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lighting for a mock-prison scene

Dutchboy

Dutchboy

I'm shooting a 16 minute short in about a month and I'm building a mock-prison scene. I want simple lighting all from above, nothing too dramatic, any recommendations for lights to use? Thanks to anyone who can offer advice.
 
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Prisons are all different. Some cells look like dorms with fluorescent lighting, others look like bare cells with minimal light. I'd say you have lots of creative room to work with.
 
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I just need something simple. Something that will light each cell and a hallway, and a main room. will normal lights be sufficient enough light for a digital camera?
 
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What do you mean normal lights? I did a jail cell scene before. I used Kino Flos overhead.
 
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You need to have the DP take a look at the location/set. Of course there are many ways to light it.
 
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Kino Flo's would be your best bet.

But i'm going to assume you are shooting with a consumer camera, and you'll be the DP, and it'll be a very very low budget, if any, production.

In that case. It really doesnt matter. Try your best with whatever you have.
 
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Do you know what a cucoloris is (cookie)? You make patterns to put in front of lights. You could do something like this to simulate bars with the lights coming from the outside of the cell.
 
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Not a bad idea, sounds interesting. But I'm not looking for any dramatic lighting at all. In fact, I want it to almost look like a documentary of a prison. I just need the cells, hallway, and main room illuminated brightly.
 
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It's not dramatic, it will help you simulate a cell. Doesn't need to be fancy, could be in front of a light that is scrimmed. Try it out.
 
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Dutchboy said:
Thanks, I was just seeing there was some type of "cheap, industrial" light that could work. Guess not...
Click to expand...

Different lights and bulb types give off completely different color temperatures that the camera can read and change the look dramatically. Using lights that are not "movie" lights run the risk of making things look bad, but the secret is DIFFUSION. Using diffusion on the harsh worklamps will go a long way to making things look good versus bad.

Another great trick? CHINA LANTERNS. This simple lighting apparatus gives off a great soft light that can be used as a key light or fill light.
 
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Followin' up on the 'Boo, you can easily rent lightbulbs.

The Kinos (mentioned earlier) are very cheap when rented. You can also rent a selection of colour-corrected tubes to use in them. Takes all of two minutes to swap out a 4-bank, and it doesn't break the bank.

Additionally, if you don't want to work with Kinos (and just fix the existing overhead tubes) you can rent day & night tubes to replace what's already there. (Or if you prefer, get a small step-ladder & a tonne ofgels to correct what you need to).

The thing is though, how much of the available light is going to be practicals?

There are a zillion films where light sources are never shown - your initial specification was lighting "from above". There are more films than you can shake a stick at, where light comes from above and the source is never shown. (usually because of rather obvious reasons)

Lemme dig up a video for you... brb
 
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The set will basically be a hallway, main room (both will need light the whole time) and 8 prison cells, an office, and a bathroom. I guess I can use cheap fill lights in the cells and bathroom.

Can the kinos plug into a regular wall socket?
 
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Not sure if this was said yet, but you can place small bars directly in front of your key light...this will cast bar shadows ever so slightly on your scene...it works very well.
 
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Buy plain old household fluorescents. They are easily found at Home Depot.

They'll look ugly and inhumane, just like... fluorescents.

Bounce for fill or keep some lamps away from the practical/justified sources and use them for fill instead.
 
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