Our #SPOOKYCHALLENGE is over, and you made this Halloween properly creepy. Back alleys in the fog, rooms full of mannequins, a stormy night at the cabin: you built, lit and shared scenes that tell a whole horror story in a single frame.
The community has voted. Here are the three winning setups, with a look at how each one was lit.
Set 01: House Calls after Midnight
1st Place Winner
by Scott Foley
A foggy back alley, a doctor in a white coat, a woman slumped in a wheelbarrow and an empty wheelchair waiting in the dark. Scott wanted a spooky scene that tells a story, and every prop in the frame adds a line to it.
Six strobes and a fog machine do the work. Four reflectors with cyan gels sit high around the alley, so the fog glows in teal beams. A gridded Westcott FJ 800 with a red gel sits low on the left and paints the woman in red, while a second FJ 800 with a small snoot throws the doctor’s long shadow onto the wall. Shot at 28 mm from just above the ground, the scene looms over the viewer.
Set 02: mannequin
2nd Place Winner
by Gabe Pineiro
A terrified woman on the floor of an abandoned room, surrounded by mannequins, with the creeping feeling that not all of them are standing still. Gabe staged it like a film still, shot on a virtual RED KOMODO with a 35 mm lens.
The story lives in the color contrast. An Aputure LS 600d Pro with a half CTB gel brings cold blue moonlight in from the side, while an LS 1200d Pro with a deep orange gel, placed low behind the doorway, spills an ominous glow into the room and turns the figures in the door into silhouettes. A small diffused softbox lifts her face just enough, and two tiny Aputure AL-MC lights add accents in the dark.
Set 03: Night at the Cabin
3rd Place Winner
by Jim Gillard
Two friends watch a horror movie during a storm at the family cabin. They are so caught up in the film that they miss what is happening right behind them: look closely, someone is standing outside the window.
All three lights of the setup are placed outside: an ARRI L10-C, a 25 × 90 cm striplight and an Astera PixelBar send the cold storm light through the rain-covered glass. Inside, the warm bedside lamp and the glow on the two faces keep the room cozy, which makes the threat outside feel even closer. Shot at 27 mm and f/2.0, the window stays the second subject of the frame.
Thank You! 🕯️
A big thank you to everyone who built a scene, shared it with the community and voted for their favorites. Every entry was a little horror story of its own, and we had a lot of fun going through them.
All three winning setups are in the community, so you can open them in set.a.light 3D and see exactly how they were built.
Have fun recreating them,
Andreas from elixxier
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