For this class exercise, we had to film a short scene where two actors have a short conversation outside an elevator before they walk outside, meaning there is a shift in the lighting conditions. I was operating the camera with Quinlin directing the scene. As the DoP, it was important for be choose the right f stop to ensure that the light coming from outside the building didn’t make the outside look overexposed whilst still making sure that the inside of the building didn’t look underexposed. We then also had to make sure that each of the shots matched when they were edited together. All this became increasingly more difficult when we had limited time and other people kept wanting to use the elevator.

Shooting at this angle was fairly tricky, as you can clearly see that because the steps outside are directly in the sunlight, and with the time pressure we struggled to find a way to keep the detail on the ground and walls outside without making the interior look too dark. One we might have been able to avoid this problem would have been to rotate the camera slightly so that you see less of the window, however I do quite like this framing so if we had a little more time it might have been worth seeing if other f stops or density filters a bit more to see if we could achieve a better result.

This shot is probably my favourite, but also the hardest to get, mostly due to the fact that it was so difficult to get the timing right between the lift being used by other people and then making sure we got the time of the shot right so that the doors didn’t close before Aly finished her line. Darcey has also done really well in the edit to cut it so the movement of the doors appears to be seamless. Again, the space made the scene a little tricky to light, as the window that was acting as our key light was lighting Aly’s face in such a way that when she turns towards to face to Louise, she turns into the shadows and away from the light. So while I was happy with the light when I set up the shot, this changed as soon as she starts to move, a good reminder of why it’s important to rehearse the scene before rolling, for the crew just as much as for the actors.

I’m very glad that we decided to use a seperate shot to show Aly and Louise leaving the building rather than a single tracking shot from inside the building. While I like these kinds of shots, the dramatic difference between the light inside and outside meant we wouldn’t be able to have a shot like that without it become overexposed as the camera moved to look out of the building. Even with the shot we ended up using, the shot begins to lose detail as they move away from the building and further into the light, which is why we decided to use a fade out in the edit.

I defintely feel an improvement after each exercise in the way I’m working. I’m getting better at being able to make decisions quickly about how we can overcome problems and get the best shot possible without wasting time, and I think by the end of this semester I will be far more confident about the way I choose to light a scene.