The worst happened this week. I got the flu. I’ve been bedridden for the whole week, the only creeping into my eyes was that of my phone screen and the bathroom. It has been a sad time. It meant I couldn’t attend any of my Film Light classes. Legitimately longing for the teachings of Robin and the presence of my fellow classmates, I’ve tried to stay in the loop as much as possible, but alas, nothing compares to being physically in class.
However, I’m taking this absence from class in a somewhat positive direction. For this week’s reflection, I am going to critique and analyse the work done on Tuesday, both Exercise 5 and Exercise 8, with no prior influence on working on them, trying to assess how they did and how they did it.
First, Exercise 5 – The Elusive Sun Shoot
I really like this scene! The light cased on Noah is consistent, and details his face nicely. The wind makes it hard to keep continuity on the hair, but overall I think the shot really works, taking advantage of the natural sun and possibly bouncing some of those rays onto his left side of his face to ensure he isn’t too shadowed.
The coverage of the conversation is also lit well, way less shadowed than what can be seen from the wide but softly lit so as their faces are well covered. Both angles work well, but I prefer the detail of the face with the dirty over the shoulder shot of Elenor’s character.
The editing a little choppy in the latter half of the project, just feels a bit jumpy, but I really like how naturalistic the lighting feels throughout the piece, there are no jarring flaws to my unexperienced eyes.
Now, Exercise 8 – The one I know less about
I love the camera work in this shoot. I think that the dialogue exchange flows really well, and the scene where Joseph and Chloe are talking is captured nicely with subtle but effective camera movement.
My main criticism with it is how the outside sunlight is quite over-exposed. Both actors are nicely and softly lit, but the outside is so glaring and blinding, especially in the thumbnail shot above and the final scene when they walk out.
This is something I struggle with as well, as I often focus on getting the subject perfect, rather than the backdrop. This could have been fixed by lowering the aperture of the lens, and maybe using a 1k Fresnel lamp inside on the actors to make sure they are still well lit, or even bouning some outside light or overhead light onto their faces.
It has been way more beneficial to reflect on work that I was not present for than I thought it would. It made me really think about light sources, and how a scene was lit, and whilst I don’t feel 100% confident about my calls on specific things, I’m glad I challenged myself to give it a go!
Here’s hoping to me being well enough for next week! Fingers crossed!