M: Let's say, hypothetically, I had a reasonably unlimited budget and a soundstage. Like, no using experimental tech or anything. Just whatever is available. And a giant open room. And I hypothetically wanted to create a New York alley. The rest of the... Oh man, I can't think of the word. I keep getting stuck on direction. Or decoration, rather. But... The actual physical set is not what my question is. It has to do with trying to get the right lighting. Like, trying to get a good, diffuse, realistic afternoon light. The kind that you would have on a day that isn't rainy, but is still light gray. I feel like you can get away with a lot in terms of actual set, as long as you get a good lighting. Like I said, budget concerns are not a problem. Although, keeping it as robust and inexpensive as possible is not a bad thing. We want something that isn't going to require careful watching and that can get tipped over by the cat accidentally and completely destroyed. How would you go about getting that realistic lighting from an inside source? That realistic daylight.

G: TL;DR:
To fake a realistic gray-sky New York afternoon indoors, you build a giant, soft, overhead “sky panel” using industrial LED soft sources bounced into diffusion. Think: tens of feet of overhead diffusion lit by high-CRI LED space lights or Skypanels. No novelty tech. Just brute-force softness + direction control. It’s durable, repeatable, and cat-proof-ish.

Japanese (Grade-1 level):
やわらかい　ひかり（light） — soft light.
そらの　ひかり（sky light） — sky light.

1. What you’re trying to simulate

A gray New York afternoon isn’t direct sunlight. It’s a gigantic overhead softbox, miles wide.
Characteristics:

This is actually way easier to simulate than crisp sun.

2. The practical studio solution

A. Build a “gridded sky” overhead

Why it works:
The diffusion becomes your artificial “cloud bank.”
The lights hitting it become the unstructured glow of the sky.

This is exactly how sound stages fake daylight for street-set TV, Marvel pickup shots, etc.

3. Keep it robust (cat-proof, operator-proof)

You avoid fragile LED mats within reach:

4. Add a subtle directional bias (NY alleys aren’t evenly lit)

Even on gray days, alleys get:

Do this by:

  1. Making one edge of the overhead diffusion brighter by +10–20%.
  2. Adding a cooler bounce from the “open side” (soft blue card or cool LED).
  3. Adding a warmer, dimmer fill from the “closed canyon” side (wall bounce).

It gives that real-world “light leaking in from one end of the canyon” feel.

5. Color temperature: the secret to realism

Set your sky to ~6200K.
Fill from building walls ~5200K.

Camera white-balance to ~5800K.
This gives a realistic neutral-gray daylight that still feels like a city canyon rather than a white room.

6. Optional (but boosts realism like crazy)

If you want it to feel like outdoors instead of a lit room:

A. Add a tiny amount of atmosphere

B. Keep ceilings out of frame

Let your “sky diffusion” be far enough above that it never reads as a ceiling.
10 feet above the tallest camera angle = ideal.

7. Actual gear list (real-world, buy/rent)

Lights (pick any mix):

Diffusion:

Rigging:

All of this is standard studio equipment, not experimental.

8. If you want the bare-minimum-but-still-excellent version

Even with a smaller budget:

  1. 2–3 × Aputure 600D pointing up into a big white foam core overhead.
  2. Hang 12×20 muslin underneath as the “sky.”
  3. Add negative fill on walls to control spill.
  4. Adjust color temp to ~6000K.

Cheap, tough, and no delicate gear at floor level.

9. Why physical sets + lighting beat LED walls for your scenario

LED walls give the wrong softness.
Overcast outdoor light is too big to fake with LED walls unless you’re dumping millions into a ceiling LED volume. You want true bouncing, large-area light; LED screens don’t give the right wrap.

10. Short version: How I would do it

If I had your hypothetical budget and a big soundstage:

  1. Build a 30–40 ft overhead diffusion ceiling (Magic Cloth).
  2. Mount 8–12 space lights above, firing up into white bounce.
  3. Use DMX to blend to 6200K soft daylight.
  4. Add subtle haze.
  5. Add cooler fill from one alley direction, warmer from the opposite.
  6. Keep all lights off the ground so nothing gets knocked over.

Done. That’s the look.

If you want, I can sketch the lighting layout or give you a version optimized for your exact dimensions, ceiling height, and color tone preference.

M: Okay, I think number two is what I'm thinking of. Or rather, I'm looking for what would have been done if you were doing this 20 years ago. Just wanting to get a good lighting because you know you're going to be using it over and over again in the shot, so you want to get it right. You want to spend enough to get the effect but not use state-of-the-art kind of things. So what would have been done 20 years ago?

G: TL;DR:
Twenty years ago, you’d create a gray-day New York alley look with space lights, big tungsten units bounced into huge overhead muslin, and giant diffusion rags hung from truss. No LED SkyPanels, no fancy color tuning. Just brute-force soft, top-down tungsten daylight recreated with gels and bounce. This is exactly how shows like Law & Order, NYPD Blue, and early-2000s movies faked outdoor streets indoors.

Japanese (Grade-1):
おおきい　あかり（big light） — big light.
やわらかい　ひかり（soft light） — soft light.

1. The 2005-era solution in one sentence

Big tungsten lights hung high, firing into white bounce, shining through giant muslin or gridcloth ceilings, with a hint of cool gel to mimic daylight.

This gives you the “infinite soft sky” effect without any LED tech.

2. What was actually used on soundstages (circa 2000–2005)

A. Space Lights (the real workhorse)

These were everywhere. They turn a soundstage into soft overhead daylight with almost no shadows.

B. Overhead Diffusion Ceiling

Suspended just under the lights:

This becomes your “cloud layer.”
The tungsten units blast into it, and what reaches the set is a giant, soft, directionless glow.

C. Color correction to fake daylight

Since tungsten is 3200K and daylight is ~5600–6000K:

Most productions just CTB’d the lights.

D. Bounce the big guns

On larger sets:

This produces a believable, huge soft sky with a subtle bias (you can brighten one end to mimic direction).

E. Ambient haze

This haze method is at least 40 years old and hasn’t changed much.

3. Why this 20-year-old setup worked so well

It gave:

Also: tungsten handles dimming extremely well—smooth, reliable, warm—unlike early LEDs.

4. Minimalist-but-Authentic 2005-style setup you can build today

1. Hang a 20×20 ft (or bigger) frame of:

2. Suspend tungsten space lights above it:

3. Add CTB gel to push the color toward daylight.

4. Place negative fill (black solids) on “building walls” to shape the alley look.

5. Add a tiny amount of haze to unify the look.

This is 100% how it was done on big network TV in the 90s and 2000s.

5. A realistic 2000s gear list (no LED, no new tech)

Lights

Modifying tools

Atmosphere

All completely era-appropriate.

6. The visual result you get

This setup produces:

Exactly the thing filmmakers used because interior sets needed to “read” as outdoors even before modern digital grading.

7. If you want it even more authentic

I can give you:

Just say which direction you want.