How to Create the Perfect Lighting in a Virtual Space

Lighting a virtual space isn’t as hard as you might think.

The first step is to shoot plates or design the space you want to create (and that’s someone else’s job 🙃)

Once you know what you’re trying to replicate, lighting is essentially the same process for green screen replacement with a video, or a virtual background designed in Unreal Engine. The most important thing to create a realistic set in the studio is balancing values and dialing the direction of sources.

You can be as simple or complex as you’d like. When filming scenes under the forest canopy in Avatar, Russel Carpenter, ASC used dozens of moving stage lights with rotating gobos overhead to replicate the swaying leaves and dappled light of a living forest floor.

Once you know the direction and quality of your lights, it’s pretty much just vibes. Trust your eye and make it look good. VFX and color teams can add layers to make the subject appear to be truly in the virtual world you created. We have some pretty talented colleagues in post who often don’t get enough credit for the work they do.

We didn’t have a James Cameron movie budget, so we used two Arri Skypanel S60s in an 8x8 overhead softbox with 50º control grid for a toppy fill and a third Skypanel on the ground with a Chimera for the key. A 4x4 beadboard on the key side helped wrap the light and lift the shadows. Then shipped it off to post production and let some computer kids make it look magical ✨

Production @human___design

CD @13thmaker

Director @fonsschiedon

Producer @mentalounge

Prod. Mgr @tylersapproducer

DP @antonfresco

AC @ironsidesmotion

KG @jpmontoulieu

Swing @billy_gunn_728

Prod. Design @jessicajeannestyling

Art @tymla_tymla_tymla

Carpenter Jarrod Duncan

HMU @tay.bleue

VTR @benellisyo

PA @micheliphoto

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Tyler Kaschke is a gaffer / chief lighting technician with 2 ton G&E grip truck and sprinter van rental 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 Colorado, follow me on Instagram @colorado_gaffer