Candlelight scene??

[Tim Carroll]

We are going to be shooting a short which takes place in an empty apartment, and about half of the piece will be a candle lit scene between two actors. This will be shot on 16mm and we originally planned to shoot the whole thing in Black & White on negative Plus X. Being that our film speed is 100, any suggestions on how to light this so it appears like candlelight, but we get enough light to expose the film?

 

Our other option was possibly using the new Vision 2 500T, but are we going to have color issues with the candle light as opposed to just tungsten light. The film has two main parts, both shot in an empty city apartment here in Chicago. The first part is during the day, a barren, no curtains group of rooms with no furniture. It is supposed to look like it is lit only from the overcast daylight entering the rooms from the curtainless windows. The second half of the film is night, and we want it to look like it is only lit from a group of candles on the floor. We figure we could use an 85 for the daylight stuff if we go with the 500T, but we would really like to shoot it in B&W if we can figure out how to light it.

 

Thanks for any and all assistance.

-Tim

[David Mullen ASC]

I did a 16mm student film in b&w with a group of people sitting around a bunch of candles on the floor -- I hid a lightbulb among the candles. I also had some edge lights, background lights, etc.

[Michael Nash]

I did something similar once, with a boy blowing out the candles on a birthday cake (in a dark room). I hid an ordinary 100W light bulb behind the cake, and got something like an f4 on the boy's face with 500 ASA film.

 

The trick with candlelight is to try to supplement the light of the candles from as close to the same direction as the candle source as possible -- just don't let your lights cast a shadow of the candle onto your subject! In closeup shots it's pretty easy, as you can sneak a small instrument in pretty close. In wider shots, you'll have to get farther away with your lights and use barndoors and/or blackwarp to focus the light on just your subject. Part of the low-key, intimate ambience you get from candles is that the light falls off pretty quickly, so you don't want your supplemental light source blasting the back wall behind your subject.

 

Small fresnels like Peppers and Inkies are great for this, but with 100 ASA film you might step up to a 650W Tweenie. In B&W you could even go hard with the light, but in color usually a little diffusion on the doors helps sell the "soft" candle light effect. It's a bit of a bend from reality actually, since candles are rather small, hard sources. It's just that your eye doesn't focus as well at such low light levels, so it ends up LOOKING soft.

 

At 100 ASA you'll probably also want to add some fill light to mimic the low-level ambience your eye sees in candle light. You could use a china ball or bounce a small light into the ceiling above the candle position. Try to expose the fill from this light well below your key, maybe minus 2 stops or even more. The light level is still going to look way too bright to your eye, but you'll have to trust your meter and your judgement.

 

I wouldn't suggest getting too carried away with the flicker either. Usually a little goes a long way, and you can do it only every once in awhile to preserve the illusion of the candle source.

[Tim Carroll]

Michael,

 

Thanks for explaining that in such detail. I had a basic idea, but I was trying to figure out how to make it soft and hard at the same time, because when I use my eyes, you are right, the look is soft, even though the source is so tiny.

 

-Tim

[Bob Hayes]

I try to keep the scene dark. If two people are facing each other with the candle in the middle I try to back cross light them. Keep the light off of the table and the backs of the actors.

 

Bob Hayes dp

[Spider]

I would propably use a Chimera Lantern 20'' on a boom arm to give the fill. It gives that soft overall candle like feeling. If on the boom arm it is easy to follow the person if he is moving around with the candle.