Going into the exercise of a ‘Sci-Fi suspense thriller’ I had a particular image in mind and a rough idea of what to shoot. Though I volunteered for acting, some parts of the shoot went as expected and some things did not. For one, I imagined we would use a combination of soft and hard light and we would use some method of cutting or diffusion.
Thinking about the shoot, I would have used a 1k to project a hard light source. I would cut this so that only slithers of the light would be present in shot, I believe this would serve as a representative for an outside light, either to another room or outside depending on the intensity and colour temperature I desired or how the scene would fit in a film. Though we do not know the rest of the movie in relation to this scene given to us, it is easy to create the illusion of one scene part of a bigger whole once we assume things. Assuming that there is an outside light source would also serve the purpose of a close up shot where the subject would be in a state of self-reflection or deep thought. Having little to minimal light to enhance the shadows and emotion the subject could portray would achieve the sci-fi suspense of this scene as it says within the script.
Though our use of soft light was consistent and fit the scene, I would have experimented with the idea of using a single key light, rather than ‘lighting’ the fill in tandem with the key. In this context, what I am saying is to light the subject with one light, without a separate fill light, and let the ambience and bounce of the key fill the rest of the scene. I think this approach works well in a suspense thriller, it especially points towards a more noire-like approach to constructing the scene. One thing to try differently or think about differently is the contrast of colour in relation to the light and what the director wants. I believe that generally, when you introduce different coloured lights into a scene, providing that contrast to the subject, it would adhere to a more contemporary look or a more saturated look which results in a certain suspension of belief within the scene. This could build towards a much larger production design where there are different contrasting lights however it is ultimately up to the director to establish the aesthetic of the scene and movie overall. Another factor would be the general aesthetic within the DoP’s preferences, some prefer the use of different coloured lights, more lights, less lights or the same colour temperature lights. Within this exercise, it was a shame that we only had only a couple of hours to shoot, I would have endeavoured for more experimentation or even shoot different executions of the scene using different methods.
Overall the scene we shot felt very naturally lighted, the blue lights (from a dedo with four blue gels) provides a contrast with the yellow light provided by a Kino with an orange gel. Which the latter provided a light which looks like daylight breaking into the room. The blue light provided a light originating from the rooms supposed electrical products which adheres to the sci fi aesthetic of the scene. As mentioned before, if we were to go back and re-shoot this, I think experimenting with a single key light would be insightful at least. We also used a backlight to light the area behind the subject as well as black cutting boards to block out any light we deemed unnecessary or out of place. Another thing to consider would be what light specifically would be beneficial to the subject on a smaller level. In a previous exercise we experimented with cutting out a shoulder light. As I’ve said in my previous reflections, it would be proactively beneficial if all these things were to be at the forefront of your mind on set and given enough time all these things could be practised and refined.
