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Lighting advice for a short in this room


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I'm DPing a short set in this office location. There's going to be 4 very distinct time periods with really different looks and times of day (I'll be reaching out for advice on these looks in time) But at least one will require shafts of light from an HMI outside.

 

panorama

front (east)

 

The big challenge is the amount of windows on 3 sides of the room. Floor to ceiling windows on both the east and west side, and the same on the south side (except it faces a wall 10ft away).

 

On the east side there's a pavement on which it's unlikely we'll get permits to put lights up, but there's a car park on the west side which we can use for lighting.

 

How would you approach it?

 

My instinct is to black out the east and south windows and never shoot that way. Then put blinds and or diffusion on the west side windows and put lighting out there. To be safe, would you tent those lights?

 

Let me know if there's key information i'm missing to get some useful tips!

 

Cheers

Edited by Haroun Al-Shaater
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Let me know if there's key information i'm missing to get some useful tips!

 

Without knowing what kind of resources are available to you it is nearly impossible to make recommendations. How large an HMI can you afford?

 

Guy Holt, Gaffer, ScreenLight & Grip, Lighting Rental & Sales in Boston

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Without knowing what kind of resources are available to you it is nearly impossible to make recommendations. How large an HMI can you afford?

 

Guy Holt, Gaffer, ScreenLight & Grip, Lighting Rental & Sales in Boston

 

Not a lot, currently in the budget is 2 x M18. The scene that requires that will be fairly low key. Something akin to this: https://ibb.co/mBnPtJ

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Not a lot, currently in the budget is 2 x M18. The scene that requires that will be fairly low key. Something akin to this: https://ibb.co/mBnPtJ

 

For the low key scene I would definitely black out the East and South Windows. Two M18s will not be enough to cover the West windows, so you have two options. One is to wait to shoot your master establishing shot until you have direct sun coming in those windows. Before and after that point shoot your close coverage with the M18s in such a way that it will match the master shot. Your second option is to have the art department frame in two smaller windows, that you can cover with M18s, with black showcard or some other appropriate board material.

 

Guy Holt, ScreenLight & Grip, Lighting rental and sales in Boston

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For the low key scene I would definitely black out the East and South Windows. Two M18s will not be enough to cover the West windows, so you have two options. One is to wait to shoot your master establishing shot until you have direct sun coming in those windows. Before and after that point shoot your close coverage with the M18s in such a way that it will match the master shot. Your second option is to have the art department frame in two smaller windows, that you can cover with M18s, with black showcard or some other appropriate board material.

 

Guy Holt, ScreenLight & Grip, Lighting rental and sales in Boston

 

 

Thanks Guy,

 

I think we'll be going for the smaller windows option. Art dept are talking about covering 60% of the windows with 3mm ply which should do the trick in terms of blocking light whilst still being okay to be visible in frame

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