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Lowkey Hallway Lighting for Music Video Help


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First of all i apologize for my bad english for its my second language. I need your help trying to light the attached image. I would like to give it a very dark/horror lowkey look. I am thinking of punching some lights through the doors and windows and use smoke for that Spielberg effect. I am also thinking about taping some translucent trash bags on the windows so that it would break up the lights so it wouldn't be too harsh. Do you think what i am trying to do is a great idea or should i just top light the musician instead or backlight him similar to this video

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-19215859-stock-footage-skateboarder-moves-on-a-skateboard-along-the-corridor-of-an-abandoned-building.html?src=rel/4949642:1/gg. Thank you.

 

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Edited by Jae Solina
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Jae, your English is excellent.

 

Is it supposed to be day or night in the scene? The location already looks creepy in a good way. I'd consider playing around with color temperature in-camera, making the hallway lighting blue-green and the talent's key light neutral.

 

You could try hanging bare Kino tubes down from the drop ceiling, as if they were originally installed there but got ripped out along with the ceiling tiles. Another cool thing might be to hide some LEDs up there on a DMX controlled chase pattern to simulate fluorescent ballast flicker or electrical arcing.

 

I think interactive lighting would be cool. How about some strong beams from outside sweeping across the windows and doors? I'd consider strapping a few Parcans onto a platform dolly and having a dolly grip push it back and forth on track. You could have an electrician stand on the dolly and also pan the lights back and forth.

 

The transluscent trash bags are a neat idea - maybe cover them with streaks of dirt or flecks of dark liquid for an even grittier feel?

 

Something that would be creepy to me is if you had a lighting cue that switched instantly from day to night at key moments in the song. Maybe there are extras walking around in the day, but they vanish at night. Or the opposite. Just an idea.

 

Last idea, if you are allowed to add graffiti to the location, what if you had some artists do it with UV fluorescent paint? Then you could use UV fluorescent tubes to make the graffiti glow.

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Jae, your English is excellent.

 

Is it supposed to be day or night in the scene? The location already looks creepy in a good way. I'd consider playing around with color temperature in-camera, making the hallway lighting blue-green and the talent's key light neutral.

 

You could try hanging bare Kino tubes down from the drop ceiling, as if they were originally installed there but got ripped out along with the ceiling tiles. Another cool thing might be to hide some LEDs up there on a DMX controlled chase pattern to simulate fluorescent ballast flicker or electrical arcing.

 

I think interactive lighting would be cool. How about some strong beams from outside sweeping across the windows and doors? I'd consider strapping a few Parcans onto a platform dolly and having a dolly grip push it back and forth on track. You could have an electrician stand on the dolly and also pan the lights back and forth.

 

The transluscent trash bags are a neat idea - maybe cover them with streaks of dirt or flecks of dark liquid for an even grittier feel?

 

Something that would be creepy to me is if you had a lighting cue that switched instantly from day to night at key moments in the song. Maybe there are extras walking around in the day, but they vanish at night. Or the opposite. Just an idea.

 

Last idea, if you are allowed to add graffiti to the location, what if you had some artists do it with UV fluorescent paint? Then you could use UV fluorescent tubes to make the graffiti glow.

Wow! Thank you for all of the ideas. I should have stated. It;s going to be a night scene. What would be the best position for a key light if the talent is standing where the picture is taken. Will an overhead work or should i have him stand beside the window and get keyed by the window lights. Thanks.

Edited by Jae Solina
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What would be the best position for a key light if the talent is standing where the picture is taken. Will an overhead work or should i have him stand beside the window and get keyed by the window lights.

That's pretty much down to taste, any of those options could work if done well. I think it mainly comes down to, do you want the key to be naturalistic and to feel like it is coming from the actual location? Or do you want it to be more graphic and make the artist pop from the background?

 

The former example is how most DPs would do it in a narrative film, and the latter is very common for music videos where it's more important to make the artist look good and to draw the eye to their performance. But it's all up to you.

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