Today we discussed the importance of aesthetic in film and what white balance means. We then went out and filmed abstract shots in groups, taking on different roles and filming two or three shots each, noting down the settings for things such as exposure and white balance to really cement how each of these effects a shot and to have a clear idea of what allowed each shot to look the way it did. I will note though that a few of our shots came out over-exposed, and we did use a colour viewfinder to film on the day, so a good hint for the future is to use a black and white viewfinder with zebra stripes to really nail exposure. White balance was interesting to learn about though, and is something I have experienced working with RMITV in the studios, however I’ve never actually had it explained to me and that was really great. Basically, the camera cannot adjust to varying lighting conditions the way the human eye does. For example, the light from the sun is blue (as are fluorescent lights – aka. white lights), and incandescent bulbs are yellow. White balance allows you to correct for this, as although the camera may initially see the white as blue or green for example, you hold something white up in front of the subject you are filming and tell the camera to see that as white, and it adjusts for that by pumping in more of the opposite colour. Light is measured in kelvin, and generally speaking,
1600k – candles
3200k – film lights
4000-5200k – fluorescent lights
5200-5600k – sunny
5600-6000k – cloudy
This can help to know what the white balance needs to be adjusting for on location, however generally speaking, once you tell the camera what to white balance to you just have to trust that it is adjusting to the correct lighting.
