Many times throughout the semester the idea of cohesion in lighting terms kept coming up. In the early stages of forming the group assignment we collectively decided that both components should be part of a whole, and that however inconsequentially, the two parts of our assignment should feel part of a larger work.

This was criticised because, it was very unnecessary, the idea was of course to develop our skills, we felt we could do this by making the second piece different (to challenge us) but also to re-try what didn’t work on the first shoot.

Three light sources, this time using the sun as our key light source and LED Panels for the fill. Using daylight (in contrast to our previous shoot) enabled us to try a different look and style of practise. Michael was originally trying to get tungsten fixtures for the day but it didn’t come off. Using different coloured gels, we created various different lighting effects on the walls. With a bit more time on location than the first take and much much more background elements to play with, we were able to try very different effects even if not all of them were helpful to the story we were telling.

Furthermore, we experimented with using a practical light modifier. A magnifying loop was introduced to focus the light onto the diamond for one particular shot.

One of the challenges was consistent lighting through the space. Indoor light was fine as this light could be easily controlled and modified using the means on set. One side of the space provided direct sunlight through a window whilst the other side of the space had only reflected sunlight coming through which made the light not only softer but less intense. This comes across as very natural, (due to the fact that real sun behaves in this way) although the team felt it contributed in a negative way to the overall evenness of the light being reproduced within which was one of our key goals.

We opted for a different method to diffuse the space, rather than using a hazer with a heat element, we opted for haze spray which was much easier to control, partially due to the fact that there was no wind (interior, as opposed to the previous exterior shoot) but also because the haze was finer compared to the extremely thick haze juice that Michael provided us with last time.

Over all the achieved effect was a resounding success.

I always close every semester writing about the things I have learned in each respective studio. Many times I am sifting information and academia overload to try find something practical I took away, something I have actually learned during those four months. I cannot say the same of this semester. Unlike, every other studio I have taken there is simply WAY too much I have learned to fit into a little over three hundred words.

Every week was something new some nugget of Gold from Robin or Rory or Paul or that Production Designer (I forget her name forgive me), where to start?

 

1. I don’t guess any more when it comes to lighting.

Lighting is no longer a reactionary concept for me. I know what I want when I get to a scene, I can see the lighting I want ahead of time and I now KNOW how to achieve it and what it will look like when the lighting and modifiers are in place.

That isn’t to say once you get the lights up you shouldn’t move them around and make it better, but this isn’t step one anymore for me. I don’t start by throwing light around.

 

2. I can actually describe what I want to do.

One of the things about analysing lighting in class that’s super rewarding is drawing on Robin’s knowledge of what techniques might actually have been used and how just from the image on screen. It’s one thing to watch movies and it’s one thing to see how lights work, but putting both together, to be able to see something in the frame and be able to go, “this is how you do that,” is amazing.

I’ve now gotten to the point where I can actually describe to people how to setup. I know what the proper terminology is for not only so many physical objects but also, so many things you can do to a light, cutting and spotting and shaping and all the assorted ways one might do any of those things.

 

3. I’m aware of all the lighting all the time.

Watching a movie is completely different, I had always watched for editing and camera but lighting was one of those things that never really occurred to me. A lot of that is because (as Roger Deakins would say) good cinematography is invisible. Especially in realism, the key light always has a rational source and what fill light there is, can be easily justified by a real thing. BUT, that all goes out the window when you actually have to make it happen on set. Light just doesn’t behave like that and almost every scene of every movie I see now, I notice something about how the light has either been modified or artificially created and that’s the biggest thing I’ve gained, an awareness in film, in real life, of how light behaves and that has undoubtedly changed the way I make things.

 

Above all, I want to thank Robin and all my classmates a hell of a lot, this class has been something very special.

Light Meters.

How cool! But are they really useful when your camera has so much tech?

I’ve never had real setup time on any project I’ve worked on. Never a moment where an actor was off in some room being made up while G&E and camera took the time to accurately measure out where focus should be, get out a light meter and a colour checker and get everything perfect.

Digital technology seems to have done away with time, full stop. It’s just expected that you turn on the camera and hit record! Why would you need to set up? The camera does everything for you, “can’t you just autofocus?”.

It’s very sad. We spent a long time in our lesson exploring how a light meter might work and it became clear that one of the reason’s it’s extremely useful is when you perhaps need to recreate a specific look somewhere or match a very specific light level.

Hypothetical Scenario One:

Say perhaps you have an actress bathed in sunlight from behind at sunset with no real fill light, you don’t want a silhouette so you need to fill that actress. Conveniently, you know what f-stop you need to hit due to the sky behind her and the level of sunlight in her hair. If only you had a LIGHT METER!!

My mind wandered as it usually does in class when discussing technology if there was a light meter that could measure incident colour temperature. This, in my opinion is much more necessary in the digital space because,

Hypothetical Scenario Two:

You might be shooting in a very specific room with a really beautiful differentiation in colour temperature but then find yourself in another room of a different building that needs to feel like the same house but it’s all wrong. It’s just wrong.

A light meter that was smart enough to tell you how to modify the light you’re currently using to match something else would be amazing. Also I was admiring just how expensive they are and then I discovered something a little bit magical, Lumu.

It’s just so brilliant. It even tells you what your colour temperature is in fractions of CTO or CTB if you want. It’s just genius.