what is the best way to light a really dark scene.

[M.E.Halbouney]

Hello people, i'm going to shout a dark short film,it's one scene on long take, with some semi abstracts before,throw and after this take, the point is in this scene there's only on table,one light from above and tow men.now the quotation is should i have more lights to show the faces better?if so how many lights should i use and how can i make this without lighting the background? since i want it to be dark,what type of camera should i use,and any other advice ?now i know the best thing to do is to go and try what works best, but it's better to know what i need since i don't have much time for experimentation and i'm on a really tight budget.

 

[sfoster]

you want cinefoil to funnel the light and you should have black blankets strung up off camera for "negative fill" to help prevent light from spilling onto the background.

 

[M.E.Halbouney]

thank you

 

[ILikef11]

You can always get the light closer to your subjects (though that might mess with the lighting on the faces). If the light is closer to the subject, the drop-off on the background will be greater, hence more contrast. Flag the light off walls as much as you can, like the cinefoil tip, or you can use black foam core on stands to flag the light if you need a wider area lit than the snoot will give you.

 

[SkyCopeland]

You can always get the light closer to your subjects (though that might mess with the lighting on the faces). If the light is closer to the subject, the drop-off on the background will be greater, hence more contrast. Flag the light off walls as much as you can, like the cinefoil tip, or you can use black foam core on stands to flag the light if you need a wider area lit than the snoot will give you.

black foam core... Do you actually have that? I've never thought of using that as flags.

You can actually make flags (and nets for that matter) very cheaply with just stuff from Home Depot. Granted... if you have black foam core that works too.

 

[ILikef11]

Yes, I use it all the time. Just vice it in the grip head and your good to go. Or you could get fancier and use a cardellini or mater clamps. And they make foam core that's black on one side and white on the other, so you got a flag and a bounce. I try and have some of both because there are some occasions where the white side may introduce stray light when used as a flag. They're actually very handy.

 

[SkyCopeland]

Well shit, thanks. I'm actually gonna pick some black foam core up now haha. Grip head... do you own C-Stands? I've always rented grip gear... are they affordable? lol

I'd use a Duckbill also, doesn't damage the board. Not something I'd worry about with foam core, but I do when using B-Board.

 

[Scoopicman]

I've shot a couple of scenes like that. I used a fairly bright overhead light for the table. With a light colored tablecloth, you can bounce the light off of it. I put up a black dropcloth to eliminate background. If you like, you can have some ambient light, perhaps motivated by a lamp or light outside the window blinds, etc. I recommend some additional lights over/behind the actors for hair light and shoulder light. You can see such a scene here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSh8L2815Qo

Since it is going to be "one take," you could put the cloth on one side and shoot the profiles of the two characters. You wouldn't have to move anything.

 

[Scoopicman]

Here's another scene, which I like better. I used two 1K lights, with barndoors, about 15 - 20 feet back. I angled the barndoors so that the areas of light were pretty narrow on each character. The bright lights allowed me to the close the iris enough (F 5.6, 8 or 11), so I could bring down the background of the bar.

Same movie, where the character hides in a dark room. I used one light with barndoors.

 

[M.E.Halbouney]

thank you all guys really helpful tips