Lighting and set-up
Many professional filmmakers/photographers employ the three-point lighting technique in their work, no matter the genre. Likewise, cinematographers, light designers, and other production design professionals use this technique in dramas, comedies, commercials, documentaries, and many different types of video projects.
Three point lighting
This photograph demonstrates the key light. Ideally, the key light should be the brightest light source in the shot. It should be at a 45-degree angle from the person.
The use of this light as a source of soft light is recommended. As such, if the light was too strongly directed at the subject, a diffuser could have been considered.
In this photograph, you can see the fill light is used on the person. You can be flexible with the placement of this light, for example, you can position it at a 90-degree angle to the key light or further to the side.
Its purpose would be to fill in the shadows that the key light creates on the subject.
This photograph displays the use of a backlight. A backlight is a light that can define or highlight the subject. Backlights are typically placed behind the subject (out of view), but some people use decoy or fake lights instead.
You could do this by placing a lamp or light source behind the subject. Viewers may think it looks odd or unnatural to have the outline of the subject lit up by an unknown light source. Having the backlight high above the subject and looking down is another way to prevent this.
In film and TV, lighting is essential. Unless it's a documentary or the channel five news, good lighting is critical. Lighting can help convey the emotions in any scene. Using bad lighting could distract the audience, and they might miss necessary feelings in the story.
Lighting can be used to soften or create harsh contrasts in the subjects features using the correct positioning and lighting techniques. Colour or gels are also used in this way, but it is easy to edit these during post-production, unlike lighting.
In the image below, you will be about to see the character 'Darth Vader' surrounded by red. The screengrab was captured during a tense scene where Darth Vader could be seen walking through a cloud of thick smoke. The red colour comes from the hazard (warning) lights on the spaceship. This lighting set-up was used to fill the audience full of tense anticipation.
The image below is a screengrab from the Netflix Sci-fi series 'Black Mirror'. In season 3, Episode one, they used pastels and light colours to convey a sense of falsehood to the audience. Typically pastel filters and colours are used on sweet foods and cute photographs.
The Studio
During class, we were allowed time in the media studio. The studio is a room set up to work, similar to a TV set. As you can see from the photographs, one wall is a permanent green screen. The green screen, also known as chroma keying, is a post-production technique that uses multiple layers of images. For example, the background image would be the transparent layer. This technique can be most commonly spotted in weather forecasts and films.
Also, in the studio, there was a vast range of lights. Several lights were attached to a rig on the ceiling. And some were on the ground on stands that you could manipulate in height and placement. A power board controlled all the lights in another room off to the side of the studio. Between the rooms, there was a glass window. I assume this was to allow for easier management of the lights.
Using the control panel, you were able to adjust each individual light in the studio. But before you were able to manipulate the lights you needed to turn them on via the master slider. The master slider would control all the lights that plugged into the board. It could dim and brighten the lights already slightly up.
The tricky part was attempting to learn which slider belonged to what light. That just came down to memory and guesswork.
You will see our group planning the layout we wanted in the media studio in the photograph below. It was the first time we ever had access to the equipment in this room, so it was all experimental. We needed to familiarise ourselves with this space because it seemed highly likely we would use it more in the future.
When we placed the floor lights into the positions we wanted them in, we experimented with the accessories we had on hand. In the photograph below, you will be able to see my groups use of the reflector. A reflector is a bit of board or fabric that will reflect light at a certain angle. These most commonly can be found in white but also bronze, gold, silver or even black. Each colour will give the subject a tint. So, for example, you could use bronze or gold if you wanted to provide the subject with a warm glow.
Gels
Our group were also given a chance to experiment with 'Gels'. These 'Gels' were clear bits of plastic that we could place over the lights to achieve some colour variety.
They are pretty similar to photo filters. The only difference is that you can add filters later in the editing process where the gels are used as you shoot.
Gels can be used to create any atmosphere:
- Blues and greens can most commonly be used to create sad and cold atmospheres.
- Reds and warm colours can be used for love scenes or if you need to achieve a romantic atmosphere.
- Orange and some browns can be used to make the subject look good. It is quite a popular filter type for phones.