Bar Style Lighting

[Skyman]

I am going to be shooting a short film in the near future that is set in a bar. the mood the director is after is a dim seedy type place. I am guessing that I will need extreme contrast ratios and pools of focused soft light (boy is that a contradiction in terms) does anyone have any suggestions in terms of equipment or techniques. I will be started to shoot some tests soon but at the moment this is a almost no budget film (although we will be applying for funding)

[gano]

Just wanted to say hello to the community... (Hello) my name user name is gano, and I've been working for the last 10 years for two studios shooting weddings, yearbook portraits, sports, and events. My passion is sports, and nature photography, I also love to shoot musicians doing there thing. Looking to open my own studio one day soon. I want to get into shooting bands in studio and getting creative doing it, not your typical portrait stuff. Anyway I just wanted to introduce myself to everyone.
gano

[another view]

Hi Gano - you could also post an introduction in Viewfinder where almost everyone on this site will see it. Welcome!

Sorry, I can't be much help with the lighting here...

[Asylum Steve]

Yes, welcome gano. I agree with Steve that few members will read your post buried here. You need to start a new thread in Viewfinder... :thumbsup:

Sorry skyman, but I too am at a loss on how to light for a movie. Small track fixtures might provide the lighting you describe, but I have no idea how it would look for a film.

Maybe folks in the Vid Forum could help...:idea:

[MarcusK]

Hey there!

I like the "dim" part of the description because it refers to not too much light which i always like...

This will be real tricky pending on the location...some bars will get you all you need in basics and you just have to get the rest with a couple of lights!

We did that in a student project a couple of years back so forgive if the terminology is a bit off! here's what we did...hope it helps:

We had 2 small lights (we call them mandarine) and reflect off the ceiling...which could have worked with bigger lights maybe...but then after diffusing their lights and spreading them over the scene, we added blue gels then orange/reddish gels (experimented to get the result we wanted) and eventually what worked was the blue gels can't remember their degree, and setting the white balance on reddish paper (white paper and on top of it the reddish gels)

I think a mixture of the gels on the lights and white balance on opposite colors will give you a pretty good result, specially if you still have no funding...try it out...it will give you the colors you needs and mood!

But i believe that you still need to know the location and see the available light over there!

Hope it helps! Cheers

PS: We wanted the bluish night mood! which is why we went with the blue and white balance on red

[Skyman]

we are still scouting locations, but i was originally thinking to kill the house lights entirely and create my own lighting. the best location thus far has some round lights over the bar that don't give a dark enough mood. I want to get some really deep shadowing happening. I was planning to use some coloured gels over the background lights but i guess my question was more about how to make the scene look dark and shadowy without it being under exposed.

[MarcusK]

Well in that case, the only issue would be as far as I'm concerned is just how many lights you can use! the colored gels would definitely be a plus, but that would be dependant on how many lights you get! and i think your issue would be with black rather than under exposure...you can get the dark and shadowy, without under-exposure, but i think the trick will be managing not to get too much pitch black spots...

I personally would keep the black if it fits with the script! would give the characters a sinister feel to them!

[Garry B]

You might also want to consider what kind of light modifiers would help you achieve this. One inclination might be to use bare bulbs, in order to simulate the kind of lighting you would find in a bar. I think this is a probably a good start in order to setup an overall atmosphere for the room. Maybe several, low power, bare bulb, tungsten lights hung up really high. I also like the idea of using gels to create a more realistic bar room look. Ultimately, however, you will also need to consider how to light the main actors in your film. While, I have never produced any film or video myself, I might be inclined to try a small softbox with a very deep, elongated shape. This would in effect create a soft spot light, which would help direct the light onto the subject while keeping the backround in shadow. The Photoflex CineDome line comes to mind.

Garry B
http://www.webphotoschool.com