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Lighting a scene with a TV in shot.


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I am going to be shooting a music video this weekend and I am stuck on how to effectively shoot this scene. I am going to be doing a slow pull in during this shot.

In the image above is how this shot will be framed. The TV in the corner will be on and it will be night. What I am asking is how I should go about this. I am not sure if I should have the TV on and expose around it, or if I should green screen the TV. If I did how would you guys go about to replicate the TV light, since this will be night and that the TV light will be the only source of light from that side of the room.

 

My second question is there will be another shot in the video where the camera is focused on the subject on the couch and TV is off camera. What would be the best way to get the flicker effect from a television.

 

Thanks everyone.

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When you say the TV is the only source of light on that side of the room, do you mean that you want it actually lighting/exposing the people and the room or is it just a bright thing in the corner of the room? Is there no possible other sources as well?

 

When the TV is a light source, I wouldn't green screen it, it should be bright, a bit overexposed and that would add some natural effect on whatever is right next to the TV. I'd only green screen a TV if it was in brighter room.

 

TV's don't really flicker much, it's like a scene in a movie theater, the brightness changes as the image changes or when cuts happen to shots that are brighter or darker. If it has to exactly tie into the action and cutting on the TV, then it's a bit tricky, you might have to get a video projector with the same feed as the TV set and use it as a light, maybe through a light diffusion frame, and figure out how to get it off-camera but shining from a similar direction as the TV set.

 

Otherwise if the flicker / shifting could be done randomly, with subtlety, from off-camera and not be too exactly the same as the footage on the TV set, there are any number of ways to do that, just like when doing a firelight gag. Could just be an LED soft light, for example, slightly fading up and down randomly by turning the dimmer knob. Or two soft lights, one fading up and down a little differently than the other. I've done things like put two or three small lights through one diffusion frame, one light flickering, one light just dimming up and down, and maybe a third light steady. I've also just waved my hands or a small flag randomly between a light and a diffusion frame. You have to have a feeling for what the effect would be in real life, like a sudden fast shift flicker for a scene cut in the footage and some side to side motion for brightness changes moving across the screen. It has to feel organic and random, and it's better to be subtle unless you want a stylized strobing effect for a horror moment.

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When you say the TV is the only source of light on that side of the room, do you mean that you want it actually lighting/exposing the people and the room or is it just a bright thing in the corner of the room? Is there no possible other source

 

When I say the TV is the only light source of that side of the room, I mean its the only "practical" light that will be in the scene on that side of the room. As to whether I want the TV to actually expose the subject that will be sitting on the couch, in the shot provided above, that would depend on what is on the TV correct? If the TV is showing a movie that has a snowy daytime exterior, it would provide a lot more light than the TV showing a dark cave scene, or something like that.

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I am going to be shooting a music video this weekend and I am stuck on how to effectively shoot this scene. I am going to be doing a slow pull in during this shot.

In the image above is how this shot will be framed. The TV in the corner will be on and it will be night. What I am asking is how I should go about this. I am not sure if I should have the TV on and expose around it, or if I should green screen the TV. If I did how would you guys go about to replicate the TV light, since this will be night and that the TV light will be the only source of light from that side of the room.

 

My second question is there will be another shot in the video where the camera is focused on the subject on the couch and TV is off camera. What would be the best way to get the flicker effect from a television.

 

Thanks everyone.

What lenses are you using in this scene?

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