PRE-PRODUCTION - LIGHTING KIT TESTS & CHOICE

With my camera tests nearly done (only a comparison test remaining) I moved on to testing the lighting options I have available to me. Through my camera tests I was also testing lighting at times to see how the cameras would work but through my testing and also my research into other DOP's I have found some good techniques for lighting.

One of my main issues is that I'm not able to recce Tanya's house which is one of our main locations and so I can't see what the location is like and most importantly, I can't see how the lighting works is within the house, how much natural lighting gets into the house and what sort of lighting is within the house. Is it white, Tungsten, Coloured and does the lighting strobe or done via LED/Powered bulbs?

Jemma and Victoria contacted Tanya and asked for photos of her house so I could make an assumption on what lighting I would need to bring over to the location. I'm unable to post these photos however as Tanya has requested they not be shown.

Tanya's room has white lighting which works well as the lighting I've often used in my YN006 LED Light pointed straight onto the subject with a diffuser to soften the light. This has been suggested to be by the DOP's I've spoken to. I'd likely bring a second light to ensure the background is lit and we see the detail in the room as well.


This LED also works outside to add in some detail to the face, the photo to the right is from the C100 test, here I added the YN006 in front of the subject, although it doesn't flood the face of my interviewee, it adds in some light to bring out more detail in the face and also balance out the lighting more. With this being outside, the natural light works to fill the interviewee.

My LED light works better for the outside interview due to it being battery powered so I don't need to worry about mains power.

The lighting in the Sony A7S ii test shows both the Arri 2K lights and my own 600W Red Head Tungsten lights. The photo below shows the lighting here:

I have 3 Arri 2K's facing the band and my own Red Heads behind for setting and additional lighting. As you can see from the footage, the lighting is very warm and more C.T.O (Colour temperature Orange) which would likely work fine in a theatre/club but not for the interviews in Tanya's house as it won't match the lighting. However, since we don't have the location of the performance yet I can't do the lighting for there as I'm unaware what we'll have available.