Using light and shadow to create texture and layers is the best way to make an interesting frame 👨🎨
There is a lot of nuance in the balance between adding enough to make it look cool but not so much that it becomes distracting. To some degree it just boils down to adjusting the values of those details.
I love that part of my workflow. Once the lights are generally focused, I stand at the monitor with the cinematographer and we tweak levels and colors of the fixtures on my iPad with @blackoutlightingconsole and @ratpaccontrols AKS+. I will never go back to manually adjusting a unit at the ballast. Do I look like a caveman to you? Just kidding. But seriously, that’s truly where the magic happens. In the few refining moments before the camera rolls. This is how a gaffer can help create texture with light and shadows.
For the key light we used an @aputure.lighting 1200D through a @chimeralighting OctaPlus 6 with LCD and a “poor man’s wag flag” (strip of duve on a 6’ pipe) across the top to keep spill off the background with such a large source in a small room. A bounce from the key side to lift shadows under the chin. @litegear Litemat Spectrum 4 with @dopchoice Snapgrid gave us soft backlight. A @nanlite_global 60C with fresnel spotted added just a little definition on the cheekbone and separated the subject from the background. A Forza 500B II with 36 degree Leko was lighting up some curtains and the wall. We put a 12x double net outside the window to slow it down 1 stop. A 600D through ¼ straw carried the “sun” into the background and created some cool bokeh on the plants. A couple incandescent practicals dimmed down for warmth and tonal contrast to top it off. Not too shabby!
Production @lumenati.co
Director @swiney
Producer @meems_mk
DP @dp_graim
2AC @ben_zuckerman
DIT Chris Nightengale
KG @tongkatt
Art @nikkirmalloy
Audio @lincoln_terhark
Tyler Kaschke is a gaffer / chief lighting technician with 2 ton G&E grip truck and sprinter van rentals serving Denver, Boulder, Golden, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and the Rocky Mountain Region at large.
For more information about grip and lighting tips and shooting video production commercials in Denver Colorado, follow me on Instagram @colorado_gaffer