Night break-in

[Aleš Svoboda]

Hi,

 

I will be shooting a commercial involving a couple of thieves breaking into a house and trying to get into a vault.

I have the outdoor part covered, but where I'm having some doubts is the indoor part. My main goal is to try and be as realistic as possible and not showing more,of the room than is actually needed.

 

I decided on going for the tungsten street light look, rather than the moonlight one.

 

Can anyone with this sort of lighting experience give me some reference on how to approach this lighting setup? Or perhaps give me a recommendation for a break-in scene that they saw and liked?

[Bill DiPietra]

Look into the Lee Urban gels. I just used them on a short (specifically Lee 652). They may inspire the look you are going for. It sounds like you may want to consider single-source lighting. Depending on the size of the space, one fresnel may do the trick to create some nice shadow patterns. I used an ARRI 650w and it did the trick.

 

Is this film or digital? If it's film, what stock are you using?

[Mike Bao]

I love the break in scene in Casino,where Joe Pesci comes to Vegas and starts robbing everything, I can't find a proper clip or still so here is the link to the crappy youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrrkPHPwVfo&feature=player_detailpage#t=37

[Bill DiPietra]

I love the break in scene in Casino,where Joe Pesci comes to Vegas and starts robbing everything, I can't find a proper clip or still so here is the link to the crappy youtube video:

Mike...when he mentioned "break in" that's exactly where my mind went too! Weird since there are so many better examples. My favorite for those kinds of scenes has to be Michael Mann.

[Aleš Svoboda]

Bill:

 

I will definitely look into the Lee 652. Single source is the way that I want to go. Most of the shots are medium with only just one full shot. I was thinking either a 650W or something bigger and bouncing it.. Think that could work? Or rather send it though a 1/4 frame?

 

It's digital, will be shot on a RED Epic.

 

Mike:

Thank you, just what I need!

[Bill DiPietra]

A 650w should be fine, producing nice shadows & texture. If it helps I was using Kodak 7219 rated at 2K. At times I was using only a 650w and I wound up being very happy with the results. Since you are using the Red, you will have far more dynamic range in case you want to up the ASA.

[Bill DiPietra]

A 650w should be fine, producing nice shadows & texture. If it helps I was using Kodak 7219 rated at 2K. At times I was using only a 650w and I wound up being very happy with the results. Since you are using the Red, you will have far more dynamic range in case you want to up the ASA.

 

Also, have a set of scrims standing by. Often, I had to cut the 650s down since I was shooting in a small space.

[David Landau]

It is usually a good idea to provide a white reference. Whenever you light a "dark" scene, you want the viewers to feel like their eyes have adjusted to the darkness and can now see - which is exactly what our eyes really do. No camera made yet can duplicate the light sensitivity of the human eye. What we want to do in lighting is imitate what the human eye would see under these circumstances. When the eye dilates so wide that it can see into the dark, what would be a normal intensity light now looks extra bright - think about headlights at night. During the day they aren't bright, but they are blinding at night. So, to sell the night break in look, provide some sort of "bright" white reference somewhere in the background. It can be justified as light from a streetlamp outside, shining in. It could be something as simple as car headlights or an outside house light outside a window. It could be the burlgar's flashlight. Overexpose that source and light the scene so tat the audeince can see what is going on - unless you want something more expressionistic or surreal.

 

Also consider your color temperatures. Do you want the flashlight white, the fil a litttle cooler and some streetlight source coming in the background to be warm? As others have said, you might consider the Lee urban colors or the Rosco sodium vapor gel color to add that odd color we often see at night.

 

I certainly wouldn't limit myself to using only one light. that might work, but you might want to use a very soft low intensity 1/4 CTB fill and then add some inkies or Arri 150s or the new tiny LED hard lights made by cineo, dedo, frezzi or Litepanel - or even cheaper, use a LED flashlight to provide the "bounce" off the steel of the vault onto the faces of the thieves. This might add more texture to the over all look. Just because you can do it with one light doesn't mean that will provide the best look - it might - but you might want to paint the light a bit more as well.

 

Good luck - and have fun with it.