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Please recommend Light for lighting backgrounds during interviews
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[john sharaf] “Not an open face as much as a point-source!”
Thanks John — I get what Dennis meant now. A fresnel with its tiny reflector is much “pointier” than an open face, right? I have so much to learn in 2011. I think it might take at least a full year.
HNY, everybody. Your generosity with sharing your experiences and expertise has helped me immensely with lighting, which is a part of my work that I really enjoy.
Bob C
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You do what you gotta do.
I remember years ago on a location shoot scrambling to an AutoZone store to grab a couple of those silver pop-up windshield sunscreens to use as reflectors in an pinch. People looked at me like I was nuts, but they worked like a charm.
If it works, do it!
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Terry, I appreciate your ingenuity. I like your story about the home-made ring light too. Very inspirational.
And I’m also glad there are people on this forum on the other end of the spectrum because I love to learn about new fixtures and techniques. I ran into a DP of a major HBO series a couple years ago, and started asking him what lighting instruments he typically chose. He looked a little bewildered by the premise of the question, and said, “Well, I use everything.” With me, it’s “what can I manage with what I have” but for him, it’s simply “what does this scene need?”
It’s a different mind-set, which I respect as much as the “ingenious class.” I wonder how people who work in major production centers and have access to “everything” keep their focus.
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“I remember years ago on a location shoot scrambling to an AutoZone store to grab a couple of those silver pop-up windshield sunscreens to use as reflectors in an pinch. People looked at me like I was nuts, but they worked like a charm.”
BINGO TERRY. It’s important to recognize what’s needed to solve a problem and then create the solution based on what’s available. Even when working for major companies it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll give you what is really needed.
A few years ago I was hired by one of the “BIG 5” Networks to light their anchor booth skyboxes for the Democratic and Republican Conventions. I’ve been doing Presidential Conventions for 30 years. Back “in the day”, money didn’t seem to be an object — currently it’s the driving force. At Mile High Stadium in Denver we had no budget allocated, no manpower, and no time. The skyboxes had minimal power and we weren’t able to do the major rigging that used to be done. These skyboxes, incidentally, have 6′-6″ ceilings. Since the booth was going to be active 15 hours a day, with several anchors coming and going, I needed to also make sure the heat issues were considered. Ultimately I ended up sticking aluminum foil to the half the ceiling and walls of the booth and putting several inexpensive Kino Flos on stands behind the 3 cameras at various angles to bounce the light around them from above and the the sides onto the talent. It actually created quite a lovely soft wash of light on the anchors. When you looked up to the booth from the convention floor and podium it was the oddest looking thing and people keep asking me what was going on. I just winked and said we were dealing with an RF interference problem!
DS
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I really enjoyed reading this post! For background lighting I have been using the small projector that LTM makes… I have 2 of them. They take 2 1/2″ inch cookies (cucaloris to be exact)and I use either an LTM 200w or Strand Mizer with these projectors. By the way… to be accurate gobos are not cookies! A gobo is an opaque flag used to cut, shape and/or block light. I am attaching a couple of photos so you can see this small projector. A comment about using a projector and cookie…it is desirable to project the cookie so that it is a little out of focus. I’ve been at venues where the lighting director projects all the cookies with a hard edge… and then if they are being controlled by techno beams… it’s a little much! The effect should be subtle and not draw attention to itself!
I am also a fan of tungsten lights, especially fresnels. You need to have 2 or 3 in your kit if you are doing interviews. My approach to using fresnels is to use lower wattages, like 150w, 200w, 500w. Today’s cameras a very sensitive vs what they were 10 years ago! I have 2 Strand Bambinos, which are 500w, but if I need more light I can bump them up to 650w by changing the bulb. I also use Lowel’s Rifa lights with egg crates, which is lowel’s version of a Chimera. The difference is that the Lowel Rifa pops open like an umbrella… you just put the diffusion on the front and your are ready to go. Very quick setup! The Chimera is more erector set like and you have to, with a little struggle, bend and stick the wire frames into the speed ring. I always feel like I am breaking my fingers when I am setting up a Chimera! Using egg crates in front of Rifa or Chimera softens the light even more… and will help hide shadows that may fall on the background!
I feel like I am writing a book… so bear with me! When I was in college in the 70s I had Gerald Millerson in my video production class. Some of you old timers might remember that Millerson was a BBC engineer who wrote about a dozen text books on tv production and lighting… Millerson’s approach was to light film style…he was a stickler for doing 3-point light correctly…key, fill and back light. For interviews the key light does not go where the camera is, but is determined by where the talent’s nose is pointing! So if you have a subject who is being interviewed looking off camera at the interviewer… then the key light is setup so that the interviewer is between the key light and the camera… this is so that the fat side of the subject’s face is towards the camera and the shadow that is created by the light is cast across the face… the key light should also be from “above” so that the key light casts the shadow down… this is what creates the 3d look that is needed in this 2-dimensional medium! It drives me crazy when dp’s and lighting directors put a light on the floor, and shine it up on the person’s face! This light flattens the image… in fact, it is a very unflattering light… think about when you where a kid on Halloween and shined a flashlight pointing up from your chin… casting the shadows on your face up… and scaring all your friends! I call this the Katie Couric light! Think about this…or try this…then next time you are lighting an interview… make the floor light the first light that you setup and turn on! Seat your talent down and take a look at what that light is doing. Then ask yourself this… are you turning on all the other lights… in order to create flattering light for your talent or are you turning them on just to overcome what the unflattering floor light has created? You’ve created flat lighting and a shadowless face! And of course, when Katie is asking questions and waving her hands around… oops look at all the shadows being cast on her face by the floor light… very annoying to say the least!
I’ll be back tomorrow to add some more thoughts, especially about the Leko lights. I have shot video on the Good Morning America set… so I can tell you exactly what they do! I will also talk about LED lights… yes they are way over priced! Here are the pictures of the LTM projector.
Here’s the third picture. Cookies!
Dave Speace
Producer/Director/DP
DZP VideoWindows 7, 64 Bit, i7 8 Core, 16Gb Ram, GeForce 4800
David,
My understanding of “gobo” is anything that’s placed between a light and the subject, i.e. “go-between”, so technically the “patterns” in your picture that you use in your projector lights are gobos too.
In addition a cook, cookie or cucalouris is a more practical shadow maker placed at some distance from the light to create a broken shadow pattern, along the line of Dennis’ broiler pans with holes punched in them, or black wrap used the same way. Commercial cooks are made from wood or cello and can be purchased from grip equipment manufacturers and have the advantage of being predictable and reusable, although they are difficult to store and transport unless you gave a grip truck.
JS
Maybe it’s all just semantics, and it’s backwards from what David spelled out… but most of the time when someone asks you for a “gobo,” they mean this…
… and when they ask for a cucaloris or “cookie” they mean….
Now, that may (or may not be) technically correct. But that’s what 99% of the DPs and grips out there call these two things (and is what you’ll get if you ask someone to hand you one, or set one up).
I am interested in the LTM projector though, David (hesitating to call it a gobo projector…ha). I haven’t seen that. Is that a sort of snoot-like device that will fit on any appropriately sized LTM head? Or is it all one unit that was purchased together? I have lots of LTM Pepper heads, and they look just like that. I wouldn’t mind having one of the snoots if that can be added to an existing instrument.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
Ahhh… I think I found them…
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/125384-REG/LTM_PA_9005_Focal_Spot_for_Pepper.html
It will certainly fit some of the Peppers we have (we mostly have bigger instruments but do have a few of the little 100/200 heads). I might get one, although they seem just a smidge pricey for what you get.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
Todd,
That’s about what I pay for a complete Source Four!
JS
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