Week 1 Reflection:

Week One Reflection: Natural Light

Week 2 Reflection:

Week Two Reflection: Manipulating Light

Scene Analysis:

Lighting Observation of a Scene: Rooftop scene in Shawshank Redemption

Painting Analyisis:

Analysis of a painting

by This painting is called ‘The Woman with a Pearl Necklace” by Johannes Vermeer. It appears that this was lit during mid day given the white lighting. The only key light was through the window, with a fill light on her back due to the light bouncing off the white walls. I have made the assumption that the only light source is through the window because everything below her waist is dark. The way the painting is composed makes me feel that the subject is preparing for an important occasion.

The scene I have chosen to analyse is the part where the men were able to relax and have a few beers after Andy has bribed the guards. The time of day looks like sunset, and the subjects are lit directly in the sunlight. I made the observation by looking at the skin tone of the subjects and the horizon. It appears as though this was shot during the last minutes of golden hour and transitioning into blue hour. Seeing the men relaxed with a cold beer in there hand sets a moment of ease. The scene makes you feel relaxed after a had days work in the hot sun. This mood was also complemented by the body language and the interaction between the inmates.

Continuing on with Week one’s lesson on the natural light that surrounds us, we learnt about the different tools that can add or subtract light, but also redirect and change the quality of light. Our first day of the week, we redid the first exercise with more emphasis on the composition of the shot, and also with the addition of white and black boards. On the second day, we introduced artificial lighting using various light sources.

The first task of the week allowed us to manipulate the natural light in the room with the use of black and white boards. We were able to bounce the key light and add fill to subject. However, in reverse, we could use a black board and take away light from the fill by placing the board next to the subject. This type of practice of adding and taking away from the light further demonstrates that we don’t need expensive lighting equipment to gain some sort of control over the lighting. Using such inexpensive equipment allows us to manipulate the natural light through changing the direction or the quality of the light. In effect, this will allow for more freedom to light the subject in different ways for different moods.

On the second day of class during the week we were introduced to a type of lighting that is very common in studios. We Used three sources of light which was a key light, a fill light and a back light. We used a 1k for the key light and a red head for the fill. However, we could not position the red head in a traditional three-point lighting set up. The reason being that the light produced by the red head was over powering the key light. The fill light had to be less intense than the key light, otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of having a key and fill light, which is to make the subject ‘pop’. In order for us to reduce the intensity of the red head, we bounced the light onto the ceiling and adjusted it until we were happy with the amount of fill on the subject. In this process we realised how hard it was to control the bounce light because it became highly diffused by the ceiling, which scattered the light everywhere. The drawback in this technique was not being able to control the amount of spill.

A typical three-point lighting setup

source: https://birtecinematography.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/3-point-lighting.png

Fresh into the new year we started off the class by a simple observation. We saw something that we never really pay attention to. The observation we made was the current lighting situation in the room, which was natural light that was penetrating through the windows and bouncing off the white walls. Despite the fact that there was no studio type lighting used, there was still some kind of lighting used. Using the available natural light in the room, we had to conduct an interviewing exercise composing for one single shot. Through this experiment we were expected to review and have a think about and understand the lighting and the composition of in the shot.

The view finder was set to black and white. The intent of the exercise was to focus on how the subject was being exposed. Visualising the subject in black and white allowed us to appreciate how the natural light was interacting with the subject and the background. Once our group had composed and framed up for the shot; resulting in a medium close up of the subject who was positioned in the top left third of the frame. In terms of lighting, we positioned the subject a few meters away from a window, which key lit the subject’s left side. The fill on his right side was lit by the scatter in the room caused by the white walls.

The Frame found in the View Finder

The resultant image from the interview

After we reviewed our shot, we felt as if we could do a lot better in composing for the shot. It was assumed that because of our focus on figuring out on how to light the subject, we forgot about how we should position the subject in relation to the background. Overall the exercise was a great to understand the lighting is not limited to professional type studio lighting. The whole world is lit in a certain way, and if we can understand the current lighting situation in a room, we can use it to our advantage to maximise our control of the lighting. We want as much control as we can so that we can achieve a certain desired look.