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Can I Survive Without Syc Lights?
Hi,
I have an upcoming job shooting a video in a studio with a white background. We found a studio that fits the budget, however the lights are not included in the package. Now, we can bring in some of our equipment, but what we have is a bunch of hard lights, from 300W to 1K, Lowel DPs, Fresnels. A few small kino banks, etc.. nothing special.
I am thinking we need to at least rent the syc lights in the studio, because I have no idea how to evenly light the background otherwise.
Can I? Do I need to? Can I just blow out the background?
Oh, should I mention I need to shoot 9 pages in 10 hours? Just in case…
Thanks.
Alec. -
4 Replies
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Do you need to see the floor too, and is it white? Is there a cove?
If the answer to both of the above is yes, then what you have will not work well at all. You will want an even illumination of the wall and floor, and some sort of fill and/or key on the actor(s). Whatever you use, it is somewhat tricky to get even illumination of the whites, and also make the actors look good. Usually this is accomplished with broad, soft lights for the walls, often via space lights, and equally broad soft illumination of the floor. Then add back light(s), a key which can be hard, and possibly some soft fill. Takes an experienced gaffer plus grip with a good crew.
Note that unless you get an EVEN illumination, your whites will be all over the place, from clip to some sort of gray.
If the stage is tiny, and you don’t see the floor, then your problem is much simpler. By pushing your hard lights through diffusion you just might get away with what you have.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
https://contextnyc.com/photogallery/s1-photos.html
i think i will need to see the floor. pretty sure i will. i’ll have 2-3 people in the shot, props, etc..
if you look at the photos, i don’t think those overhead banks are part or the syc lights deal..
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As with another post, I think the best recommendation to give you is to hire a good gaffer, preferably one who knows this studio. The studio itself will have a list of these guys. Explain what you want to do and he/she will come up with a working equipment list.
Rick Wise
director of photography
San Francisco Bay Area
and part-time instructor lighting and camera
grad school, SF Academy of Art University/Film and Video
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
I have the studio rented with the syc lights and overhead soft boxes. We will bring whatever we have and try to create a high-key setup, so we don’t have to change much as we change angles.
I do have a gaffer for the shoot and I hope he’ll know what he’s doing. Thanks for the advice.Alec.
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