Exercise 2 and Painting reflection

Exercise 2 can best be described as a poor effort on my part. I must admit, I entered this exercise in a dazed unpreparedness. The result of this unfortunate mindset was a complete lack of careful thought for the technicalities of the instructions.

However, the entire experience was indeed valuable for two main reasons. First and foremost it made sure complacency was kicked to the curb for the rest of the semester… for me at least. It is only through realising errors and their implications that growth can effectively take place. For this reason, I am glad such complacency was highlighted and thus eliminated early on in the studio.

But enough self-abasement, what little of the exercise we were able to accomplish successfully did indeed hold some valuable lessons for me. The first constructive part of the activity was getting used to set up lighting for film in a collaborative team setting. The allocation of roles and decision making, as well as the coordination of these two elements,  was indeed a useful set of skills to practice ahead of any real-world filmmaking projects. It is often the case with young filmmakers such as ourselves to stumble at the communication part of collaborative filmmaking, and this environment offered a place to develop this.

And indeed, the exercise offered valuable insights into the practicalities of film lighting. We were given access to an Arri 1000 watt Fresnel light and were able to explore its capabilities first hand. One of the main lessons for me was how, given an environment with abundant natural light, it is unfruitful to rely too heavily on artificial light. I realised this after finding out that the 1000 watt light, for all its heat and heaviness, did very little compared to natural light. Because of this realisation, I will take a more careful approach to similar such exercises in the future.

The Painting:

Selecting a painting to analyse regarding light was an intriguing activity. I chose to examine a painting of the realist school as works from this movement have great emphasis on how light is rendered. Furthermore, the specific piece I chose (Girl with a Pearl Earring) was quite cinematic in the way subject and light interacted. The exercise caused me to focus more closely on the way light reflects from different surfaces. The painting possesses a number of such surfaces including the shiny earing, the glossy blue silk and the shining, almost damp look of the subjects lips.