Streamed show lighting

thecoin

Member
We are looking to be streaming our shows and i've been trying to find out what i don't know about lighting.
I have some basic ideas that it needs to be "brighter" but trying to find anything useful through a google search right now is worthless. (clickbait for work-from-home is "huge")
Are there any resources that could help with this?
or does anyone have rules of thumb for such things?

Thank you
Colin
 
There are probably some good book and other resources on lighting for film/TV that will help you as that's what you will be doing.

Because you are now lighting for the camera rather than the eye a lot of things change. They means a much smaller dynamic range. You'll need to reduce your use of colored front light and keep a much more consistent level lighting (in lux/FC). Also keep in mind that incandescent lights change color temperature as they dim so rather than just dimming a light you may need to switch to a different lamp, add ND filters or color correct it back to your reference color temperate. You'll probably also want 1 or more video monitors showing the various cameras at your lighting position.

You also may need to decrease your lighting angles to get more light into peoples eye sockets. The rule of thumb I've heard for TV is 30 degrees up, and I've had to go down closer to 25 in some cases where as the rule of thumb I've heard for theatre is 45 degrees..
 
Dynamic range is unfortunately the downfall of "concerts" on video.
The biggest issue you'll realize is you no longer gain the benefits of subtle lighting that you have in person. Things that are delightfully bright become blown out, things that are sexy and dim are black.

Biggest tips:
1. Manually set focus, exposure and color temperature on the camera. Cameras have an awful time figuring out any of those with movement as fast as moving lights can create and any LED source in a camera will, almost guaranteed, not be measured correctly, including and specifically, white.
2. Don't shine lights toward the camera. What's fun about lights sweeping past and blinding people dancing around doesn't read on camera. You get tons of weird haze when light beams are close to the camera's view and uncomfortable bright nothingness when a light makes a direct lens hit. Getting those fancy JJ Abrams lens flares require precise lighting placements or CG.
 
Ok i've had some of these thoughts myself, so thanks for reinforcing the ideas.
Keep cameras on manual to maintain consistency for levels - can do.

What can i do to help an LD who has to design for a Full live Musical that is then streamed with multiple cameras?
I can get all the cameras and basic lighting to work but what sorts of flash and trash can be done?
Keep things slow and pretty? less dancing light?

I feel this is our world for at least the next 3 years if not in perpetuity. Do i need to push different lighitng positions?
Maybe since seating a full house isn't an issue adding a lighting position in the house isn't so hard :p

Thank you,
Colin
 
What can i do to help an LD who has to design for a Full live Musical that is then streamed with multiple cameras?

Give them a reference monitor attached to either a switcher or one of the stationary cameras and have them program to that, not just what's live. It's awkward at first, but it's the only real way to know how your lights are going to interact with your cameras. They're all different.

what sorts of flash and trash can be done?

Depends on your definition of flash and trash. If your exposing for talent, than it's really easy to bloom out your camera if you start strobing white at full or run into funny sync issues with the cameras shutter speed. So limiting your color lights to half intensity might look better for your setup. Also slowing fast movement to 75% or less of what looks good to your eyes might look better on camera. There's a lot of trial and error.

Camera sensors have a lot of issues with blues and purples so either limit your use of them or de-saturate them so the camera picks up the color you want to see.

My preference is around 35 degrees for front light as it gets rid of raccoon eyes (which cameras exaggerate) but still allows for dynamic lighting on the face.

Have fun with it. You'll find it a bit awkward at first, leaning on a monitor for everything, but you might find that you can be more creative with lighting and directing if your intentional about having a moving fourth wall.
 
When I learned video lighting (70s) the ideal was 3 lights on an area or person at fixed pos

key light - brightest, lenses instrument usually, front offset 45 degreeshorizontal, 30-45 vertical.
Fill - weaker, other side 45 deg, often a diffused light
Back - steep almost down light from behind to differentiate the talent from the backdrop / cyc / scenery. Say 60 degrees down light or steeper. Barn doors often used to prevent camera flare.
 
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We are looking to be streaming our shows and i've been trying to find out what i don't know about lighting.
I have some basic ideas that it needs to be "brighter" but trying to find anything useful through a google search right now is worthless. (clickbait for work-from-home is "huge")
Are there any resources that could help with this?
or does anyone have rules of thumb for such things?

Thank you
Colin
Actually, I find the biggest mistake is the thought that it needs to be "brighter". We typically run key lights around 40-60 foot-candles, (which looks dim to the eye), and then adjust the scenic lighting to match. The problem with running hot is that it gives you a much larger dynamic range, which means more falls outside the range of what the camera picks up.
A good way to self teach, (If you have a system, and time) is set a camera up with a monitor. Bring up a key light slowly, until the subject looks good on camera. Then bring up the scenic lighting...At this point things may be a little too dark, so take everything up about 10 percent, and use that as a starting point. You'll be surprised at how "dark" it looks to the naked eye, compared to camera.

(I'm on my 3rd music video shoot this week)
 
As an aside, if you are running haze, you'll find that reducing the keylight by a stop for the big "flash and trash" musical numbers lets the light beams "pop" more making the scene look bigger... seems counter intuitive, dimmer for bigger numbers, but you are really reducing dynamic range so more of the effects lighting is seen.
 
What @RonaldBeal said....had to do this myself when one of my clients asked for "some video gear" (basically, a TV studio) to film corporate messages. If you can find an older plasma screen to use (even temporarily) you'll get an immediate lesson in "blooming" and how to avoid over-saturating the camera's sensor (what size is it, btw?). Don't forget to back light well - that's what makes the people "pop out" from the background and makes the stage seem bigger. Good luck! m
 
Here's a great example of an official Disney filming of a Disney musical, so I assume it's as expensive and "pro" as can be, such as all cameras being identical with trained op and shader staff. But it super accentuates the issues you have to watch out for.
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Immediately subsequent shots that are completely differently exposed resulting in color shift and ISO noise.
Screen Shot 2020-08-19 at 4.29.50 PM.pngScreen Shot 2020-08-19 at 4.29.40 PM.png
After watching the entire show, it's fine, I'll watch it again, but if you feel like watching a made-for-cruise-ship-musical, it's fun, but grossly obvious that the lighting totally wreaked havoc on the video crew.
Also, you can tell it was filmed multiple times, so the lighting had to have been so extreme in cases, they couldn't even compensate for it when they had multiple chances.

Using this video as evidence again as well, color temperature is rough.
You can tell here that camera 2 is used for photo 2+3, but it pre-adjusted it's color temperature for photo 3 because it was very warm, but the byproduct is photo 2 looks nothing like photo 1 which it is immediately after.
Screen Shot 2020-08-19 at 4.38.02 PM.pngScreen Shot 2020-08-19 at 4.38.09 PM.pngScreen Shot 2020-08-19 at 4.38.28 PM.png

2 more examples of vastly differently exposed cameras in immediately subsequent shots.

Screen Shot 2020-08-19 at 4.43.30 PM.pngScreen Shot 2020-08-19 at 4.43.42 PM.png
 
Actually, I find the biggest mistake is the thought that it needs to be "brighter". We typically run key lights around 40-60 foot-candles, (which looks dim to the eye), and then adjust the scenic lighting to match. The problem with running hot is that it gives you a much larger dynamic range, which means more falls outside the range of what the camera picks up.
A good way to self teach, (If you have a system, and time) is set a camera up with a monitor. Bring up a key light slowly, until the subject looks good on camera. Then bring up the scenic lighting...At this point things may be a little too dark, so take everything up about 10 percent, and use that as a starting point. You'll be surprised at how "dark" it looks to the naked eye, compared to camera.

(I'm on my 3rd music video shoot this week)
^^^ THIS. I've noticed this on corporate gigs... when the LX looks "right" to the Personal Assistant to the Vice President of Nothing Important, the image looks blown out on I Mag and the dynamic range looks more comic book than high dollar video. Three f-stops down from what the PAVPNI likes is a good starting point.

Good to hear work is picking back up, Ron!
 
Another factor to take into account is communication between the LD and the video crew. Spend the time to talk about what it needs to look like, especially if the "creative" folks have a "look" they want. I was working as LD on recording a music act and the direction I got was "dark and moody"- well, that means different things to different people.

Once you have the overall "look" vocabulary- discuss how it is going to be achieved. Are the cameras going to be stopped down or opened up for the desired depth of field? What is the shutter speed, frame rate, and resolution? If the overall picture is too dark, is the LD going to bring up the overall light levels to compensate or is the video crew going to adjust aperture and sensitivity on the cameras? There is nothing more frustrating as an LD than to be adjusting the lights and have the video crew adjusting cameras at the same time so that you end up fighting each other.

Take some time to play with the lights and the reference video monitor. See how the camera sensor reacts to different colors and fixtures. After the LD makes a nice color on the monitor, you might be amazed to see what it looks like to the naked eye - usually a pretty big difference. I also tend to include the intensity parameter of LED fixtures in the colors I build by recording presets (in EOS syntax) because the camera will pick up the differences in relative color emitter balance as the intensity changes. A LED fixture in a specific color might look fine at 30% but blow out the blue on the camera at 50%.

The video crew adds a whole 'nother layer of technicians and technology between the talent and the consumer. That means more communication is necessary to get a quality product.

-Todd
 

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