Lighting from above

[danncooper]

I'm shooting something soon in a hospital and was hoping to hang lights from the ceiling, can any of you recommend a way of doing this? I won't be able to drill into the ceiling and can't think of how I'll get my lights up there!
Thanks for any help you can offer

 

[2001 Productions]

I don't know your level of experience, so apologies if these are obvious...

If the ceiling is white, I would bounce the lights off of it. If it isn't, I would affix foamcore or a bounce card to it. If the light needs to be hard, use a shiny reflector.

If you absolutely must hang a fixture, either use a spreader, a counter-weighted boom, or a crossbar on C-stands.

p.s. - If your fixtures are small and lightweight enough and the ceiling is acoustic tile, you could also use a gaffer grip. But be sure you cover the area above the fixture with aluminum foil or the heat from the lamp may scorch it (learned the hard way).

 

[jax_rox]

Polecat also known as an auto pole:

Jam it between the walls:

Use Super Clamps to hang the lights (you could use Gaffer grips as well):

Depending on what's around, you might be able to use magic arms to hang lights off different things:

 

[2001 Productions]

Polecat also known as an auto pole

That was what I meant by "spreader". Polecat is a much cooler name, though. Do we use that term in the States?

 

[jax_rox]

Polecat is a much cooler name, though. Do we use that term in the States?

No idea! Manfrotto call theirs an 'AutoPole'

 

[knightly]

Is it a suspended ceiling? If so, a scissor clamp is the thing there.

 

[Lucky Hardwood]

Most of the hospitals around me have suspended (or dropped) tile ceilings. If that is the case where you plan to shoot, you have a number of options. If the facility will let you remove some of the tiles, any screw grip clamp will get the job done. If not, you can use the hangers that convenience stores use to hang signage and spread the load out over a large area to reduce the risk of your lights falling and to increase the stability factor.

 

[TheArtist]

Also, you can boom a light the "same" way you boom a mic.

 

[MileCreations]

Also, you can boom a light the "same" way you boom a mic.

Of course this does run the risk of lighting inconsistency as well as potentially slightly shaky lighting as I imagine it would not be as light as a mic on a boom. Someone highly skilled would need to be operating it.

 

[TheArtist]

Obviously it depends of the light he's using but it's a very viable option, espcially if the light is soft (I'm thinking Chinaball and I think Ryan used it in Tell for hallway lighting).

 

[jax_rox]

I assume you mean something like this:

In LOTR, they also used handheld kino 'wands' like this:

that kinda floated with the camera.

When there's a lot of movement you might use such lights. More often I arm out a C stand, but I'm not averse to such handheld/boom light techniques.


--
Of course, if there's a drop ceiling, and you've got the rigging (and riggers - grips) to do so, you might look at this kinda thing:

This is a lot more complex than a PoleCat, but sometimes the room is too big for a PoleCat to be of any use.

 

[danncooper]

awesome, thank you all so much this is so helpful!