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Lighting for Idiot(s)

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Swink

Lighting a bathroom scene

I'm going to be shooting a few scenes in a fair-sized bathroom. At some points the actor will look in the mirror. The existing lighting consists of two fixtures about two metres apart roughly in the middle of the room. Each fixture has three lights (typical, screw-in style, regular size), which have frosted glass "shade" on the side, but the end of the bulbs are naked. These swivel, so I can point them pretty much wherever I want. If the actor is in the middle of the room the light source is roughly right over his head. If he moves to look in the mirror, the light source is above and behind him slightly, not great for illuminating his face.

A friend suggested bouncing one of these http://www.rona.ca/shop/~work-light-supra-lite-tripod-work-light-globe-82319_!halogen-lights_shop off a wall to increase overall light level. I should mention that the walls are green and when I do tests bouncing a little Ikea light off the wall, my face takes on a green tinge. Do you think these worklights are a good idea to bring up general light level?

Also, any suggestion for getting light in front of the actor when he's looking in the mirror, to brighten his face? I already tried hanging a string of Christmas lights beside the mirror, but they are very dim and make almost no visible (to my eye) difference when I look at myself in the mirror. I tried putting a reading lamp beside the sink, but it made me look a bit vampirish (not quite what I'm going for).

Thanks for any tips.
Tom
 
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What colour's the ceiling? If it's white, bounce the worklights off there.

I'd take a light and reflect it off the mirror, into the actor's face - you might want to diffuse it slightly so the shadows aren't too harsh. If above the actor's head and aimed into the mirror, this could double as a rimlight.

If you need more specific answers, it'd be useful to see a plan of the bathroom and shots you need to do, and maybe a list of lighting equipment you have available to you.
 
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Right, before I give you lengthy reply, which position(s) are the camera and actor going to go during the scenes? Don't want to go sticking lights in front of it :)
 
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Most of the short is in the bathroom. Here are a few situations:

He'll walk into bathroom. (Medium shot from behind.) Then look in mirror and play with his face (close-up). Then he'll turn to his right and leave.

In another part, he'll also be seated in the middle of the room while his girlfriend shaves off his beard. Guy facing mirror. Girl moving around. Shot from behind and side. A montage scene. I can't show the actual cutting of the beard because it's a straight razor and the actress isn't a barber :) The focus will be on the girl. Also shots of rinsing the blade, etc.

Safe spots in the room--where there will be no traffic--are bottom left (going by sketch), over by toilet and in the tub.

We're all going to be nice and snug shooting in there.
 
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lightingplan.png


Apologies in advance if this is far too complicated! I've obviously never seen the room and don't know your style of shooting, so this might be complete overkill, but these are just a few suggestions that I might try out with the kit you have access to. I'll go through it shot by shot.

1. MS of boyfriend entering bathroom. Fresnel (orange lamp) as key (will be motivated lighting for later shots). Fixtures either side of mirror can double as practicals and backlight (from the camera's point of view) for this shot).

2. CU in mirror. Fresnel is now a backlight (if you think of the camera as being where the mirror is), giving a motivated source through the doorway. You could gel it with 1/4 CTB, so as to make it feel like daylight. Kinoflo (green lamp) will be the key, the fixtures can provide frontal lighting, but you might want to ND them so they're not overexposed for the camera. Bounceboard to left of camera to act as fill if that side of the face is too dark. Small, diffused light (blue lamp) will fill the features in a bit more if needed and act as an eyelight.

3. Montage of girl shaving. Fresnel as back/sidelight again, Kinoflo rotated to act as key. Redhead or similar (red lamp), possibly with a cookie on it can throw a slash of light on the background to make the shot more visually appealing.

For all of these shots, the Blonde or similar (yellow lamp) is bounced off white foamcore/polystyrene/cardboard on the ceiling (white translucent square) for general fill/ambient light.

Shot a feature in lots of small bedrooms/bathrooms last summer, can't say I envy you. Hopefully that will have been some help, sorry if it's a bit too much!
 
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Wow, thanks. I should be paying you. (Want to fly over to Montreal for April 7?)

I think I've deciphered it all (and learned a lot in the process). Even if I don't have the technical resources to duplicate it exactly, it gives me something to work from.

Did I read your profile right ... you worked on the original Office. Must have been fun.

Cheers
Tom
 
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Haha, not exactly - was a parody I shot a few years ago! Glad I was some help, anyway. Like I said, this is probably way overkill for the space you're working in, but the more options you have the better. If the end result looks good it doesn't matter what equipment you use!

Ollie
 
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