Reflection 1:

REFLECTION 1: Lighting to tell a story

Reflection 2:

REFLECTION 2: Putting the Plan into Action

Cinematographer Research:

Analysing the work of Bruno Delbonnel in the film: Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

Presentation Reflection:

Plan Presentation Reflection

I was really attracted to the idea that the group that had Max and Matt. Drawing from a lot of inspirations from Blade Runner and The Dark Knight, I could tell that, in conjunction with their talent, that their proposed science fiction idea was going to be well put. The plan was simple and well thought out. That was confidence inspiring to me that they could pull off the project. As someone who is a big fan of Roger Deakin’s work in Blade Runner, where the lighting is very simple and minimalistic, I can see the shot being very clean and impactful. 

A simple and very subtle way that Blade Runner causes tension, in which was something that I did not realise at first, is a slight off balance from the horizon line in the framing. I think that in these small details that were utilise in throughout the whole film all add up to great intensity that is protrayed in the film. In addition, slight camera movements such as a dolly in will also help create the desired tension that they wish to achieve in their project. 

If they could think of an interesting way of distorting lighting to create a nice and aesthetic visual effect in an almost empty room, that would be really cool.  Hazing the room with smoke is also a cool idea to texturize the light. 

Using a combination of camera work, the appropriate framing and lighting, there is no doubt the group can achieve the look that they are planning for. These are all techniques that are utilised in Blade Runner, which is perfectly fine to replicate, but it will be interesting to see how the group will put their own unique twist in it. Hopefully the group is able to pull off a suitable lighting technique that can complement the intensity of the narrative in the scene they wish to light. 

Not until now, I have not really paid attention to the work of cinematographers. I, like many have praised the work of many of my favorites films to the directors. Having studied lighting for a few months now I have noticed the consistencies of the lighting used in specific movies which can, for the most part, be accredited to the work of the cinematographer. In the past I have watched films like Amelie and the Harry Potter series ( ‘…The Half Blood Prince’ being the most visually pleasing), only to realise that they have been shot by the same French cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel. The main thing that attracted me to the style of Delbonnel is his ability to make a scene look warm and soft. For the purpose of this research exercise, I have chosen to touch on the lighting and camera work in ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’. 

Out of all the films in the Harry Potter franchise, Bruno Delbonnel has hit the nail on the head in the visual story telling of a story that was adapted from a novel. Through his lighting techniques, I have felt that he has encapsulated the mood of the last sequel. Not only does the lighting suit the mood, but from an aesthetic standpoint, he is also able to the light the subjects in a very flattering way. The choices that he makes when he lights the subject is very consistent to the other films that he has shot. Delbonnell generally lights his subject from the side with a key light, which is accompanied by a massive fill light with covers the entire room that the subject is in. Furthermore, the flattering image of the subject is attributed the extensive use of diffusion on the light sources.  This typical lighting set up used by Delbonnell can be seen by the way the character of Harry Potter is lit in this scene: 

Here we see the character key lit on his right, which is angled from above to emulate the light coming from the windows above. A big tell sign that the lighting is very soft is through the amount of spill in the highlights from the right side into the left.  There is a pleasant and gradual fall off in the highlights on the character’s and body. You can also see that the room is also lit which is used to fill the left side of the character’s face. In relation to this particular lighting technique, Delbonnell also has a tendency to have the fill light at about three stops darks than the key light. This lighting technique is commonly used for the in door shots through out the film. Here is another shot that uses a similar lighting technique, which shows that Delbonnel is purposefully and carefully lighting his subject in a consistent way. 

Ultimately, Delbonnel attempts to achieve the softest lighting but also have the greatest contrast to have the greatest separation between the subject and the background. In the first two scenes that I have referred too, we see Debonnell achieve subject and background separation by exposing the subject a few stops higher than the background. In the case of outdoor scenes, he does the opposite. Delbonnel achieves separation by exposing for the background, which becomes a few stops brighter than the subjects.  

Bruno Delbonnel has done a wonderful job at achieving very flattering shots through a great use of diffusion and light placements. These techniques used are not only used for aesthetic reasons but to also serve the narrative. Delbonnel has done well to encapsulate the mood of ‘Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince’, which is attributed by his simple yet effective lighting choices.  

References 

Khan, M. (2018). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The Cinematography of Bruno Delbonnel – DIY Photography. [online] DIY Photography. Available at: https://www.diyphotography.net/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-cinematography-bruno-delbonnel/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018]. 

On a cold Thursday night the group for our big assignment banded together and shot the scene (beautifully written and directed by Michael Firus). For this lighting exercise we use a camera on a gimbal, three LED lights, a smoke machine and two diffusers. Utilising the knowledge that we have obtained we set out to light the scene that was appropriate for the narrative and worked together as a great team. We all took on multiple roles with everyone getting the opportunity to operate the camera to see how we could make decision on how the lighting should be and the positioning of the subjects. 

We had simple three light set up for the first few shots of the car park scene to emulate the moon. The main two lights were a simple key and fill light to light up the two subjects. The LED’s that we used were very useful as we could control the temperature and the intensity of the light. This manipulation of the intensity proved to be useful so that we can keep a consistent exposure for the later shots in the scene. The third light that we used was a small LED light that was emitted on the pavement in background. The purpose for this tertiary light was to create a sense of depth in the shot. This light was lit with a smaller intensity in order to create good separation from the background and the subjects. 

This is a partial example of the light set up that was used for the first few shots in the scene:

This exercise so far gives a good practical understanding of how lighting works in a real life situation. When we study about light, it is always good to know and implement complex lighting techniques. However in the real world, we do not always have that flexibility to think of elaborate ways to light a situation. In the case of our exercise, people had to leave at certain times and we only had a limited amount of equipment and hands at a time. We not only learnt about lighting, but also how to work around the limitations that we had at the time.  

It all began with a student sitting in a chair in attempt to light him in a variety of ways. Using the same equipment that we have talked about thus far into the subject, the class experimented with different lighting set ups to achieve different kind of looks. It is well and truly good to be able to have an extensive database of lighting set ups, but we also have to remind ourselves on why we light in a particular way. From the decisions made with the f-stop on a camera to the placement of a tungsten light 

I think for many of us, well probably more so myself, tend to associate lighting with mood at a very basic level. Having gotten past half way into the subject, I have felt a lot more mature about lighting set ups in reference to the mood that is required for a particular narrative. Prior to properly beginning to understand light in class, my complexity in the thought process of light and mood was very minimal. It is common, by default, to think that: 

” A sad scenario requires dark and moody lighting” 

And 

“A happy scenario required bright and colorful lighting” 

The mindset that I initially had was not necessarily wrong by any means, but it was just vague and one dimensional compared to how it is now.  Falling back to the exercise of the ‘student in the chair’. I avoid just throwing lights or cutting out light in a general location, I now purposefully put things in a specific location to specifically light the subject and the background in a non-accidental way. Keeping in mind the key to fill ratio, the hardness of the light and the f-stop used. However, all of these concepts are thought of after as the most important part of lighting is understand why we are lighting it. It all boils down to the narrative or the scenario we are shooting in, which is the primary influence on the lighting situation.