I'm going to create a 20 to 30min coporate video for a company that wants to play this video at a dinner for a few hundred people. The video will show past winners from the previous year talking about the award they won.

I have to go to their office and tape 6 different people doing their jobs and also some interviews. The lighting inside, I'm sure, is fluorescents and I need and idea of what kind of lighting I should do. I will be using my XL1, wireless mic, lens, etc. I probably will have them at their desk talking to an interviewer off camera.

Thanks for any input!

One of the hardest things to work with is mixed lighting. If you can eliminate the mix of daylight, tungsten and flourescent to just one light type you'll be way ahead of the game. Turn out lights, close shades or drapes, what ever it takes. If you have to deal with mixed lighting try to have your subjects in only one light type and filter the others to match if possible. If they won't let you have that much time, you can do what the news guys do. Over power the existing light with on camera quartz lighting. It will be harsh, but you may be able to soften it with on camera filters and bouncing the light off a reflector or low ceiling.


I had a similar job for a client one time and I wasn't allowed to do much for lighting. I talked them into letting me convert it to B & W. It was that, or green award winners from the flourescent lights.

Jeff

Gel off all the overhead flourescents to correct their colour. Of course, that won't leave much light, so I'd bring a set of lights with you and set up at each desk.

I'm with Jeff on overpowering the existing lights too. Not a bad idea. Possibly less hassle than dealing with shutting down other lights. Less hassle is good.

Sounds like fun. I'm currently doing camera work for a coporate video downtown. Should be done shooting tomorrow, which is good cause I really need a day where I can sleep in past 6am.

Why not fight fire with fire?


One of the best ways to nuetralise fluro's is to use more fluro...

Get one of those lighting panels of pro grade fluro's and pirch it up facing into the interviewer, it will neutralise the strobing effect, is a simple little package that fits into a breifcase style holder and totally portable and takes 5 mins to setup.

Also these pro fluro's which are very cheap are rated at 3200k which means no more green effects, but you could always adjust the white balance a little more yellow to achieve less green again.


kermie

email me if u want me to find more info.

The lights Kermie is talking about are excellent. And even better than regular lights, they run cooler. I used these in a recent shoot with very good results, however, we still gelled all the ceiling flourescents.

Dylan Yes, they are great arn't they!! and cheap too :)

But if time is an issue they will basicly help you imensely, and take only minutes to get going, just a little composition and attention to placement and you are cooking, it won't be perfect without further work, but realistically only you the video maker will be able to see where the lighting could have been improved.


kermie

Lighting will probably be a challenge. But SOUND might be your biggest problem if these folks are in an open-office setting. Office sounds that you wouldn't even notice on-site will sound like special foley effects on tape. Bring a good directional mic.

Yeah, or use a lapel...

I love them... work so well, especially in this kind of instance where a mic wouldn't really need to be too hidden, it is after all an interview.


:)

Lapel mics are usualy the way to go, but if you need them hidden you might have problems from picking up all the sound from the "talent" moving around. We had to re-shoot several times because a woman kept brushing her lapel with her arm while going for a telephone.
I'm starting to think that Ken might be right with a good unidirectional mic. No clothing noise, and hopefully close enough to seperate the talents voice from other office noise.

Thanks all for the excellent tips!

It's great practice to ask this site for help on video shoots!
I haven't even started my shoot and the information is unbelievable!

Sound is not a problem for me as I play a band and have been the sound man for it for years. I love video but sound is my "specialty". But I get better sales in video, not audio! :(
(musicians are usely too poor!) :)

I'm hoping to do all the interview sections in one office room!
That way there will be no other noise. As for lighting, I work for Westburne/Rexel Electric here in Canada and I like the idea of using floresents bulbs! I can get ANY type from work and make my own! (all at that special price!)

Keep the comments coming! Nice to here from the experts!

Hey Dylan! Fix that "British Columbia" in your personal info section! It drives me nuts when I see a speeeling mistek! :)

Hi Adam,

I use a Lowel Totalight kit which basically involves bouncing a light into the inside of a silvered umbrella on a stand. Some people use a translucent umbrella and shine light through it. A couple of these or similar will do a great job. When you start reeling the money in, get a DedoLight kit which will allow you to do supplementary rim lighting and coloured accent backgrounds.

For the interviews make sure the camera is as close to the interviewer as possible and try putting the soft light above the camera.

Jim

about shooting multiple interviews in an office location. You may find a useful tip or two in this article.

http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/article.cfm?id=9014

Marc

<<<-- Originally posted by Adam Wakely : Hey Dylan! Fix that "British Columbia" in your personal info section! It drives me nuts when I see a speeeling mistek! :) -->>>

Doh! I've never even noticed that! Thanks. Got it fixt gud an propur now!

Hey Zac,

Can you tell me more about those pro fluro's? Is there a manufactuer? Is there a website?

Thanks,
Bryant

<<<-- Originally posted by Dylan Couper : Gel off all the overhead flourescents to correct their colour -->>>

I am new, so forgive my questions.

When shooting with the Canon XL1s, are you saying, it is needed that we gel off flourescents for correction? What about lens filters?

I know with FILM STOCK, it is needed, but I didn't know with DV also. Can you elaborate? I'm learning.

<<<-- Originally posted by John Hudson : <<<-- Originally posted by Dylan Couper : Gel off all the overhead flourescents to correct their colour -->>>

I am new, so forgive my questions.

When shooting with the Canon XL1s, are you saying, it is needed that we gel off flourescents for correction? What about lens filters?

-->>>

You are pretty much right on. If you are lighting a room with one type of lights, and there is another type of lights there, it's preferable to gel one set so that the colour temperatures match.
Whether you are lighting with flourescents and there is natural daylight, or you are lighting with HMIs and there are incandescent bulbs, you should gel one to match the other. In office buildings, it's often not an option to turn off the overhead flourescents, so you can gel them to match your lights. Then you white balance to your now balanced lights.

Lens filters don't fix this problem, because the filter would affect all the light coming in equally and not fix the problem.

Adam,

Click here to go to the Hillman Curtis site (http://www.hillmancurtis.com/new_hc/film_video.shtml), then click the "Greenwich Street Project" link. That's a nice example of lighting for office interviews, and it escapes the sterile overhead fluorescent look.

As for the pro fluorescents, the bulbs they include don't flicker and are balanced at either 3200°K or 5600°K...so if you're intending them to match the existing regular fluroescents, that won't happen.

I like the Hillman Curtis example a lot. I'd be interested to hear some people with more lighting experience than me explain exactly how that's setup. Obviously, they've white-balanced for tungsten...therefore, they'd have to gel the windows in the back. What about the lighting setup, though? Any ideas? Can it be just one light as it appears to be (in addition to the small desk lamps)?

But if you just wanted to use a filter. If it was going to be a quick shot. No time to set up lights what is the best filter to use?

The other day, I shot some corporate video in a large office with all florescent lighting.

I used a white balance card set I purchased from http://www.studio1store.com that had a "minus green" card. Using that card in florescent lighting seemed to make quite a difference in these conditions.

Warm Cards (http://www.warmcards.com/) has a minus green included in their set also.

I looked at the studio1 website and the warmcards website. It seems alot of people use them. Is it work the $90?

In regards to lighting for interview-setups, several threads have mentioned Walter Graff's site which I found extremely helpful.

http://www.film-and-video.com/index2.htm#Hellgate%20Pictures%20Homepage.html

<<<-- Originally posted by John Locke : Adam,

Can it be just one light as it appears to be (in addition to the small desk lamps? -->>>

I don't have direct experience to contribute but I did ask a pro about a Ken Burns interview that looks much like this piece and he said it was lit with one big softbox.

David Hurdon

The warm card set is the one I got with the minus green.

Is it worth $90 ? That was a question I tangled with for a month or so before shelling out the dollars. I loaded my presets with white and warm or minus green and flipped back and forth to compare. It seemed to make a big difference to me even though I'm relatively inexperienced in this area.