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Shooting a Car interior - 546 style
From a student:
I was thinking a bit tonight about lighting our car interior during the daytime. Our thinking behind these first car scenes is that the world is still a magical place for Efrain at the beginning of the film and we want to present the desert as a wonderous place with rich reds and browns and blue skies. That being said, we are trying to find a way to narrow the dynamic range between the car interior and the exterior
Given that the outside world is going to be 2-4 stops over depending on which direction we are facing at various times of day, we are considering using mirrors and shiny boards to bounce light inside the cabin (through one or more layers of diffusion) as well as bounce cards inside the car itself for CU's.
I was wondering though, whether it might be useful to supplement these with a small HMI like a 400w or 575w Par with, maybe, a superwide lens in front? While we could run such a lamp off a car inverter (at least for a while) I wonder if there isn't anything we can't do with the sun that an HMI would be better suited for? I suppose any lamp that we cannot keep powered for the duration of our shoot isn't a realistic lighting solution, but still I wanted to ask.
We had also considered using Kino car kits or Litepanels for CU's inside the car, but we are skeptical as to their effectiveness under such already bright conditions. We'd like to test them next weekend, but thought we'd solicit your opinion first.
I think reflectors is the way to go - for many reasons - financial, practical, etc. Of course - if you get some cloud cover you won't get as much light - and they have to be contsantly shaken up to focus the light - but they are cheap, quiet, and the color matches. There are many types of reflectors - rags and boards - you may need a variety - and so we should discuss in detail.
ReplyDeleteDepending on the conditions - a small HMI might not do it for you. And while you can run off an inverter - you will have to keep the car running to power it and so more sound issues - also some believe that using inverters put undo strain on alternators and can burn them out - I don't know the validity of that from an engineering perspective, but my experience seems to concur. I think that if you establish a look with a small HMI in a CU that you cannot match in a medium or wide shot you may be frustrated. Might be better off working with reflectors -
Under the right circumstances kinos and lite panels are great tools - but I don't think you will get the output you need for your shooting conditions.
Also consider cutting the light - using NDs and negative fill to create shape and texture.
I agree with Chris here. His suggestion of NDing the window you plan to see out of is the way to go. Then you selectively block out other windows to control the directionality of the spill you have coming through your other windows. If you need an extra base level and won't see the ceiling in the car you may want to consider either placing bounce card on the ceiling or dash areas of the car. (especially if you have to shoot at noon when the sun will be illuminating your outside, but not much of your interior of the car) If you're looking for a harder edge you can use something like a flexfill, shiny board or even aluminum foil if you really need to improvise & can't afford additional rentals. (since I wouldn't blow whatever additional grip/lighting budget you have on the first weekend of shooting since you're most likely gonna need it for your wider shots... especially if you are shooting any night exteriors)
ReplyDeleteIf they aren't driving the car you may even consider angling the practical side mirrors to bounce light in against a card. If they are moving, don't do it since it may be distracting to the driver & a safety issue...
My two cents.
For car interiors smaller HMIs really aren't going to give you that much punch - the film I'm doing now has some daytime car work, and even with 6k HMIs going through the windows on a process trailer we found that gelling the car windows whenever possible and using reflectors always made the best sense and looked a LOT more natural. I wouldn't recommend using a Joker hitting into the car since they really don't have enough punch to compete with ambient daylight, plus remember - people are inside a car, which is naturally darker anyways.
ReplyDeleteIf you do end up going with a Joker shooting into the car, don't go off the car battery, get a battery unit for the light, a little extra cable, and put it in the trunk of the car - that way, you don't have to rely on the picture car as your source of power. Most Jokers come with batteries anyways.
Good luck, and happy shooting!
Joseph White
Remember - always follow the school safety guidelines.
ReplyDeleteAlso don't be afraid of contrast. If you over fill/over light - you may be unhappy with the results. Or at the very least you will hear me say - you over lit the interior and it no longer looks natural.
ReplyDeleteIs there any choice about the vehicle? Would it make sense to use something with a sunroof or even a convertible? These have a couple tradeoffs - camera/equipment shadows for one, wind and noise for another.
ReplyDeleteWhen my partner and I shot 546, on car interiors our exposure favored the interior. In closer shots we put dulling spray on the windows in frame to make the background blur and glow in a way that was a little dreamy (somewhat like a Pro-Mist filter). In wider shots we rolled when the sun was low in the sky so we could get some direct light in on the actors through the windows and so the background would be backlit or in shadow. The locations and time of day did the big work, and the rest was grip from PEC, no lights. We were happy with the results. One shot is still on my reel.
Depending on space within the vehicle, a cheap potential alternative to rented lighting units could be a small or medium china ball on an inverter with a 500w or 1000W Daylight Photoflood. The cost of the inverter might be similar to the rental, but you'd have it to use for the whole shoot - laptops, work lights, what have you. Sometimes the PEC and Stage Services receive photofloods in donations, you can ask if they have any.
One trouble with putting lighting units inside a car is the proximity of the actors to the light. If they move the light on their face can change drastically. A few days ago I did a car interior and made this mistake. I had the camera hanging through the sunroof (to avoid damaging the interior). Thanks to some mistranslation and too many cooks, that took much, much longer than planned. This left little time for lighting, but luckily the planning called for the position of the sun and a particular stretch of road to do the heavy lifting.
For kicks (i.e. it was on the truck and I haven't used them much) I stuck a 9" mini-flo with opal on the camera rig and we took off (driving scene). The mini-flo made for a decent eye-light, but did very little in comparison to the daylight. In a take (though not in rehearsal) the actress in the back seat leaned forward and her face suddenly became a half stop brighter. I didn't notice until I looked at the dailies. Oops.
It was even worse on the shot of the driver. The car is part of a product placement deal with Audi, so the next shot was a 3/4 back profile on the driver to get the logo on the steering wheel in frame. I aimed the mini-flo at the steering wheel to get some shine on the logo and to give a little fill on the driver. The sun was farther down at this point so the mini-flo was doing more. Well, in the first take, the driver turns toward the passenger and his face jumped one or two stops. I panned the light out and moved it back as far as I could, but the lighting change was still noticeable in subsequent takes. I should have just killed the light. Chris is fond of saying "Don't get seduced by the toys," I continually find that those are words to live by. The kicker is the part of driver - that's the director's cameo in the film.
My suggestion is to use what you've got, embrace the limitations, and find creative solutions that serve the film. Over the past few years, these are the most valuable lessons I learned in 546.
Good luck!
- Joel
I worked on a project where we had a similar situation (except it was on a process car), and we ended up using a 6K HMI for that to get enough punch. I don't think the smaller units will be useful at all, as Chris said.
ReplyDeleteI'd go with mirror boards if the car is not moving. However, you should keep in mind is that you won't get more punch if you move the board closer, as the sunlight rays are parallel, but of course you can cut down the light intensity with diff and the like.
Also, I just remembered you're shooting with the Sony EX3. If it was me, I'd only ND the windows that are in the frame, and block some or all the light with duve (depending on how much contrast you want) from the windows off camera to make contrast.
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you all for participating. I especially appreciate the alumni of 546 who have weighed in with their perspective and experience. Thanks for joining us online and making this a success.
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot from reading all the responses so thanks to everyone involved! I like the idea of spraying dulling spray on the windows to bloom the highlights -- you can also gel the windows with Hampshire Frost (in addition to ND) for a similar effect. This will also diffuse some of the light coming off your reflectors (though you might want to sent frames with thicker diffusion in front of the reflectors like I think Chris said.)
ReplyDeleteP.s. Are you guys using Black Pro Mist as a default filter? Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but you might want to use this in all your shots to fake a "film" look. It takes the edge off HD.