white walls and big window

[85hal9000]

hello!
i´m shooting quite soon a short movie on 16mm and i´m quite worried on how to deal with one of the major location .
it´s a living room with almost no furniture (there will be just a bed and a small table), all the walls are white and there is a big window with balcony.
there will be shots where we see both in and inside, both day and night.
i don´t really know how to deal with white walls without letting them be "too white" and flat, and how to achieve a good lighting continuity.
i´m looking forward for any suggestion!
thanks a lot

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Well, to some extent, you have to embrace your location and the all-white look, otherwise you should insist on a better location.

One thing that helps is to use the white ambient bounce rather than fight it. Light for more contrast and angle the key light so that you like how it bounces into the shadows, or use strong backlight and let the bounce be the key on the face.