My next film with a lot of night Shots

[escapingmyshadow]

I have a crappy JVC Everio 20 GB HDD camera that has really bad lighting. I have 2 500 Watt halogen lights and 1 Portable Hand held 1,000,000 CP Light. What can I do to make good lighting. I really need advice because I am shooting this short in a few days and I have a lot of prep work todo. Its a horror/ thriller short film.

 

[element80]

Here's a few things to remeber with night shooting. You want to light so you have a lot of contrast. Generally, you want to create pools of light with the shadows falling off almost completely. Also, night scenes generally have a cool feel to them, so i'd say get some CTB probably 1/4 or 1/2, depending on your preference) and throw that over your lights. That should give you the look you want, and you can fine-tune it in post if necessary. Finally, when you do shoot, you usually want to shoot about 2-stops under for night stuff. Also, if you're shooting exteriors, I've hear that it's good to wet down the area to get some interesting reflections of the streets. As with any adivce you get from here, though, don't just follow it blindly; use it as a guide. Look in your monitor, or if shooting film, run some tests to see how it looks, and make adjustments from there. If you want, take a look at this short I shot about a year ago. Most of it is night time interiors. (I've had issues with the videos on my site, so if for some reason it doesn't paly, click the myspace link at the top, and watch it on there). Most of the night stuff was done using 3 arri 650's with some CTB on them.

 

[Walter Graff]

In simplest terms you need light on your subject and something representing night usually bluer light around them or somewhere behind them with dark inbetween. Look at night as daylight without all the light and rather more spotty light with more representations of dark than light and the dark is highlighted with bluer color than whiter light.