70s Disco short film, Hard or soft light?

[Indiana_Wilson]

Hello Mr. Deakins.

I am a film student and I will soon be shooting a short film with a 70s disco club dance scene. It is meant to reminisce Saturday Night Fever and Boogie Nights.

Most of the references I have seen are lit with overhead colored lights (par cans etc) rigged to the ceiling, but I am not 100% confident I will be able to get flattering enough light on the actors’ faces this way. I am leaning towards rigging an 8×8 LT grid booklight off to the side of the dancefloor and accent with the par cans, but am worried that will then take away the drama of the hard light.

I would greatly appreciate any input, Sir.

Topic

[Stip]

Not Roger but one thing to consider is that different colors of light can be more or less flattering on skin/subjects. Red light e.g. is very flattering (hence ‘red light districts’). So maybe a good idea is to start by choosing appropriate colours/gels for the par cans and go from there.

[lukas_hyrman]

Also not Roger. But I did shoot a 70’s disco short and I had a similar idea. I used a similarly large soft source off to the side of the dancefloor but just for a little bit of fill light to pop the central characters, and I’m not sure I needed it honestly. You have to be aware that you are lighting a big area, so even an 8×8 is going to feel sourcy and the falloff will be noticeable. The things that I found handy shooting this scenario were when in close ups diffusion frames on those pars to soften them, and my own RGB panel to augment the pars from the floor.
Good luck it is a tricky scenario

[Author]

Replies