Lighting Method...?

Generally the lights are moved according to the needs of each shot. I think you will see this when you are actually on set. Especially when moving the camera, and the crew around in the area. Sometimes lighting for one shot will be perfect and you think you can use it for the next one, but then you notice bad shadows/shadows of camera and crew on the shot etc.. Understanding lighting for me came just through experience, It was hard ( at least for me) to wrap my head around until I did it.

alot of what you see recently on TV is short lit "Dibbie Crosses". The rim light for character A is the short-side key for character B. The rim light for B is the Short Key for A. The fill then comes from the camera side and under... the keys/rim lights are high and on C-stands to keep them out of the shots (or hung from the ceiling). this way, the master, and the two singles can be shot with the same setups without the problem of the lighting going flat by broad lighting the subjects and losing the modeling when the camera moves.

One of the first episodes of http://2nd-unit.tv covers this and shows the setup as well.

For lighting a noir you always need a high contrast/decent lighting ratio. I'd say around 8:1 is preferred for lighting a noir. I'd say bounce your fill off the ceiling, it will most likely light a good portion of the room, while giving you a decent ratio on the dark side of the subject.

Also, while you want to light for continuity, you will most likely have to move the lights around because of the various camera angles. Just make sure that the lighting doesn't change harshly from shot to shot, and you will be fine.

Great pointers thus far. Yes, you will need to move lights and gear depending on your shot...things will get in the way, you will get flare every now and then from certain lights etc...

Keep in mind, if one side of a characters face is too dark, but you don't want to move a light, you can use a bounce also...that can work wonders.

If shooting Noir on DV, keep it closer to 4:1 (DV has about a 7 stop range, so 8:1 would lose information - either over or underexposed in part of the image)... You can push it deeper using Color Correction later, but you'll generally want the information to start out with.

Unless you're wanting to under/overexpose, then go for it! Know the rules before breaking them.