Lighting an old church

[charlie sarroff]

Hi all

 

[Finner]

Sounds like a not bad plan for what you have. Many old churches are mainly old dry wood and often blondes and redheads get quite hot so be careful.

Have fun

 

[Kirk Pflaum]

Yea, I've tried the 2k through the windows thing before in an old dark church with not much luck - you really need 4k or 6k HMI's but like me you prob don't have the budget.

I'd suggest the following:

Try shoot some wide shots when (and if) the sun comes through one side of the building through the windows, (probably better early or late when sun is low in the sky if you have time) you should be able then to get a few takes of the whole song with the sun streaming in then, with your hazer or smoke machine should be nice. (careful not to put too much smoke in)

Then go in for some tighter shots etc, and simulate the sun with the 2k (with some CTB) as a key light and fill with the kinos and/or backlight with a red head.

Basically sell a wide establishing shot or two at the start then rest of the video keep tighter etc.

My two cents.

 

[Tyler Black]

I agree with Kirk. You may not get shafts of light if the stained glass is that dark. Maybe you could add those in post for the wide and then create them in the close-ups with the dedos.

 

[SF Geek]

If you can, you might be able to rig a beam coming from a faux skylight out of frame. Unless there are gaps between the paneling you won't be getting any shafts coming in from outside. This "skylight" beam can hit the actors or be picked up in your smoke to separate them from the background. But like Finner said, don't burn the place down.