Today’s class saw us again working on our practical production skills – this time we looked into how to light a scene and how to set up a shot. We unpacked a lot of equipment and took it in turns to set up different lights, c-stands, etc.
This was a really en-lighting (hahaaaaa) session and it was good to finally get to experiment with different ‘specific-to-film’ lighting tools. I’d always been interested in checking out Litepanels’ lights so to finally get to set them up and see how they operate was cool – the fact that they’re battery powered and there’s no wires getting tangled up everywhere was really visually pleasing (from a minimalist point of view).
I’ve never actually been able to test out 3-point lighting before and being able to see where the key, fill, and back lights should be placed in 3D space was useful. Just from the short group tests that we did in class, I further realised the depth and visual interest that simple lighting tricks can give a shot. I really liked using a mix of light temperatures, the combination of the yellow and blue lights looked interesting, giving the shot a more cinematic aesthetic.
It was also good to again brush over how we can analyse and critique a scene/shot’s lighting, refreshing the idea of the face’s ‘off-side’ and learning more about ‘motivated’ lighting. While ‘film lighting’ won’t be a realistic option for a lot of my Film3 explorations (as they are designed to make use of available light), the experience this morning’s class provided will surely come in use in the future (and perhaps while helping others with their projects.