Lighting for interview

[Thomas Berg Petersen]

I got a gig where I need to shoot a celebrity standing in a recording studio.

It will be a couple of relatively tight shots but the big issue is that I will only have about 15 minutes of shooting time. Yes, only 15 minutes. So of course I am stressing a little about a set up that is not to complicated as I literally have to set it up and shoot within minutes.

I will have an assistant to help me.

I was thinking about renting two small kino flos (2 by 2) and just a bounce board to give a little rim light since there may be space restraints. One kino will be my key light and the other will be fill. I will fit the kino flos with tungsten tubes since there might be tungsten light present already. And also fit the kinos with diffusion gels to soften up a little.

My question is, will the above scenario work considering I have little time to set it up. And also since I am shooting with a Canon XL1S PAL will the kino flo flicker due to the different eletric current Hz. I know that HMI flickers when shooting PAL.

If you have any other ideas they are much appreciated.
Thanks.

[Ken Tanaka]

Hi Thomas,
Without seeing the space it's hard to say what would work best. With only 15 minutes of time you'll certainly need to set-up fast. My off-the-cuff suggestion is to rent a Lowell Rifa light. It sets up even quicker than flo panels (like an umbrella on a stand) and features its own built-in soft box. Bring along a collapsible reflector for fill and you should be in business.

Have fun with the shoot!

[Patrick Gault]

Try to do your set up in a room near the studio. Then quickly bring it in when subject is ready.

I would go with a main, collaspible reflector for fill, and a small fresnel for background - a gel might be nice.

Try to get a look into the studio - even if its through a window in the control room. Decide where you will set up.

Have the assistant set up camera. You get the light right.

[Richard Veil]

A rifa is a good ideal.
The Chimera 8000 kit has benifits and either would be a good start for your interview. Unless you have daylight issues I would not get into HMI's
A lantern and a boom would be helpful as well.
Anyhow you know where I am if I can help.


Richard

[Thomas Berg Petersen]

Thanks for your comments and advice.
Here is what happened at the shoot.
It turned out that the budget was very small and didn't allow for any lights etc. Plus it turned out that I only had about half hour to shoot b-roll and cut aways and only 5 minutes for the interview. But since this was a great opportunity for me, I used my fee to hire a boom operator, some lowel lights with diffusion and a few other things.

But when I arrived at the studio there were no room for anything. The studio was really dark and the sound room was just a little cubicle. Unfortunately, the recording room was busy up until the time when I was going to shoot so I couldn't pre-rig anything before as there were no room and we had to be quiet.

Now the agency wanted establishment shots of the celeb arriving on the street, so I had to run downstairs to get ready. Of course the celeb was really really late. And when she came, she only had very very little time. So I couldn't set up any lights. Luckily there were tungsten spot lights in the sound room that I used. It actually came out really well. So everything worked out in the end. Although I am not too happy with my cut away shots and b-roll in the studio. Oh, well. I can easily say that I learned a lot of from this shoot, and also how important it is to do a tech scout prior to the shoot. I also learned how important it is to agree with the customer what is possible and what is not within a given budget.