lighting Music Video Lighting Setup help

F

FlyingDart

Hello Everyone,
I am going to start filming a music video for a London rock band on March. However, my lack of concrete experience oblige me to ask for a few tips and advices from you.

My lighting skills is kind of my achille's heels, in the sense that I am well aware of the three point lighting technique, but I don't know if I should apply this same system over a band.
My plan is to get them to stand in a standard band position, similar to this one. It shall alternates between wide shot and close up of the different band members.
2SWGsz.jpg


Now, here is the lighting kit I can use
Kinoflo Celeb Light
Dedo Lighting Kit
Led Lighting Kit

The Location might be a rehearsal room, a studio or another big room, defintely Indoors. Has anybody any suggestion on which kit and where should I place the light to have a cheerful, dynamic short music video?
Should I change my lighting setup when focusing on a singular band member?

Thanks for solving my doubts!
 
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if you don't have to change it, i wouldn't. but that'll probably be based on what kind of look they want for their video and if you can correctly light that look for both wide and close ups with one setup. it's gonna depend on a lot. music videos can be tricky, i've always been under the impression (from my brief experience with them) that you want as much content as you can get! though sometimes keeping it simple really works, for example, this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odGs1shCuJk

but on the whole this is really well put together, and her wardrobe and the song work well with the location, simple but i'm sure a lot of practice and prep to get it right. i've found with music videos so much depends on preparedness, so location scout, try a photo shoot with a test light setup, make sure you and the band are on the same page about story, shots, length of the shoot (sometimes band members can act like children...), etc

good luck, share here when you're done!
 
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I assume the picture is something you want to mimic to some degree? A really big factor that most people don't think about, especially when it comes to low(er) budget music videos is production and set design.
That's quite an interesting set in that picture, which makes it a much more interesting frame than if they were simply in a rehearsal studio.'

In regards to lighting - the fundamentals of three-point lighting tend to always apply; sometimes we may 'bend rules' but it's still with a fundamental understanding of three-point. Interview three-point, which is what many are trained on, tends to look very interview-like, however I tend to make use of a lot of backlight, and I always talk to my Gaffers about what we're going to key with and fill with, and where each should be coming from.

The hardest part with your lighting kit will be getting the necessary throw and levels to be able to light a whole band. How big are the LED panels and how many are there? I'd be bringing a bunch of bounce cards and the like.
You should be able to get decent lighting for your mids and wides (assuming you spend the time to move each for each shot); but getting wide shots might be tough (depending on the size of the band, and size of the room - and also type of the room, i.e. are there any windows with natural light etc) and providing depth in the mid and wide shots with the lighting might be an interesting challenge
 
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FlyingDart said:
The Location might be a rehearsal room, a studio or another big room, defintely Indoors. Has anybody any suggestion on which kit and where should I place the light to have a cheerful, dynamic short music video?
Should I change my lighting setup when focusing on a singular band member?

Thanks for solving my doubts!
Click to expand...

https://vimeo.com/paulrwalker/review/84971935/ccf932163f - music vid I directed which might be lit along the lines you are looking for. Don't know as need more info, but in general:

- Yes, you have to move lights around when focusing on a single band member
- Yes, you can use a 3-point system depending on the results you want but would suggest four over a broader area provided you have dimming etc... control
- Your lighting setup could be fine if you know what you're doing. We used four tungstens for the vid above and as you can see, there was a ton of green screen in there. There are some 'invisible' green screen elements (e.g. newspapers that weren't there etc...)

There are so many ways to create a great lighting environment but the critical question is over lenses and camera as lighting will interact differently depending on the kit you are using. So lighting with a RAW setup is dead easy provided you have the time in post but with a DSLR, it is a little trickier.

Also depends on what you are trying to achieve in post.

If you need a conversation, just PM me and happy to bounce ideas around with a fellow Londoner.
 
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