tungsten v. globe?

[Mr Blackstock]

I have been busily filming lately in b&w, in little light environs, ie inside, with only my lights on. Question is, How can i adjust the lights to not blast the actor, and yet properly light the scene? I use two tungstens, one 300Watt at distance, one 150Watt as a spot, and six 60Watt house hold globes in a box with perspex as fill light.

I have tried screens, moving the lights further etc. Should i use stronger lights? or multiple weaker lights. I also use reflectors, both white and gold.

Any hints on how not to blind the cast?

------------------

[mattias]

well, first of all i have lit many scenes with several blondes, redheads, nooks and more pointing directly at the actors, and while they did perspirate a lot, they never complained about being blinded. ;-)

however, a diffused light feels less strong than a hard source of equal intensity. bounce lights off the ceiling or pieces of foamcore, and get some silk and frosted paper to put in front of the lights.

for the softest light you can get, bounce a light off the foam core, and then let it pass through some diffusion material. makes a really beautiful side key that wraps around faces a bit. the best way of doing this without losing too much of the light is to put two pieces of foamcore together at a 90 degree angle, hang some silk in front and shine a few spotted lights into it from the top or bottom.

another thing to consider is that a hard light is softer the closer it is to the subject, so a weak light up close will not blind the cast as much as a strong light at a distance.

but then again, you shouldn't care too much much about the actors. your job is to get the shot. their job is to suffer. ;-)

/matt

[Scott Spears]

I like Mathias' take on lighting.

I don't know what kind of lights specifically you're using and what film stocks, so it's hard to comment, but I never let something like that keep me from posting.

Mathias'foam core idea is very good. My advice to you is to go to a hardware store and find those 500watt "worklights" that come on stands. (I just saw an ad for a double head worklight for $18. Talk about bang for your buck.) Sometimes they have double heads so you get 1000 watts of power. Get another stand and use a large spring clamp to attach a hunk of foam core to the stand. Blast the "worklight" into the foam core which will bounce a lovely softlight onto your actors. Don't aim these lights directly at actors, always bounce off something, be it a white wall, foam core or a ceiling. The light from these light is too harsh, in my opinion, to aim directlt at actors.

Scott



------------------

[Scott Spears]

Ooops, sorry for mispelling your name mattias.

Scott

------------------

[MovieStuff]

Another thing to consider in lighting for black and white is value and contrast. For instance, if you were shooting in color and you had a guy with orange pants, green shirt, nice tan and standing in front of blue background, you couldn't help but see him. However, if the values of all the colors involved were the same, then in black and white they would all end up being the same shade of grey! The guy would be practically invisible!

Therefore, you can get away with less light if you choose make up and articles of clothing and backgrounds that have more contrast (assuming that's the look you want). Even if you shot with diffused, soft light, you would still retain the higher contrast values and that would give more definition. It was very common in the early days of black and white to use make up with a slightly greenish cast, due to the nature of black and white film in those days.

The other thing is that not everything HAS to be lit. One of the nicest things about black and white is the very impressionistic look it gives which separates it from reality. Referring back to the guy with clothing, skin and background that all had the same values, you can use a rim light to separate him from the background and that, in itself, adds tremendously to illusion of detail that is implied rather than seen.

A person with fuzzy black hair standing in front of a black background doesn't really need his hair lit from the front to know what it's like. Lighting only from the side or back will give the viewer just enough information to form an impression of what the hair is like.

Anyway, my two cents....

Roger

------------------
Roger Evans
MovieStuff
http://www.afterimagephoto.tv/moviestuff.html

[mattias]

yeah, in black and white i often underexpose my keylights (soft) by up to one stop and use back and cross lighting (hard) to provide the highlights for contrast. i also put a very soft fill light, at two or three stops under, close to the camera to fill all the shadows without casting any new ones. the following samples were taken from my short film "the graduate" (sic!). shot on 7222 something like two years ago, in queens, ny. not at all my best work when it comes to cinematography, but all i have available to show you what i mean...

/matt

[Nigel]

Diffuse light when possible. Good Luck

------------------

[mattias]

i would just like to add that a focused fresnel light is actually softer than a flooded one...

/matt

[MovieStuff]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nigel:
Diffuse light when possible. Good Luck
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I practice a variation on that: Use focused light, whenever possible, for sharpest detail and diffused light, when necessary, for more pleasing skin tones.

That said, some of the most beautiful images every recorded used point source lighting that was VERY focused, as in practically all the movies made up until the 60's. If fact, the first Star Wars movie used focused, theatrical style lighting and went to diffused lighting only in the sequels. If I was shooting black and white, I would light the people with diffused lighting and everything else around them with focused lighting, if possible, to add definition to the image.

Roger

------------------
Roger Evans
MovieStuff
http://www.afterimagephoto.tv/moviestuff.html

[Mr Blackstock]

I like the sound of the focused lighting, of diffusing the face and hard hitting the background, but i do not understand the term 'focused' I think i understand the intent. What i have been doing is blasting the face and body, and gently lighting the background, the tips here were great, i shall try them in the next few days!

Thanks.

------------------