Nike Wushu Commercial - How was it lit?

[Mike Bao]

Hey folks!

 

I watched this old Nike commercial and wondered how was it lit?

Could you check my though process please?

 

Judging by the 2 shadows which fall towards camera,I think there are 2 cross back lights giving a hot rim light on both sides of actors.

Soft fill from camera side to actually expose them.

How did they achieve that circle of light on the floor without casting shadows?
Am I missing something?

 

Thanks a lot!

[Matthew Parnell]

The wide shots with the pool of light look more top lit, with perhaps a more subtle and controlled backlight(im on my mobile so it's hard to exactly tell)

 

As for the The closer full and mid shots, some of them look like they were just a lensed in versions of the wide, maybe with a bit more level on the backlight, others look like they were re-lit with a hard cross-backlight and a less toppy key.

[jeff woods]

To my eye, it looks like a pair of Fresnels (not more than 2K?) about 6-8' apart, slightly behind the talent, just out of frame (12' trim?). The floor looks to be a matte black treatment (reads gray when lit, but black in the shadows).

 

The fill seems like it could come from the floor itself. Black rags to make the background disappear (well, that and the exposure), and probably another teaser or two to keep the lamp flare from spilling too far into the BG or FG.

 

One man's opinion,

-j

[Mike Bao]

Thanks!

 

and probably another teaser or two to keep the lamp flare from spilling too far into the BG or FG.

 

Jeff,could you explain this part please? What is teaser?
And what about the top source?

 

Thanks!

[jeff woods]

A teaser (at least in theatre) is a wide but short soft good (drape, duvetyne) that can be flown in and out to create a very wide shadow and eliminate spill from the actual face of a fixture.

 

The top source, in my opinion, is two Fresnels. No actual front source, just bounce from the floor.

 

-j

[David Mullen ASC]

There are two basic looks, one is just the top light and the other adds some strong cross lights that bounce back up into the shadows, and perhaps the top light is knocked down or the cross lights are so strong that the lens was stopped down, making the top light less prominent.

 

There are also some top-lit close shots where some backlight was added.

 

The top light seems to be a cluster of lamps judging by the fringing soft shadow, arranged so that the formed an overall circular spot with a probably skirt all around. Probably a ring of 1K tungsten par cans with some light diffusion on the end of the snoot.

 

The cross light may be as strong as two 5K fresnels.

[Mike Bao]

Thank you very much!

I have one more question - how do you estimate the wattage of lights used? Or i.e. how would a 1Kw Fresnel from 3 meters be different from 4Kw Fresnel from 6 meters? (hope my math is right)

 

Thank you very much!

[David Mullen ASC]

Manufacturers list photometric data for their lamps. Tungsten lamps generally come in numbers like 1K, 2K, then 5K, 10K, 20K. HMI's tend to come in numbers like 1.2K, 2.5K, 4K, 6K, 12K, 18K.