Came across this youtube video explaining about film looks and mood. It mentions how LIGHT, COLOUR, MUSIC and CAMERA are all important aspects in how your final production will turn out.
While it is always better to make sure that you shoot what you want your film to look like, ensuring that the problems are solved on set. Post-production also allows you to change things up, that’s something that I’ve been experimenting on my videos as well.
If there’s one thing I learnt from this video, it’s that every shot comes with lot’s of planning behind it.
With Paul’s suggestion, Polly and I decided to collaborate between both our productions. I thought it would be useful, because the both of us are currently stuck and running out of ideas for our own projects.
We met on tuesday to brainstorm our ideas. Using Polly’s ideas on telling a story with a mirror, and using my investigations on light, we decided to do a short story film.
This is our vague plan for now. Will ask for feedback during the consults, hopefully we can finalize our idea before our filming session on friday.
3 scenes test from Allison Teo on Vimeo.
In our last class we had a mini screening session to showcase what we’ve done in the past few weeks. It was interesting to see everyone’s work as well as to get suggestions for my own project.
While shooting for my project, I originally wanted to just showcase the three different scenes in my video. However, I was inspired by the colour grading exercise in class to try out the different ways I could manipulate my scene. It turns out that colour grading and lighting are very important in bringing out the emotions in any scene. With the feedback I got from class, I will definitely be experimenting more on colour grading in post-production.
This week we had our tuts in the suits, and Paul introduced colour grading to us. I’ve heard about colour grading before so it wasn’t that new to me, however I didn’t know how to use it in my videos so I wasn’t really sure what it could offer.
Through the exercises in class, I realised that colour could really change the whole look of my scene. This interested me because it was similar to what I was doing with lighting. The change doesn’t need to be very bold or loud, it could be a small tweak to the footage. Yet a subtle colour grade could have a profound impact on the scene.
Came across this video of comparison between the original footage and the colour-graded footage. Watching this masterpiece made me the realise how colour grading can influence the look and feel of a finished piece.
This was actually my third shoot for this semester. However due to some (dumb) technical error, I couldn’t use any of the footages in the previous shoot. I think I learnt the hard way of doing checks prior to any shooting, and not just simply assume that everything will be fine.
During the previous shoot, I attempted to re-create the lighting in different movie scenes. However, I didn’t get any satisfactory shots due to various factors. Eg, scene setting. This made me question my original plan and so I started to explore other areas that I could investigate.
I was reflecting about consults when I started toying with the idea of creating different scenes. I vaguely knew about how hard/soft lighting could change the way we perceive a scene, and I was actually quite interested to try it out.
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This was my setup for the shoot. Using one LED panel, 2 DEDO lights and the natural light coming from the window, I tried to create three different types of scenes. It was definitely much harder than expected.
My first attempt was to recreate a happy scene. I used the high key setup for this particular scene. The lighting casts very few shadows, and it generally makes everything seem bright and happy.
My second attempt was to recreate an angry/sad scene. I used low key lighting for both scenes. However this was slightly more complicated as I wanted to create two distinct scenes. I tried to change the position/ intensity/ filters/ diffusion of the lights .
I managed to complete the shoot successfully and was really pleased with the end results. I really have to thank my actress for being so willing to do whatever I asked!
Through this second shoot, I realised the need of preparing well before I head out for any filming. Halfway during the shoot, I had to pause halfway to figure out what and how I wanted my scene to look like. Planning ahead could have saved a lot of the time wasted.
We had consultations on Thursdays & I left it slightly clearer about what I was going to do. When I first started this project I had a long list of things I wanted to achieve, however it seems like it would be impossible to achieve them all.
I raised up the issue about how an outdoor shoot will be hard to achieve due to the fact that I did not have any power source available for the dedo lights. Paul mentioned that I could maybe just focus on indoor settings and try the different lightings. It’s definitely do-able, however it does limit the amount of things that I can try.
Also, the fact that having lights in every production makes things complicated when I’m trying to film. Extra lights means extra equipments, and that means that I need extra hands around when I’m doing a filming session. While I’m thankful that there are friends who can help me, it’s certainly not easy trying to co-ordinate the timings and making sure each shoot goes well and it isn’t wasted.
I think I’m reminded once again how film making is still a large collaboration between people.
Well, my first shoot didn’t go well. The weather wasn’t great and my actor had an emergency to attend so she couldn’t make it. I guess I shouldn’t expect that everything will go smoothly..
However it was actually a good chance for me to try out and experiment with the lights. I borrowed the LED panels as well as the dedo lights from the tech office. I found an empty class and decided to pop in. Have to admit I wasn’t very sure of what I wanted at that time, but I still managed to get the chance to experiment which was pretty cool.
Basically my goal for this first shoot was to just try and see how the different lights could affect a particular scene. Since my location was in a classroom, I decided to film a typical student scene. I started out by using no artificial lighting, just the lights that was present in the classroom.
TAKE ONE : No artificial lighting.
TAKE TWO : LED Panel @ 75%
TAKE THREE : LED Panel @ 75% + DEDO Backlight 50%
TAKE Four : LED Panel @ 75% + DEDO Backlight 50% ( 1/4 Blue Filter )
TAKE FIVE : LED Panel @ 75% + DEDO Backlight 50% ( 1/4 Blue Filter ) + DEDO Front (1/2 Filter Blue)
To be honest, the first shot actually looked alright to me. It was definitely something that I would have gone ahead and film before embarking on this investigation. However, while comparing the first and my fifth shot, I realised that there is a huge difference between both.
In the first video, the subject was blended into the background. I felt that in general, the last take showed more details in the shot that was left out from the beginning. The only issue I have is that the shadows created by my front light is pretty obvious in the picture. That was something that I did not take note while filming.
Currently am considering the best way to edit a video to show my findings from this mini experiment.
We had 2 sessions of lighting during the classes the past 2 weeks. To be honest I went in without any expectations. However I really liked how Robin approached the class. He didn’t just tell us what to do, or what is good lighting or not.
Robin showed us a few videos about bad lighting and how decisions that we make can affect the whole feel of the particular scene. The most important thing I took back was that lighting doesn’t particularly need to be a stressful part of filming. Whether it’s using a light prop that can be included in the scene or using natural lighting, as long as it’s used logically, a scene can be beautifully lit.
He left us with a few questions that really helped set some guideline for my own personal project. The first question was “How do I want the scene to be?” and secondly, “What is the decision behind the lighting in the scene?”
The second class of lighting conducted by Paul gave me a slightly clearer idea of lighting. We did a rehearsal with Mia’s idea. Although it was really useful for me to see how a proper rehearsal should look like, I actually had more concerns.
Firstly I realised how important a rehearsal is before we actually film anything. Even before the actors arrive, I should have the basic set-up done and ready to rehearse. However that is definitely not the case for me. I don’t have the manpower and time to prepare in advance, thus I need to be very intentional about my projects and plan them properly so that I do not waste any time.
Secondly a problem that actually cropped up while I was attempting my first shoot was that, I did not have the appropriate power sources for my lights in an outdoor setting. This is a major issue for me as no power source means no lights in the scene. Will need to think about how I can settle this issue. But for now, I will continue on my experiments in an indoor setting.
I thought it was really interesting to hear everyone’s presentation on thursday. I think it’s intriguing how each of us have our own ideas and I’m excited to see our final products.
Anyway, since I received some feedback after my presentation, I decided to take note and to see how I can progress from here.
Firstly, I think Paul was the one who mentioned about doing a series of comparison. So basically it’s one shot with the proper lighting and one without. This was something that I’ve always planned to do. However, I was inspired to maybe do a short film explaining how different lightings can affect the scene. So instead of filming just a normal portrait, maybe I could film the entire process of me fiddling and experimenting with the lights.
Another feedback I received was the use of natural lighting. While doing my research, I came across an article about the use of natural lighting in the movie “The Revenant.” The movie was interestingly almost shot entirely with natural lighting.
I think I’ve had the misconception so far that natural lighting isn’t enough, however I could use whatever lighting there is for me to help with my production. This is especially useful if my production is on a tight budget. Knowing how to make full use of natural lighting could save me on some cost.
For this semester, I’m interested in the technical aspect of how lighting in a film can affect the quality of the production.
Basically I want to understand how lights affect the subject or even my perception of the subject. By watching films so far I know how important lights are and I’ve also found out that lights placed in certain positions can help object pop up more, or even appear more 3-dimensional in the shot. That will be something that I’ll try to achieve.
There are two ways I’m approaching this
First is to do a series of shots to investigate the question of how lighting can affect the shot.
Using the reverse-engineering process to deconstruct a scene and then try to copy that in my shots. This process will allow me to understand how the lighting director planned the lights in that particular shot to see what he was trying to achieve and also for me to see how I can use these underlying principles to create my own shots.
I want to just use simple scenes eg, portrait to compare natural lighting and artificial lighting. Just to see the difference that can be made with and without artificial lights in any production.
Second way is collaboration with other filmmakers. I managed to get in contact with group of students in our media studies that are thinking of working on a film. Basically they will be the ones production, they do all directing, casting, script. What I’ll do is just to provide lighting.
This allows me to experiment with whatever I’ve found out in my previous investigation and I think this also allows me to focus purely on the lighting aspect and how I can communicate with the director in terms of the shots they want.
What I want from this semester and the projects that I’m undertaking is to increase my knowledge in terms of this area, and be confident in using lights, I want to use them in my own personal projects as well, just to make upgrade my filmmaking skills, giving my videos a more professional feel.
