I am Second lighting?

[Lalo Alvidrez]

I am wanting to duplicate the lighting for I am second. I believe there is an octobox above the subject but thats just a guess. What do you think is the setup for this style of lighting?

[Mikael Couderc]

I'm guessing you won't have many answers if you don't give us a few more details.
I for one, have no idea of what you're talking about, except that you're trying to replicate a lighting setup you seem to like.
If you're finding it hard to describe what you're after, why not try and post a picture of the setup or scene you like?

edit: On second thought, maybe I didn't get what you're after cos' I'm not from the US. Is 'I Am Second' a tv series? A movie?
Still, a picture would help...

[Mike Watson]

I am from the US and have also never heard of it.

But I googled it, and came up with this video (first hit):

YouTube - Brian "Head" Welch - I am Second

That seems to show a kino-style fluorescent shooting almost straight down on the subject.

[Lalo Alvidrez]

Sorry about the vague description. Yes it's a web site called I am second and they have interviews with celebrities in a dark room with one light overhead subject sitting on a white chair.

[Charles Papert]

2x4 (or 4x4, hard to tell) Kino with egg crate, and diffusion taped on the doors.

Nice simple scheme and looks great. Good choice of chair also. Nice clean look.

[Bill Davis]

The fixture (as seen in a couple of the shots) was a boom flown 4 bank KinoFlow. It clearly has a 40% egg crate in front of the tubes, THEN they used diffusion over the front of the box. (Which is a little odd since the purpose of the grid is to RESTRICT the beam angle - while the purpose of the diffusion is to SPREAD the same beam angle!) -- I guess the DP or LD tried it both ways and best liked result that this rig delivered.

I think the other important thing to note is like in all interesting lighting setups, the WHOLE is greater than the sum of the parts.

For instance, without the stark white beads in the subject's dreads there would be NO shape to his hair. Similarly, notice that as he leans forward, his entire face and upper body functionally disappears. Useful in a controlled setting where you can do a re-take if the subject leans forward at a critical moment in his story - but a REAL hassle if you don't have control of the talent and the situation so that you can re-shoot if the severe lighting angle starts to work AGAINST your interview purpose.

It's a risky setup. But very effective for the particular content and the look of the subject in this example.