How to dramatically light a Hospital Operating theatre

[Kris Koster]

Any good cinematographers out there?

We frequently see hospital operating theatres in television dramas, movies, etc. And I will be needing to shoot this shortly.

It's a drama, so I would like to go for the dramatic effect. Harsh shadows, minimal lighting. Setups will be surgeons exchanges and a POV from the patient also.

I was thinking maybe a lowel pro light from up above, maybe with a snoot or blackwrap around it... plus a softbox where the patient's body is to light their faces... Is this right?

Any guidance would be appreciated!

[Brian Drysdale]

Fresnel spots are more controllable than the open faced Lowel. The bright operating lights used in operating theatres are interesting and would the motivation for your lighting effect, however, the room itself is usually lit by fluorescents. It's really a matter of deciding how stylised you want to be.

[Steve Nelson]

Yeah operating rooms are always bathed in light for obvious reasons. I would be loath to allow someone to operate on me in the dark! That being said, perhaps you can just limit the strong lighting to the operating table and perhaps a small perimeter around it leaving darker shadows the further you move away from the table. Members of the operating team would seem to appear and disappear as the move towards and away from the table. The only issue with that is you wouldn't have any backlight, just darkness behind the talent. I guess it depends on how surreal you want to be. If this is a straight up drama then this might not work. I do agree on using a spot though, if you need to have minimal backlight then perhaps a low wattage softbox or a bounce off a wall from an overhead source. Lots of possibilities there depending upon the layout of the operating room. Are there observation windows above or is this just a standard closed room?

[Paul R Johnson]

The trick is to start with real practical lights - so the proper lights above and manoeuvrable will need to be in the shot anyway - so they will illuminate the subject on the table - and the contrast between them and the rest of the lighting is the trick. So you'll have the subject lit, so then you need the 'surgeons' to be lit - so I'd go with fresnels, high and steep if you want mood, lower if facial detail is more important. The exact number depends on the staging of the scene - where the actors will actually be. If you're crafty, with perhaps a little scrim and maybe some colour, the bottom half of each beam can be dimmed and become back light, giving a nice edge to each person.

[Kris Koster]

Many thanks for all these suggestions.

I've now shot the piece incorporating your suggestions and can put a link here when I'm through editing it.

In the end, I went for a lowel pro light with black wrap around it spotting down onto the theatre table, and since my camera position was only one side and top of table, I used a 500w soft box to light the talent from below table (almost floor) height. This achieved the dramatic look I was after.

Thank you again.

[Kris Koster]

In case anyone else finds this thread and was interested, this is the final work:

YouTube - Philips Cinema - Parallel Lines - Dead Awake, by Kris Koster

I used a completely black room, dressed it like an op theatre. Placed one lowel pro light from the ceiling down on the patient, with black wrap around it to focus a spot.

I used the Lowel Rifa 55 to the side (end) of the bed to light the surgeons faces. I had to block out a lot of the light coming from the soft box by draping a towel over half of it. This was more than enough light for me.

Shot with the 5D mark II on ISO 1250 (which is lower noise than ISO 100 !!)

[Denny Lajeunesse]

I'd bounce light of the ceiling for the ambient light and fresnals from the ceiling downward for the operating lights. Basically diffused light for ambient and high angle spots for operating lights.

Maybe gel them up a bit depending on the look (color) you are going for.