The first week back from the mid-semester break was a bit of an adjustment. Whilst I kept my eyes out and open both during films and the world for engaging or interesting lighting occurrences,  my mind was on anything but university work, really taking the time to detox and relax with family and friends. This helped clear my mind, but might have been too effective, as getting back into the uni grind took some convincing for my mind, body and soul.

the first class back threw us straight into it, with myself directing a short scene in the upper classroom, involving a stressed-out student and a disinterested student.

The biggest issue we had with the scene was getting each character well lit and having a detailed face. We were lucky enough to have a lot of control over the manual blinds in the room, which gave us a base level of soft lighting that while wasn’t enough, was way better than just the ceiling lights.

We grabbed a 1k Fresnel light (after some funny in retrospect Benny Hill style confusion) to try and bounce some light from the white walls and roof of the space onto the faces of our actors.

The whole directing process was extremely stressful. Having to call the shots on a project you really know and have experience with is hard, now imagine doing that for a project you do not have those things for! Anxiety galore!

Let’s see how it turned out.

After discussing this both with the crew who attended on Thursday when we watched through this, as well as the whole class, the lighting is the biggest issue with the piece. Jonah is way underlit, and my handheld shot is way too shakey to work for more than a second. However, I really like the thumbnail shot, even though there is a shadow being cast behind his head. I just really like the composition and the way his shirt tones match the overcast weather outside.

This task taught me a lot about set preparation and responsibility, something that whilst isn’t fun, is something I need to keep exposing myself to in class environments, cause I know it’s gonna benefit me on real sets!