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Pro name for Hero Lighting?
I am a self-taught and college inspired Lighting Freak.
I have been studying a few techniques and have seen one I don’t know the name of and any “rules” (more like guidelines) about getting it. The last time a saw it, it was in The Lonely Island – Jizz In My Pants. There is a light coming from behind the actor and off to the side, towards the camera but not into the lens (no flares, light is off camera). It adds a kicker type effect (or separation) to the side of the subjects face. Most the time I see it it’s blown out as well (that part of their face is HOT blue). My friend at work said its called Hero Lighting, but online I can’t seem to find anything under that name.
What is this lighting technique called?
Are there any tips to getting it?
Like the light should be 70˚ from the Camera, color temp. is 5600k, bla bla bla. (something like that).Thanks for your time and info.
Clay -
7 Replies
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A picture is worth 1000 words. Hard to imagine exactly what you are describing?
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Not sure which effect you’re particularly talking about – but in general, that parody video uses club lighting as an overall theme.
The strongly backlit scenes have a lot of stuff going on.
Among them…
Theatrical effect (disco style) lights behind the characters. These create the multiple beams that break up the otherwise plain background.
in order to see these beams, you must inject particulates into the air in the form of smoke or fog. Without the smoke particles, you can’t see the beams and glows.
This needs to be balanced with front lighting to show the characteres faces.
The shot angles are also typically low camera angled up – to provide the characters with height and stature.
It’s nothing very complicated but I don’t know if there’s any particular “name” for it.
It’s rock band lighting 101. (or perhaps 201 since there obviously was a competent LD involved in the Sat. Night Live crew..) An attempt to make the band look like “stars” in a vibrant setting – precisely what the overall video is making fun of.
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this has 5 pics should be worth 5000 words lol, hope its enough to get a name out of, and maybe some guidelines.
Clay -
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That’s nothing more than just plain ol’ back/side lighting. Most of us do some variation of that all the time.
I’ve been a cinematographer for pushing 20 years and I’ve never heard the term “Hero Lighting”… or known that particular look called by any special name.
What angle degree should the light be? Who knows?… give it a try. Could be 45°, could be 70°. Try the setup and see if it looks like you want. If not, it’s certainly easy enough to move the instrument a few feet in either direction to see if it gets the look you want.
You said the effect looks “blue.” It looks pretty plain white in the posted example… but if you want it blue, that’s easy enough. Just put blue gel on the instrument. Or use a daylight-balanced instrument when the rest of the scene has tungsten lighting.
When I do setups like this, I often “steal” a bit of the lighting. I’ll usually use a medium-sized instrument for the back/side light (I usually choose a 1200w fresnel HMI) and put it high and to the rear/side on a tall junior stand. I’ll position it so that hits both the talent, and a 4×4 white bounce card thats in front of the talent which becomes the key light. Kills two birds with one stone.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thanks a lot Todd, thats what i thought but was hoping for some cool name like “gigawatt lighting” lol (back to the future). Thats what i was planing on doing on my next production. “stealing.”
Best wishes
Clay -
Yeah, using a very bright back/side instrument and snagging a little bit of it to bounce back and fill the talent is a super easy way to get pretty good looking setups really easy. I do that all the time.
These commercial spots I directed each have several shots in it where I did just that… although most are not as pronounced as the examples you posted… but it’s accomplished the same way. The first one even has the “blue” in it that you mentioned…
https://www.fantasticplastic.com/portfolio/downloads/fpe_spot03-highres.wmv
https://www.fantasticplastic.com/portfolio/downloads/fpe_spot15-highres.wmvT2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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