMIs - just remember to add the right amount of +green and CTO to match the existing globes (if you're going for color uniformity of course). If you were planning to light high key and you can't use windows a soft source from the ceiling is possibly the best choice...

 

If, on the other hand, the scene is, say, a dark secret society meeting in a classroom at night, you could turn off the overheads and play with some noir lighting and wacky colors.

 

It just depends how stylized you want to go.

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Thanks mat, very helpful. The short is a comedy that is stylized to appear as a cheesy tv show. Although dimming the lights and creating an experimental film noir look would be f. awesome, the script does call for bright exposure. Also were gonna be shooting with 2 cams so might be best to keep it simple. My task now is adding the right amount of green and cto to existing globes. Any ideas?

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You'll need a color meter to know for sure. You may only need +green on your HMIs w/o and CTO, it all depends hence you'll need to rent/find a color meter. If you're not using anything but the overhead lighting, you can also just try throwing on an FLB filter if you're on 3200K balance.

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I got my hands on 2 ltm 300 watt hmi's for kickers and back. Kino Flo movie tone 55 and a 1 k tungsten redhead just in case with a kit of gels. I tried seeing what kind of lights the school was using however they were closed, but my concern is matching the lights to scene. Will HMI's that are gelled with cto or + green stand out or fit right in. Thanks,

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My task now is adding the right amount of green and cto to existing globes. Any ideas?

 

I'm not sure if this was a typo on your part, but to be clear, you would add green and CTO to your lights, not to the existing globes.

 

If you plan to gel the existing globes you would add minus green (essentially magenta) to cancel the green spike, and while that is certainly an option (and sometimes necessary) it is usually a lot of work to gel that many flourescents, also it substantially knocks down your light output.

 

the most common flourescents you'll find are cool white and warm white. According to the book both are matched with full +green.

 

If the globes are cool white (4500 Kelvin) you're probably best off going daylight and adding 1/4 CTO

 

If warm white(3000 Kelvin) then tungsten and 1/4 CTO is somewhat easier.

 

But I would bring a couple of cuts of gel and eyeball it. The camera knows better then any book.

 

Also, don't worry too much - a little variation isn't a big deal, as long as you get it in the right ball park.

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