This week in class we set up the classroom to look like a dark study, using a desk lamp as well as dido, bounce and cutting boards that Robin brought in. The scene was a short sequence in which a man is haunted by his deceased partner. We turned out all the classroom lights so the location looked a bit more ambiguous, as well as help heighten the spooky feel of the scene.

 

The desk lamp on it’s own wasn’t enough to light all of Kerry’s face without directing it up at his face, which wouldn’t make sense in the context of the scene as his character is using the light to read his book. This meant that to light Kerry’s face, we not only need to add an additional light, but we needed to find a way to cheat it so the light it produced appeared to be coming from the desk light in frame.

Robin should us how we could use two bounce boards and wedge them using a c-stand like this to bounce a light onto a subject, making the light bounce back onto the subject in a way which not only substantially increased the amount of light on Kerry’s face, but still looked as though it could be coming from the lamp.

Using the pieces of cutting board allowed us to have greater control over the light and the direction in which it spread out. This was particularly important for this scene, as we couldn’t have much light on the left side of the lamp, as it would become too obvious that there was another light off screen.

We didn’t really have to change the lighting set up for the reverse shot, as the darker the shot was, the more it made Darcey look like a ghost. I really like how the distinction between Darcey’s hair and the background behind her is indistinguishable because of how dark the lighting set up is.