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Next month I’m filming a short film, it’ll be shot in black and white.
The director don’t want any coverage, he prefers the shot to linger and move throughout the room without cuts. I like the idea, but it makes it harder to light the room. Basically in the scene it’s day and they will be moving from one part of the room close to the windows, to the other part of the room, away from the windows. We don’t have much space outside at all so we can’t get much distance from the windows. All the walls are white as well which makes it really hard to create some meaningful contrast.
I want to try and set dress the walls we will be seeing so they at least have some things on the wall, not just huge white spaces. The wall on the other part of the room behind the camera that wont be seen I figured we will cover with black molton. I just wonder how I can maintain light levels in this room and still create contrast when the walls are white and we’re shooting in black and white?
The fall-off from the windows will be dramatic because we only have like two meters from the windows to place our lights. Because we have about 4 meters from the window to the ground I was thinking maybe diffusing the windows and rigging mirrors outside, then having a 4k HMI light the mirrors from below on a turtlebase as to get some more distance and making the fall-off less severe.
Would love some suggestions to try and make this scene more interesting? I’ve read Rogers lighting articles about “The Man Who Wasn’t There” to get some inspiration on how to shoot black and white on locations such as these but I feel like there wasn’t much similarities between them.
Needless to say, the logistics capabilities of a large Hollywood production in the US are far greater than a shoestring budget in Sweden haha!
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Your idea of using mirrors to lessen the falloff should help. You might want to try silver stipple and a lighter diffusion, such as a brush silk, which will make the source a little softer but somewhat directional. A heavy diffusion near the window will tend to spread the light wider.
The light level imbalance can be reduced by pulling stop but it could also be nice that things fall off into deep shadow away from the windows. That really depends on the scene and the location and impossible to make a judgement from here!
Shoestring budgets can help creativity! But be careful where you try to save – here’s an example –
A friend got the job of recording an orchestral film score for a Bollywood film. But the budget was below tiny! As in a few thousand! At first he thought of going to somewhere cheap but at that time, places that were cheap did not have really good musicians who could bang out a score in a couple of hours. Then there were the travel costs, so he sat down and started crunching the numbers. The CHEAPEST method was eight musicians in one of Abbey Road’s smaller rooms for just two hours and then padding it out, using samples.
Location shoots can get very expensive very quickly! They also involve compromises and bodges and can lead to a “This will have to do!” attitude. i.e. a lesser product.
A studio can be the cheapest and easiest place to film and it can also be a barn somewhere and a few sheets of plasterboard. I would try to find a friendly farmer with a barn he can let you use for a few days and build a room there where you can control everything to do with light – especially for B&W!
Your idea of using mirrors to lessen the falloff should help. You might want to try silver stipple and a lighter diffusion, such as a brush silk, which will make the source a little softer but somewhat directional. A heavy diffusion near the window will tend to spread the light wider. The light level imbalance can be reduced by pulling stop but it could also be nice that things fall off into deep shadow away from the windows. That really depends on the scene and the location and impossible to make a judgement from here!
Ohh interesting, the idea of using brushed silk vertically sounds like a good way to soften the light while not spreading the light too much horizontally onto the white walls.
I’m often reminded while listening to your podcasts that it’s always about telling a story, which I agree with. It’s very easy getting carried away when you get so few opportunities to prove yourself that you want it to look good, but then lose sight of the story.
As much as it is intuition, personal taste and style that goes in to telling the story through the camera I find it hard finding my own voice. How to translate the story to the picture you’re capturing. I was wondering if perhaps you could elaborate more specifically about your process how you make those decisions on set and even in prep?
I know I strayed away from the topic a bit but the thought hit me and would love to hear if you’ve any musings about finding your own voice behind the camera?
Shoestring budgets can help creativity! But be careful where you try to save – here’s an example – A friend got the job of recording an orchestral film score for a Bollywood film. But the budget was below tiny! As in a few thousand! At first he thought of going to somewhere cheap but at that time, places that were cheap did not have really good musicians who could bang out a score in a couple of hours. Then there were the travel costs, so he sat down and started crunching the numbers. The CHEAPEST method was eight musicians in one of Abbey Road’s smaller rooms for just two hours and then padding it out, using samples. Location shoots can get very expensive very quickly! They also involve compromises and bodges and can lead to a “This will have to do!” attitude. i.e. a lesser product. A studio can be the cheapest and easiest place to film and it can also be a barn somewhere and a few sheets of plasterboard. I would try to find a friendly farmer with a barn he can let you use for a few days and build a room there where you can control everything to do with light – especially for B&W!
I hear you! However we do not have the skills, time or experience to build our own set. I love the idea though, but I think in this case we will have to shoot on location. It’s my friend’s apartment though so no payment needed besides a pizza of his choice haha
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