Through the shooting project, I am happy to work with my group members. Our concept of the video is a horrible image video, as we know the colour tone is quite important in the horror film, so we shot in dark green tone and some of the dark lighting condition to complete our concept. To be the producer of this video, we’d like to let the audience play the full attention in our video, and feel the atmosphere as same as we’d like to share. In the editing, I added some blank footages to make the whole story in the rhythm of the point. Also the sound design, we put a lot of attention on it, in a different situation we add different sound effects to rich the story. After finishing this project, we’ve watched this video on the laptop which is good, but when in the big screen, the quality of the video looks not that good as my expectations, I think its because the lighting or the light condition outdoor.

If we have changed to improve this project, I’d prefer to have the key light in the first half video, which is in the black studio. Because I have mentioned many times to add a key light to rich the quality of the video, but my group member rejected my suggestion. Also, the footage we shoot in outside, the lighting condition was not that good as my expectations, if we got a chance to improve, I would like to have a LED light or tungsten light to be the backlight, I think that will fix a lot. Also, it we could screen in somewhere else, I would like to screen in the festival, it could be film festival or upcoming Halloween festival, because our video concept is horrible and which is fit to Halloween. And if we public in somewhere else, we should pay more attention on credit and more formal formats.

After watched our class’s projects. Joseph,Tully,Terace’s group are doing sort of the colour gel testing and light equipment in a different position. Their video shows the lighting in different position could rich the story and also change the storytelling, and also I remember the pink light is really tricky in their video, you can’s see the pink light at the first time, but after the actor walks toward another actor, he was in the pink light, this is really good and looks like science fiction film, that makes me feel more the image from the space and I really like their video.

Another group’s video from Eleanor, they are redoing the same concept form the practice shoot, but the quality is good as their before. The good is when they screening their video, they have comparison for the original version and their own version, this is good to see how they set up the light, and how close to the original version video. There’s a one video has a strong image which is they are recreating the scene from Arrival, the use the heavily diffused lighting for this video and bunce it. This video is impressive and shocked all the audience, so, I think the version they recreated is really good and successful.

After watching all of the video from the class, I think everyone is doing really good and we all have different opinions for lighting. Through this course, I have figure out the film are light. And I have realized the practising is really important, even in the setup and warp time, practice more and I can save more time. To know the basic light theory is important, it not only could help the light design and also help the future project.

General Reflection

For exercise 6. Our group choose to shoot indoor. We have found a place which is in building 10. The lighting condition in there is already pretty good. This place already has strong top lighting in there. So we didn’t fill much lighting in the first shot, and we’ve used a white reflector to reduce the shadow of the actor’s face. Also, the reflector gave the actor more shape of their face, which is looking beautiful in the frame. Furthermore, the top light makes the actor’s face shaper, because there no much back/fill light in both side, the reflector was under the actor’s body/face, so that, there are no much shadows on their face. The continuity shot is they still sitting in the same position but we change the place. So we have recreated the lighting but trying to make the same lighting with the first shot. So there is a spotlight, we’ve using two reflectors to make the light collective. One is under the light, another reflector is on the top of the light so that the lighting looks the quite same with the first shot.  The other group’s shooting is in outside. I have found they didn’t use additional light source. In the Jagger’s medium shot, the chairs in from his back in a bit overexposure in the frame, so that it will make the video looks too bright. The solution to fix this removes the chair or to adjust the gain from the camera or change the IOS in the camera. But for another solution is we could do some colour grading in the after editing.

For exercise 7. We still shoot indoor. For the lighting set up. We’ve used tungsten light for the overall lighting. And on dedo for the key light. Because of we want to create natural daylight so we have adjusted the temperature of the tungsten light, also the actor is standing beside the window, so the tungsten light is facing the top, and the light is reflected from the roof so that to make natural daylight looking. Furthermore, if the light face straight towards the window, there will appear shadows and reflection in the window. Also, for the shooting, we have using handhold. So that for the continuity shot will be easy to have a transition shot. But when we watch the video, the actor’s face still looks dark in the frame. I think the solution for fix this problem is we could move the light closer to the subject, but for our group’s situation, we could make the light closer first and adjust the temperature brighter, if its works we could use a reflector under of the subject, which is could make the light collective and stronger. In this shooting practice, I was handle sound. For set up the sound, the most important( for me) is to check the channel is from the Mic or camera. So that the sound comes from in right equipment. The another groups are  shooting in black& white. The first shot in their video is she standing beside the window, the difference between our shot is her face is facing the window, in out shooting, the actor’s face is facing adverse. So, they don’t have the problem like us is the lighting is too dark. But I have found in the dirty shot, the light from outside is overexposure in the video, the contrast is pretty significant. So if I were them I will adjust the ISO or adjust the gain.

In exercise 8, the shooting place is in indoor, and there was an automatic glass door. So the light condition is quite good. We have totally 4 shot in the video. In the first shoot, the actor is standing beside the door, as we can see in the frame, the lighting is coming from the south but not directly towards the actor’s face. So is it not looking exposure in the camera, of course, we have adjusted the setting before starting out shooting, which is to make sure the quality of the video. The second shot is that have a conversation and the camera panning to right a little bit. Because of the inside of the lift, there’s no fill light (extra lighting) in there, and the light condition is good, so we didn’t use the extra light. The next shot is the actor who talking to another, he was standing beside of the wall, and we have checked the white balance, and gain, also we have tried different distance between actor and the automatic door, which is to make sure there’s no overexposure in the frame. Which is I learned from exercise 6. In the last shot, is outdoor shooting. We didn’t use any extra light equipment and reflector etc. in this exercise, I have learned, shooting in a good lighting condition’s requirements and camera settings. The similarity with exercise 5 is those two exercises are both shooting outside, and we all have to think about the distance between the subject and the camera. In exercise 5, there is a scene is shooting beside the wall, so the lighting comes from another side. So, we can see the shadows appears only in the right-side face. But in the group’s shooting, I have found a tricky one thing, which is in the wide shot, there’s no light towards to actor’s face, in the medium shoot( conversation shot) the light appears from the right side. So the continually is quite important in the shooting. The differences between those two exercises are, in the exercise, we only focus on one subject, so that we only check the lighting for those two actors. But in exercise 5, there are two subjects, we have to make sure they are all in the correct light condition, we are not only seeing the people in the front but also the people in the back.

In class 16, we have an experiment with a night interior. in this experiment, we have discussed what soft light could bring to the film, as my own point, I think different lighting could create different atmospheres. As we tried soft light, the actor’s face is hush and the edge of his face is not clear. But to compare the strong lighting, the edge is shaper. So, from what I learned before this course, to create lighting is to create a mood, if we say the film is lighting, then lighting is the mood. So, the lighting could make the film looks better. The first is to decide what kind of atmosphere of the shooting plan. There is an example, if you want to have a chewable and relaxed looking, the way to make is to dimmer and more muted lighting, and also we could use the dedo to highlight the area you want to show. From the experimented in the class, we are inspired by this and set up the light in the practice shooting. In asst 3, we are planning three different scenes to show different atmospheres. One of them is we are planning to shoot outside, and we gonna use a book to make the storyline complete.

n exercise 9, we were shooting in class and we split the work, I was handling the sound stuff. The sound stuff is quite easy to set up, after the camera did, I input the mic and checked the channel is in the correct position. in waiting time, I was looking at what other people do. To make the background is clear and in the frame, there’s no reflection, we adjust the height of the stand for the dedo light. And in the backlight is tungsten light, we have set up the temperature bit lower. Also two reflectors, one is for the background, another one is on the top of the actors, which is to collect more lighting. Throughout the first half of the semester, I have gained knowledge in class but more practical things in the shooting. Those are all helps me to understand FILM LIGHT. Even my past two asst was not going well, but I truly found the value in the last of them. The in-class technical knowledge and out-class practice all help me a lot.

Additional Reflection

Reflections for other groups

In the class we had a presentation, there is some conclusion of what I learned from other groups.  The Joseph’s group, they have to use the LED light to be their backlighting, they have to bounce the light to make the shoot looks wide and narrow. In shot 3, they trade off the ND filter, so the background becomes whiter. Also, they have adjusted backlight and the key light to see how the lighting will affect the subject.

The Ada’s group, they have shown some screen cut from the film, which is really good to telling us their concept and also related to their project. Also, they have used colour gel.

Eleanor’s group, the source they have to choose are Lost in Translation, IT, HER, and Awival. They recreate shoots which are related to the scene they’ve shown to us. To recreate Lost in Translation, they are using soft light, heavy fill. To recreate IT, they set up in low key light, stylistic, heavy fill and shadowed, furthermore, the reflector is down of the actors. To recreate HER, they set up the heavy fill and diffused.

In the Chole’s group, they adjust the colour temperature and white balance, they have shoot 4 different functions for one scene which are normal white balanced, white purple balanced, blue light, normal white balance and blue light orange white balance. As we see, a different colour temperature could make a different atmosphere.

Reflection for asst3 practising 

In the past asst, our group was planning to shoot in three different concepts. Which are nature daylight look, horrible, and magical, fantasy look? For the nature daylight shot, we were shooting outside, and we didn’t use any of light equipment. We were shooting at a low angle and we using the reflector to reduce the shadow and gain more edge. For the horrible shot, we were shooting in the Melbourne old jails. The lighting condition in there was pretty good. There already have a light come from the top, and it is a soft light, so that could be out the backlight. In this shot, we didn’t use the key light. Furthermore, we were using the blackboard to make gave more edge of the actor’s face. In the last shot, we were shooting in the house. We want to create a magical and fantasy looking so that we used to different lights. We’ve set up the tungsten light for our backlight, the light is directly light the wall, and the pink colour gel in it. Furthermore, the dedo light to make the key light, which is light up the actor’s face, the dedo was setting in half mitre height and half mitre distance of her. But we’ve found a problem is light on her face make her face looks greenish, we have discussed, and this might be the colour composition, because the actor is an Asian, and she has yellow skin so that the pink light on her face makes her face looks greenish on the screen.

Reflection for the final project

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AMQoJ80kYoeGZeuRBhpFH9KsO46JbnS4

In the final shooting project, we’ve shot in the black box studio building 10. The concept for this project is similar to the practising shot but more collective. This time, we were planning a horrible conception video. so we prepare the dark green and blue colour gel for the tungsten light. Furthermore, to make this atmosphere, we did not use the fill light for most of the scene. In the beginning, we’ve set up the tungsten light to be out background light, and apply a deep green& blue gel on it, but the lighting looks a bit strong on actor’s face, so we applied a defiler on it to reduce the sharpness. The first scenes picking up the book, we have used the blackboard on the right side of the actor, it not only collective more light but also create a space which looks like suitable for our concept. Furthermore, the camera angle was low. And another shot, we practised in asst 3 which is magical and fantasy concept. But at this time, we’ve changed the setting a little bit. The tungsten light is still using for the backlight, and we using the dedo for the fill light which is to light up her face, and apply a pink colour gel on it. The angle of dedo is low height and looking up like 45 degrees. The result is pretty good because the pink spotlight makes the atmosphere lively and I think it is better than we practised before. After this shot, we change the lighting setup.  For this shot, we want to create a reddish, horrible look, so we only used tungsten light. The background is white, so we apply a red colour gel on the light, but it doesn’t show that much with our expectation, because of the light on the white fabric looks orange and bright, so I apply a clear black colour gel on the red gel. This time the result is approached to our expectation. Those lighting set up are mainly we used and some of related to the previous practise shot.

The second video we were shooting outside at night. We didn’t use extra lighting equipment but adjust the setting of the camera. The light condition was not much as we expected, but the concept of this video is horrid so that it approached the topic. I have adjusted the gain to 6 db. As we know, the db of the camera controls the amplification of the signal sensor. So that it fixed much better for the image of our shooting. After the “running scene”, the next shot is a quick panning shot, we want to show someone is chasing her, and it is the POV shot. In the previous shot, we are shooting in the same lighting condition so that could keep the video’s consistency but except the last shot. The last shot is the girl finally wake up, even we shot in the same location and in the lighting was same, but we were using our phone light to be our fill light. We were using two phone light on both sides of her face, the angle was sort of 45 degrees and looking down.  The lighting was fixed many shadows of her chin. Also, it looks like we shooting in another place after we use light.  After this project, I have learned something that I don’t know before, in this course we use different light equipment and more technical knowledge, those help me to know the light is important in the filming. At the beginning of this course, I was arrogant, and I thought I knowing that much, but after asst 2, I realized the practising is much more important than thinking. This is a fantastic course and I have gained some more experiences.