Re: Please recommend Light for lighting backgrounds during interviews

I really enjoyed reading this post! For background lighting I have been using the small projector that LTM makes... I have 2 of them. They take 2 1/2" inch cookies (cucaloris to be exact)and I use either an LTM 200w or Strand Mizer with these projectors. By the way... to be accurate gobos are not cookies! A gobo is an opaque flag used to cut, shape and/or block light. I am attaching a couple of photos so you can see this small projector. A comment about using a projector and cookie...it is desirable to project the cookie so that it is a little out of focus. I've been at venues where the lighting director projects all the cookies with a hard edge... and then if they are being controlled by techno beams... it's a little much! The effect should be subtle and not draw attention to itself!

I am also a fan of tungsten lights, especially fresnels. You need to have 2 or 3 in your kit if you are doing interviews. My approach to using fresnels is to use lower wattages, like 150w, 200w, 500w. Today's cameras a very sensitive vs what they were 10 years ago! I have 2 Strand Bambinos, which are 500w, but if I need more light I can bump them up to 650w by changing the bulb. I also use Lowel's Rifa lights with egg crates, which is lowel's version of a Chimera. The difference is that the Lowel Rifa pops open like an umbrella... you just put the diffusion on the front and your are ready to go. Very quick setup! The Chimera is more erector set like and you have to, with a little struggle, bend and stick the wire frames into the speed ring. I always feel like I am breaking my fingers when I am setting up a Chimera! Using egg crates in front of Rifa or Chimera softens the light even more... and will help hide shadows that may fall on the background!

I feel like I am writing a book... so bear with me! When I was in college in the 70s I had Gerald Millerson in my video production class. Some of you old timers might remember that Millerson was a BBC engineer who wrote about a dozen text books on tv production and lighting... Millerson's approach was to light film style...he was a stickler for doing 3-point light correctly...key, fill and back light. For interviews the key light does not go where the camera is, but is determined by where the talent's nose is pointing! So if you have a subject who is being interviewed looking off camera at the interviewer... then the key light is setup so that the interviewer is between the key light and the camera... this is so that the fat side of the subject's face is towards the camera and the shadow that is created by the light is cast across the face... the key light should also be from "above" so that the key light casts the shadow down... this is what creates the 3d look that is needed in this 2-dimensional medium! It drives me crazy when dp's and lighting directors put a light on the floor, and shine it up on the person's face! This light flattens the image... in fact, it is a very unflattering light... think about when you where a kid on Halloween and shined a flashlight pointing up from your chin... casting the shadows on your face up... and scaring all your friends! I call this the Katie Couric light! Think about this...or try this...then next time you are lighting an interview... make the floor light the first light that you setup and turn on! Seat your talent down and take a look at what that light is doing. Then ask yourself this... are you turning on all the other lights... in order to create flattering light for your talent or are you turning them on just to overcome what the unflattering floor light has created? You've created flat lighting and a shadowless face! And of course, when Katie is asking questions and waving her hands around... oops look at all the shadows being cast on her face by the floor light... very annoying to say the least!

I'll be back tomorrow to add some more thoughts, especially about the Leko lights. I have shot video on the Good Morning America set... so I can tell you exactly what they do! I will also talk about LED lights... yes they are way over priced! Here are the pictures of the LTM projector.