Helpful hints on doing low light video

I wish to video billiard players as a training DVD.
I will be videoing the persons stance , and stroke, follow through

I wish to use my 5DII , I have done very little video recording .....
I am worried about lighting and not sure which lens to use and at what distance I should be away .
My best guess is I should be 20 to 30 feet away.

I was thinking of using my 85mm 1.8 lens.

I am zoom lens poor , I have a 100to 400mm L dust pump
A 70 to 210 mm < its old but sharp <
EFs 10 to 22mm for my t3i and a 18to 55 mm kit lens .

I do have a nifty fifty and a 24mm and a 17mm primes

I might be better off buying book or looking at some training videos .
Any suggestions ?

I have a good tripod and gimble

Armchair predictions are fine, and I'll make some, but there's nothing like an informal test shoot to clarify your workflow before you need to really get the money shots! For that most important discovery, shooting will be much better than reading.

20 to 30 feet away? What room can you shoot in that will give you that kind of space?

I'm guessing that a test shoot will show that the 50 and 24 on your full-frame will be most useful. Getting a head-to-toe to show stance in a typical room... well, it would be nice to catch it with a 35mm or longer lens so as to not introduce visible wide-angle distortion. As you get longer, you're going to run into other pool tables (pool hall), or walls (home), unless you have access to some sort of large dedicated space.

Arguably, your shortest full-frame lens should be 28 or 35mm in an instructional project that involves straight lines and the geometry of shots. But, depending on the space, you might have to go shorter

Apply your own crop factor calculations for the t3i.

But your headline was about lighting. Here too some test shooting will help clarify whether you have sufficient light. If you do need more light, the classic approach to a table with person or people around that needs a boost is to fly chinese lanterns, aka paper lanterns. They are so light that you can fly them off existing fixtures, or, a long crossbar between stands.

2 or 3 of these as low as possible over the middle of the table, with 200w bulbs will light the table and the player very nicely. You may need some other light for your off-the-table stance shots.

Here's a nice intro:
https://youtu.be/RLhaI​Mdyf4g
When you buy them, about 24" is the minimum size that's useful, and, you buy the cordset, bulb, and lantern separately. They're cheap! Don't set the house on fire...

This will be a huge challenge for you. Long before you involve filming a skilled pool player, you will need tons more experience filming, lighting, and sound recording. Make sure you have many hours of practice before you try the real thing, You will want to use 2 cameras. The 85mm on the 5D2 for most of your close ups, and the 24 prime on the T3i for wide angle shots. You will want to use manual mode to record video with the settings ISO1600, F2.8, 1/50th.

You will quickly discover that you need professional microphones and better lighting to compare your video to what you see in other tutorials.

Scott Spellman wrote in post #18188207
This will be a huge challenge for you. Long before you involve filming a skilled pool player, you will need tons more experience filming, lighting, and sound recording. Make sure you have many hours of practice...

Well, as a former industry professional who has moved into education, I'll suggest that Scott is proposing a certain philosophy. It's quite valid, but also recognize that there are others.

I now teach in a college video production program, where we do have structured learning opportunities leading to mastery of skills for certificates and degrees, but that's not the only way!

Here is an alternative philosophy of learning video production: Failure is not an option, it's required. Fail fast, fail hard, learn from your mistakes. If you're not failing along the way you're not sufficiently challenging yourself. Get out there and get some experience and learn from it.

BTW the 1/50th shutter speed he suggested is for 24 fps (filmic) or 25fps (most european countries). In the U.S. an instructional piece about motion should be shot at 30fps (or better, but mostly 30) to faithfully represent motion without artifacts. For 30fps use 1/60th shutter.