For my latest project I have been filming a replica brain for the BBC strand Horizon.  Real human brains are apparently hard to come by, this one is a replica from a medical supplier.  We used a turntable (from Aimimage) to rotate it against a black background.  This was shot on my Canon 7d, using my full size Miller tripod for the moves and pans, and a stills tripod was used for the more extreme angle lock offs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lighting set up here is pretty simple.  I used a couple of 800 watt red heads to heavily back light the brain, giving it a moody, heavily shadowed look.

On the wider shots the brain was heavily lit with the barn doors cutting out as much spill light as possible.  That way it was easy to stop down and get the black drape in the background looking very dark, while the brain remained vivid.