SOUND ON SOUND

[csarami@ncsu.edu]

Hello Everyone,

For a one-man show on Zoom/Skype performance, what do you recommend for lighting?
The performance is in a bonus room ( width and length: 13' by 26' ) where the musician is roughly at the center of the rectangle with a camera in the center of the length. on the right side, there is a green screen covering the whole wall and the sides.




- The main thing is that we want the light to be safe and not damaging the eyes ( will be used three 1-hour shows per week)!
- Price up to around 500 US dollars.
- where is the best spot ( skewed celling) to mount it.

We were thinking of American DJ Starburst HEX LED Sphere Lighting Effect and Mini LED Strobe Light but it seems too large for this purpose!


Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

[blinddrew]

This will all come down to what effect you are looking for.
What kind of show is it?

[csarami@ncsu.edu]

Thank you for the prompt reply!

This is for a singer who is a multi-instrumentalist ( violin, guitar, keyboard) utilizing loopers and Apple's mainstage.

The music genres are pop and rock.

Never used lighting effects before. So, I suppose anything cool like the DJ and/or Stage Lighting Effects would do the job as long as they are safe.

[N i g e l]

you will need to provide lighting for the green screen so that it is illuminated fairly evenly without shadows.

[csarami@ncsu.edu]

Well, that is easily possible to use a tripod for the camera! But the room is dark and all windows are covered up.

[Luke W]

This will all come down to what effect you are looking for.
What kind of show is it?

This is the key here.

What looks good to your eyes in the room won't necessarily look good on camera either, so whatever you do decide on you'll need to set up your camera to monitor the picture and do a bit of work to get the best results. For that reason, simple on/off or "set and forget" type lighting fixtures won't give you much control over your final image. Also, to get the sorts of effects shown in the pictures for the lights you've linked will require haze/smoke, without that you likely won't see any beams at all.

As Nigel has said, what you intend to do with the green screen will be a factor as well, if you're actually planning on using it to key in a background then it'll need to be thought about much more carefully when lighting than if it's going to be a backdrop because it just happens to be there.

In terms of where to mount things, I'd suggest some portable lighting bars/tripods. I'm not sure where you are based but there are a lot of regulations regarding hanging things from ceilings or walls above peoples heads, and it's one of those things where if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't be doing it! Portable bars will also mean it's easier to adjust as you go, rather than needing to mess around with access equipment.

[Mike Stranks]

Back in the day I was a sometimes camera operator at large live events. Cameras were feeding projectors onto large screens...

My constant bugbear was the lighting guys getting carried away with their effects and the video picture quality being severely compromised/unusable. I was often using my talkback mic to ask the lighting director to give me more light.

My advice FWIW... light your performer using conventional photo/video LED panels (with adjustable colour temp) and limit your effects mainly to backgrounds/. Once you've got the feel of what the transmitted picture quality is looking like to the viewer you can start to experiment with some gentle lighting effects on the performer.

IME with effects lighting and video... less is usually more! :)

[Luke W]

My constant bugbear was the lighting guys getting carried away with their effects and the video picture quality being severely compromised/unusable. I was often using my talkback mic to ask the lighting director to give me more light.

This in an argument I sit in the middle of frequently during 'normal times" :lol:

IME with effects lighting and video... less is usually more!

My thoughts exactly. Generic from the front for faces, colour from the back (if it needs any) for effect. Done...

Some people love a bit of "Disco Dave" stuff, just not me personally!

[zenguitar]

My constant bugbear was the lighting guys getting carried away with their effects and the video picture quality being severely compromised/unusable. I was often using my talkback mic to ask the lighting director to give me more light.

This in an argument I sit in the middle of frequently during 'normal times" :lol:

IME with effects lighting and video... less is usually more!

My thoughts exactly. Generic from the front for faces, colour from the back (if it needs any) for effect. Done...

Some people love a bit of "Disco Dave" stuff, just not me personally!

A +1 from me as well. Lighting for video is a lot more demanding than lighting for a live audience. You need to set light levels for the video, but any effect lights or follow spots should only be a fraction brighter or else they will wash out the image.

It's not easy chasing a guitarist across a stage with a follow spot when you can barely pick out the edge of your beam and the LD wants a tight crop from head to waist. Especially the you are being broadcast live to millions of viewers.

Andy :beamup:

[CS70]

For a one-man show on Zoom/Skype performance, what do you recommend for lighting?

Frontal light with a diffuser is simple and works. Ideally you use three lights - two on the sides as well to achieve whatever contrast you want. Avoid lights without diffuser unless you want drama. Every light direction has a corresponding emotional meaning - too long to list here, but avoid angles from the bottom unless you want to look scary :D

If you use a digital camera normally your aperture is dictated by the FPS so you want lights that can be regulated in intensity. LED panels work well these days but check the white correction on your camera. Otherwise I love and use old incandescent lights. Fresnels are easier to work with but less dramatic.

Most of modern look is achieved in post - there's an enormous amount of FX going on in modern productions, but it's neither tacky nor apparent to the uninitiated, and hard or impossible to reproduce in real time without having powerful hardware, so better stay simple. Contrast and saturation control go a long way to create an interesting picture.

You can build with lights as much as you do with music. It's fun.

[blinddrew]

My suggestion would be to be really clear on what your vision is, then think about what you need to achieve it.
You can get a mean-and-moody-songwriter effect with a single light source. Attempting to simulate what you might get in a live show can be (as Andy says above) waaaay more complex.

[csarami@ncsu.edu]

This is the key here.


As Nigel has said, what you intend to do with the green screen will be a factor as well, if you're actually planning on using it to key in a background then it'll need to be thought about much more carefully when lighting than if it's going to be a backdrop because it just happens to be there.

In terms of where to mount things, I'd suggest some portable lighting bars/tripods. I'm not sure where you are based but there are a lot of regulations regarding hanging things from ceilings or walls above peoples heads, and it's one of those things where if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't be doing it! Portable bars will also mean it's easier to adjust as you go, rather than needing to mess around with access equipment.

I don't have to use the backdrop. I can do it along the width of the room without the backdrop. About the regulations I have to do some research, I am in North Carolina, USA.

[csarami@ncsu.edu]

IME with effects lighting and video... less is usually more! :)

Great advice. Thank you.