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How would you light this setup?

John@Bophe

John@Bophe

Here goes another lighting question --

I have a small room (about 15' square) and I want to light a scene where two people sit at a table in the center of the room. I want the overall mood to be dark and dramatic, with the light concentrated on the actors at the table. I would be happy if the rest of the room around the table disappeared into darkness...but without grain! I can use filters in post to help acheive this if needed.

Suggestions?
 
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I'd go with spotlights. Depending on how spooky/dramatic you want it, either from the floor or above the actors, or both if you want a little less contrast/shadows. If you just use the spots, you shouldn't even see the rest of the room unless you add light to the rest of the room.

Good luck with it.

Chris
 
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I plan to hang dark sheets, dropcloths, etc around all of the walls to render then completely non-descript. It is in a home basement, so the ceiling is a little low. White stone tile floor.
 
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You might use a cookie with a unique pattern that let them bob an weave in between the light and darkness as they talked with only parts of their face lit.
 
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why is it in a small room if you want the background completely dark? just film it outside at night lol always works for me. Put a table in the backyard bring in some bright lights, set the exposure to the lights and everything the lights don't touch will be dark. of course you couldn't show the ground, but you still have lots of options moving around the table.
 
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Bradley_groot said:
why is it in a small room if you want the background completely dark? just film it outside at night lol always works for me. Put a table in the backyard bring in some bright lights, set the exposure to the lights and everything the lights don't touch will be dark. of course you couldn't show the ground, but you still have lots of options moving around the table.
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My guess is that everything the light doesn't touch will be dark due to under-exposure...which will lead to grainy black. That is what I am trying to avoid. But I could be wrong.
 
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John@Bophe said:
My guess is that everything the light doesn't touch will be dark due to under-exposure...which will lead to grainy black. That is what I am trying to avoid. But I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't think it would be grainy unless you had the gain turned up. If you have enough light on the actors, you shouldn't be using any gain. I shot something similar indoors recently as a lighting test where I dropped black felt on the floor behind the subject. I did not have any grain in the background, just a sea of black.
 
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hmmm...small room ...low cieling...tough one...

but do a test...this is what i would try first:
a simple chinaball hung in the middle of the table overhead...make sure it is in a dimmer...but have a few bulbs around of different wattage as not to dim too low to make noise for sound :)
they take some duvatine(Black Cloth) and scirt it around the light rom the ceiling down...it should be long enough to hang to the bottom of the China Ball...from there you can roll it up till you have light on both actors...

you can always try a little backlight on them from the sides...but this will be tough unless you have lights with snoots on them and flags for flare and cutting it off things you sone want the light on...so just try the ONE SIMPLE LIGHT FIRST...

do a test and see if you like it...

good luck
 
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