Making a brightly lit gym dark
 

Ok, so here's my problem. I have a commercial shoot next week for a football team. The theme of the commercial is something similar to the under-armour commercials that are everywhere these days. The team is coming out of a blowup tunnel getting psyched up for the game. Now in my mind this obviously needs to be lit fairly darkly with a lot of shadows crossing their faces, etc. Only problem is the lights in the gym (they play in a dome) "wont turn off". At least thats what I was told. Any ideas on how to get the effect I'm looking for with those giant flourescents on? I have a feeling its going to get interesting...

You could throw even more light on them, then reduce the exposure. That way you can make the environment look dark while lighting the team ...

I'm confused. You said a football team that plays in a dome (stadium?). Then you mention a gym. Not sure what you are trying to light?

I'm sure the lights will turn off. You just need to talk to the right facility person. It does take quite a while for stadium lights to come back to full output once you turn them off.

Its a dome, but the basketball team plays in there as well during the off season so I just interchanged the words. And I'm sure the lights would turn off, but apparently its not an option for some political reason, who knows...

Just a note, you said "Any ideas on how to get the effect I'm looking for with those giant flourescents on?"

Actuay in a Gymn, or large dome, they are probbably not using flourescent's, it is probbably HMI's, or mercury vapor lights you will be dealing with. It doesn't matter exactly what lights they are using as much as what color of light they are putting out, as any lighting you do will need to match it as much as possible.

Emre had the right idea, you will need to carefuly throw even more light on them in the right spots, and reduce your exposure so the areas that are being lit by the lights in the dome look dark in comparison.

Either that or create a structure, and cover everything in black fabric to block out the light, but I doubt you will want to go that route.

Yeah, filling them with more light is better than anything I've come up with. I'll probably end up doing that. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks guys.

Well, if we leave the "political" problems aside and go with the limitations you have given, this how I would approach this problem:

Set up a 20X20 black overhead to knock out the overhead lighting.
Drape two 12X12 blacks as a negative fill along one side of the tunnel exit.
Place a strong backlight blasting through the tunnel.
Now you can key from the side or 3/4 front. You might not need any additional lights if you want it more dramatic.

You will have to gel your lights to match the available lighting. At least close enough to get a decent white balance.

It will take a decent size crew and grip truck to set this up.
Or you could get the lights turned off.

You will never be able to overpower stadium style lighting unless this is a dark high school gym. Even then you would need large HMI lighting that would be very expensive.

You could always shoot outside on a field at sunrise or sunset.

Find out when they turn the lights on, get permission to shoot then, shoot the background plate, shoot the team green screen ? not...ok...In post, mask the team out and crank the contrast on them while dropping the brightness on the background. Then add some 80's new wave video light slashes across their eyes...

Or add light to raise the exposure on their faces with the patterns and shapes you want on them, then stop down to push the background dark...wait...did someone suggest this already? DOH!

what kind of lighting budget do you have ?

not seeing any story boards or seeing the location ...
give me 2 10 ton trucks , 3 18k HMI's, 4 6k HMI pars and a couple of 4-7k xenotechs and some smaller lights and i know we can get you within reach of that look ...

Could you shoot IN the tunnel, just before they exit?

Thats what I'm probably going to end up doing as well...The lighting budget is pretty much nil, so I'll have to make due with what I've got. It would be very nice to get a couple 10 Ton grip trucks... or even better yet, just turn off the stupid lights... oh well... thanks for the help guys, I'll let you know how it turns out.

What about this? The piece can be fairly stylized, and I know that as long as the players stay in the tunnel they'll be relatively shielded from the overhead lights. How cheesy/bad would it look if I added a matte in post with some soft edges. If I shot it right, tight, I think this would get rid of the excess light on the edges and perhaps make it look like its supposed to be framed as such. Any thoughts suggestions? Again, thanks for the help. I've finally broken into the business with a real job after college and this is one of my first projects with the new gig. Since I'm the new guy I'm a little anxious about getting what I want. Thanks.

Evan

Why not go to a different location? Somewhere that will be large enough and more accommodating? Football field at night?