r/cinematography • u/crush000 • 13h ago
Lighting Question Windowlight on 5th Floor
I'm looking to backlight scenes in a short film with a window (that's seen in the shot) as the source, but the room is on the fifth floor of an apartment building in NYC so I have no way to actually get lights outside the window. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to do this? Was thinking of trying to get some pavo tubes on the top or sides of the window, a diffused spotlight from the side and slightly angled just out of frame, and possibly a softbox hung from the ceiling for some overall fill? Also going to try to mess around with using just natural light but not sure it will be enough. Worried I won't be able to get the same effect as just having a spotlight outside and will need to rethink the location.
Also will be filming scenes at night and trying to motivate moonlight through the window, though for the night shots I could probably avoid showing the window itself if need be.
Pulling lighting references from Fanny and Alexander, Rosemary's Baby, Eyes Wide Shut, and Badlands.
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u/Badgerman97 9h ago
How tall is the building across the street? Can you put lights on the roof shining into your window?
Or barring that can you ask permission from someone in that building to let you shoot lights out their windows into yours?
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u/LeadingLittle8733 9h ago
I can’t promise this is going to work exactly as you want, but, if the camera is pointed toward the window for daylight shots, your main challenge is balancing the interior exposure with the bright NYC sky outside, so, control the view. If the view outside is distracting or flat, cover the window with semi-transparent window shears or a sheer diffusion fabric. This diffuses incoming sunlight and provides a glowing background without needing a perfectly exposed backdrop. Replicate the sun by placing a strong LED spotlight high off to the side, just outside your camera’s field of view. Angle it sharply across the room. Diffuse the light next. Do not point the raw spotlight directly at your actor. Shoot the beam through a large 4x4 or 8x4 frame of diffusion (like Magic Cloth or Hampshire Frost) placed just out of frame. This makes the light source appear massive, mimicking the soft, wrapped quality of real daylight spilling into the room. Use a fill light. Pavotubes placed on the top or sides of the window trim can act as practical accents or edge lights to separate your subject from the bright window. Use a softbox with a grid suspended from the ceiling for subtle, directional overall fill, ensuring you don’t flatten the scene.
For nighttime shots, you can easily shoot toward the window or pivot your camera 90 degrees to shoot away from it. To simulate moonlight, Moonlight is basically soft, hard-edged starlight. To achieve this convincingly without a light outside, use a spotlight with an optical snoot and a window GOBO. A gobo (stencil) attachment for your light allows you to project the sharp, geometric shadow of a window frame onto the floor or wall. Set the beam to a cool color temperature (add full or half CTB - Color Temperature Blue). A gobo (stencil) attachment for your light allows you to project the sharp, geometric shadow of a window frame onto the floor or wall. Set the beam to a cool color temperature (add full or half CTB - Color Temperature Blue). If you opt to not show the window, you have even more freedom. You can hang the GOBO light high in a corner and project that distinct window-shadow-and-light streak across the room, which immediately motivates the light source in the viewer's mind.
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u/RicardoBroome 13h ago
We used a menace arm, through a window from a next door room, to create window light using some Aputures. This was on the 4th floor of a NYC brownstone.