Creative Lighting Transitions
How to Move Lights During a Shot
Overhead rigging, moving lights, and shifting the color temperature mid-move. Sounds complicated, right? But that’s what we’re going to demonstrate in this episode of Aputure’s Four Minute Film School.
Our good friend Kevin Reyes is back, but instead of a guest feature, we’re giving Kevin the hosting platform to impart some of his Director of Photographer wisdom.
Time Passing By
Many filmmaking techniques are used to convey the passage of time. Two common examples are to cut from a daytime interior to an establishing shot of the location at night and then back into an interior with a night setup. The second would be to employ several crossfades of a montage of images.
However, there are also creative methods that you can use, and the one we’re going to focus upon today is showing a transition from night-to-day. We’ll take you from a dark and cold moonlight moving into the warm morning sunlight in real-time using lights.
In filmmaking, performing this technique allows the filmmaker to portray a moment of stalled time for the character. As if they have remained in one state of mind throughout the entire night, and as a result, the time has flown by. For our premise, we have a young woman in bed who cannot fall asleep. Whether that’s because of the breakdown of a relationship or, perhaps, she is worried about losing her job. Whatever the case, the idea behind the scene conveys a passage of time where the character remains locked in her thoughts.
Before we look at how we’re going to achieve this, there are two factors to consider: the location and the camera.
In most circumstances, it’s preferable to film in an actual location. It’s less stressful on the budget; the site will come with character, and in some circumstances, the location will also be furnished.
However, with the large setup that comes from this lighting technique and the crew needed, it may be preferable to shoot in a studio, as you can tailor the space to suit the requirement of the setup.
Additionally, as we’re going to be placing a camera above the talent, the size and weight of the camera also play a crucial role. With a smaller and lighter camera, it’s not only going to be easier to rig but also safer. That’s why we’re using the RED KOMODO, which is easily one of the lighter, if not lightest, cinema cameras on the market.
Setting The Camera overhead.
Before looking at the lighting setup, let’s discuss camera safety.
First, make sure you’re using the correct form of rigging — EG, not a tripod with a head that tilts outward to photograph directly downward. We have set up a goal post, and they’re one of the safest setups to use for this kind of shot. They consist of two combo stands, two big ben clamps, and a speed rail. To see how they’re set up, check out the excellent video from Grip Tips below.
Next, be vocal with other crew members when setting up the camera. Let them know that you have hold of the camera, and additionally, when the camera is locked in place. With overhead rigging, you’re usually slotting the camera into position at an awkward angle, and the last thing you want is to let go of the camera thinking the other crew member has it, and they don’t — cue expensive crash sound.
Additionally, when the goal post is raised above the talent, you will want to ensure the camera is very secure. While the camera is fastened to a pipe clamp, which is relatively safe, you need to go above and beyond to ensure talent safety. Furthermore, when the talent knows they are safe, you’re likely to get better performance from them as they’re not subconsciously worrying about the heavy payload situated above their face.
In our case, we first secured a safety chain from camera to goal post. Now, if the camera were to come to lose, or for the clamp to also fail, the safety chain would catch it. However, in the rare circumstance that the chain would also fail, we want to prepare for that event.
For our second level of safety, we connected a Cardellini clamp with a gobo arm to the goal post and then secured a baby pin with a 3/8" thread into the camera cage itself. Therefore, if either the camera mount or pipe clamp failed, there are two layers of security.
Night Into Morning
With the overhead rigging and camera discussed, we now need to implement our lighting.
We typically differentiate the difference between moonlight and daylight between cool and warm light. When replicating moonlight, filmmakers tend to cool down the lights either with CTB gel on a daylight-balanced fixture or by adding FX filters specifically created to produce a particular color, such as LEE 603 Moonlight White or 183 Moonlight Blue,
Before we set up our gag lights (a term used for FX lights), we need to set the slightest bit of ambient light to give the room a small bit of fill. Even though it’s nighttime, we want to raise the overall levels of the room, so it’s not pitch black.
Since we’re primarily going for an overhead angle, we only need to build a single corner that looks like a bedroom and flag off a single wall of windows.
For our fill light, we’re using an Aputure Nova P300c low to the ground on a turtle stand, angled up into 2x ultra bounce floppies, and then that light is bounced into an 8x8 half-grid diffusion. Reflecting light into an additional layer of diffusion creates ultra-soft light with no form of directionality. This lighting technique is also called a booklight and is perfect for creating ambient light.
Now onto our moonlight and sunlight. We’re using two Aputure LS 300d IIs, one with Full + ½ CTO and full CTB. The CTB gel will be used to produce the cool light from the moon, and even though the Aputure LS 300d II is daylight balanced, we’re going to warm that up with the CTO gel to create the soft golden glow associated with morning light. As we noted in a previous tutorial, different hours of the day will have different color temperatures.
Of course, we need these lights to drop in and out simultaneously to look like a seamless transition. Instead of having two people crowd around the dimmers, we can individually link the lights to (two) mobile devices with the Sidus link app. This will allow two crew members to decrease and increase the lights simultaneously, allowing for a fluid transition into the morning light.
We’re sticking our lights on a dolly to complete the effect, which will be pushed through the scene to mimic the effect of the earth’s rotation, bringing the moonlight out of view and the sunlight into the picture.
Dollies are usually used for very dynamic camera movements, but as the Matthews Round-D-Round Doorway Dolly has junior adapters built into the base, it allows you to take a c-stand and slot it right into the dolly and place the light onto the stand.
With the slow track forward, and simultaneous adjustment to the intensity of the light, we created a realistic but creative form of time passing.
You’ll have to refer to the video to see Kevin’s glorious creation in action!
Be sure to check out the entire Four Minute Film School playlist on Aputure’s Official YouTube channel, as I’m sure we’ll see more from Kevin very soon.
