Tutorial: Lighting an interrogation

This will be self-evident to more experienced people, but I'm not writing this for them. So there. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

One of the simplest things that you can do with little to no budget is a great-looking interrogation scene. What's awesome is you can do it literally anywhere, with almost no equipment. I'll show you guys some shots, then outline how I did them and why. And along the way, I'll put in blue parentheses (like this) what I would do if I were doing this for a larger shoot. I think you'll be surprised how similar they are.

Anyway, let's have a look at what we'll create:

[image=http://i.imgur.com/RdHJ9.jpg]
[image=http://imgur.com/noOkB.jpg]

To begin, I'll just tell you what was in the scene. It was in my garage, during the day. There was a chair in the middle of it. The lighting setup was a 2k fresnel on full spot directly above and to the left of the talent. There was a bounce board on the ground to his right. Behind him was a 500w tweenie with 1/4 CTO as a kicker.

[image=http://i.imgur.com/sGimN.png]

(I understand my handwriting looks like a five year old's. I'm sorry.)

The 2k was as overhead as I could get it. (If I was on a bigger shoot I would have used a 5k and put it directly overhead on a goalpost) I had it on full spot and then closed the beam even smaller with the barn doors. The idea is to create a super intense, narrow beam of light (If I was on an even bigger shoot I would have used a small Xenon fixture instead.) This way, when you expose for it, the background goes entirely black. and you get some great shadows on their face.

Lets talk for a moment about chickening out. Note the second original picture--his face is totally shadow. This is okay. Shadows are good. More is said through black then through light. Strong fill has a time and a place, and this is not it.

The tweenie kicker was pretty darn far back. I just used a PAR56 with a wide flood bulb. It prevents him from getting totally lost in black, and almost silhouettes him, but it's all very subtle. It suggests there is more in this room, it's not just my garage. The 1/4th CTO gel serves a purpose in this case, the slight warmth of it contrasts with the rest of the light and makes the key look colder. Colors complement each other in different ways some intensify each other and some dull themselves. Play around with color, think of it as a tool as opposed to just a thing. (If I were shooting this with the aforementioned 5k key, I would go with a 1k to do this instead. It'll be dimmer, but pop two single scrims in the 5k and I think you'd be okay)

The bounce board was there simply because I wanted a tiiiny bit of fill, but also to reflect off the guy in the background and more importantly, the air. This is because I smoked up the place a little beforehand, which gives the air this nice glow but also catches the light beams and makes them slightly visible. It's a great effect. Here's a tip with your smoke: Don't do it until just before you roll. Smoke wisps in air look amazing, but smoke left to sit fills out the room and just lowers the contrast of the scene--exactly what we don't want here.

Alright! Here's another shot where you can see a bit of the barn doors of the 2k, showing you the general placement and how close it was.

[image=http://i.imgur.com/6rfVI.jpg]

What NOT to do:

Diffusion. Except for the bounce, the lights were not run through any diffusion. This is key for this type of scene; the hard light is exactly what you want to create those harsh, unforgiving shadows. If you have a fresnel and c-stands to flag it instead of barn doors, open up the fresnel lens. This exposes the bulb, creating an even sharper light. Alternatively, use an blonde (though I rarely do.)

Just create a beam of light to sell it. You don't really need more.

Anyway, that's that. Just had the urge to do this. I'll be answering questions after the show...

[image=http://i.imgur.com/yv2Bf.jpg]

 

Eh.

[image=http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs118.snc3/16552_325317725701_526265701_9805836_7706673_n.jpg]

 

That is a different type of interrogation then what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking hidden cave-like. Mine doesn't need a set . Different styles and techniques for different situations.

 

Heh, not far from my thoughts either. However, I think that scene qualifies more as harassment.

 

Apparently I have a far different expectation of an interrogation then most. Or something.

EDIT:

[image=http://glenmontgomeryiii.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/16-CU-012656resize800.jpg]

[image=http://images.askmen.com/entertainment/special_feature_60/98_5-things-you-didnt-know-about-interrogation-techniques_flash.jpg]

[image=http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/interrogation.jpg]
[image=http://www.all-about-forensic-psychology.com/images/interrogation-ebooks.jpg]
[image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/3028952284_91e41844db.jpg]
[image=http://growthebusiness.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/interrogation4.jpg]
[image=http://www.all-about-forensic-psychology.com/images/interrogation.jpg]

This type is what I'm thinking of, a classic noir-style chompdown. I never said It'd be advanced, I even said in the beginning it wouldn't be. My point was the difference between your garage and something a little better isin't very difficult to accomplish.

If you guys want awesome, I can show you some lighting diagrams from X2...

 

No, you're on par. We're saying the shot Laz posted isn't lit like a classic one.
Or at least, I am.

The interrogation lighting does seem pretty straightforward. I think of the hanging bare lightbulb in the middle of the table between the detective and the crook. At minimum, you use that light and maybe do a little bounce, or a softer second light so the shadows aren't as sharp and you can see a little more of their faces.

 

Funny thing is originally I'd wanted that classic interrogation scene look. See, the baton the guard is holding would glow when zapping someone, so there would be an interesting play on light. It was, however, about 1 am when finally got around to shooting that bit and didn't have time to set up another room to achieve the proper effect. So I figured, heck I'll just go opposite; agoraphobic rather than claustrophobic.

It was only halfway through the shoot that I realized it was an inadvertent homage to the interrogation room scene from The Dark Knight. A movie which Aaron, playing the guard, hates... and he channeled that hate right into my ribs...

 

That scene was always Dark Knight. You just didn't see it til the dailies.


I love Dark Knight's interrogation scene. The room is so dark, you can pretty much only see Joker's face, which is mostly due to the bright makeup. Gordon is lit soft, letting us see him. The thing that makes it great in terms of story/character is that when the lights go on, it simultaneously introduces Batman while also taking him out of his element. Any sort of originality you can throw into the classic settings is always a plus.

 

Something else about that Dark Knight scene is that it looks at least a stop underexposed. That way, when the lights do come on, it's has that much more of a punch since your eyes are adjusted to the dark.

 

Cool stuff but yeah it should be called "one option for lighting a harsh interrogation scene" . Definitely one of the more popular interrogation styles so it should help some people.

 

Hi,
I want to film a lightsaber fight in a big room lit like tumblemonster's 2009 LCC7 entry. How do I do that?

 

2 things. First, you should really make a thread on its own for questions so you don't hijack someone else's. Second, you'll have to be more specific - are you looking for choreography tips? How they did the wire work? Where to find a space that big? Think of what exactly you're asking and, as I said, bring it to a new thread.

On-topic: Vapes, I'll be interested in seeing how you color-corrected the scene that Laz posted a still of. Anything that'd add to this thread?

 

Pretty much like this, lol. Shoot at night, in the dark, with only a few lights and keep the light off the walls as much as possible. Be prepared to adjust your lighting setup for most if not every shot.

Man, you are all about the color correction today. That scene is still kind of a WIP. Here's where I'm at though:
Before:[image=http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5837/scene180012003.png] After:[image=http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4201/scene1800120031.png]
All I've done here is clean up the basic color scheme. You can see in the original the walls have that familiar fluorescent green you get with most HDV footage. I desaturated a bit and dimmed the whites to help it feel more run-down and depressing. Not too much of a difference, but it's there.

However, this is just my first pass to have something done should the deadline strike. What I really want to do is an interior DfN, as I've learned a few tricks since doing this scene, but I'm not entirely sure it'll work how I'm hoping. Darkening a room with bright walls and subjects wearing dark clothing is not the friendliest task out there.
[image=http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/9876/scene1800120032.png]

The main difference between this and the initial post is that for this scene, the whole room was lit very evenly with the ceiling lights. In Andy's images, he lit the subjects directly.
Say we had used a few lighting rigs rather than the overheads to get a similar effect. That potentially would've give us more shadows around the room, so if I were to drag the gamma down like I have in this last image, the shadows would stand out more and the room would look a whole lot darker than the subjects.
I love how the room looks in that final image, but getting it that way while having the subjects visible and yet still darkened to match is a rotojob/pain that would take far too long.

 

You really going to need to be masking I think to get best CC on that shot. If you leave it like that last one I will not be happy

 

Roto brush. Vinette. Color correction matte.

 

The last still I did in about 2 seconds as an example for this thread, lol. I wouldn't let it look like that. It'll probably be a bit darker than the After still. There's not going to be enough time to roto the characters in that scene.