In todays class we had a bit of a lighting demonstration of equipment new and old by Rory Timoney a Melbourne-based gaffer with over 30 years experience.

This class was far more interesting than I first thought, I loved getting to see both new and old pieces and the effect of each of the different lights. I think the most exciting part was seeing how far lighting has come. The extent of intensity and variety definitely develops over time and in the case of lighting it was really cool to see it all in one room.

I must admit my favourite and by far the most exciting was the ARRI SkyPanel. It was probably the most intense and crazy light I have ever seen and all I could do was imagine how easy and exciting lighting would be if I owned such a light.

The light itself is quite large and it really projects quite far into the room. The control you have over brightness and colour is unreal. All by a switch of a button you can change the mood and it was really exciting to see it. I would absolutely love to trial with one of these and see how it all works on a larger set and how you would correspond this light with other lights. Would this be one the only lights you use?

Another light I really liked was one that was a bit older but gave a very soft lighting effect as the light was behind a barrel. This looked very warm and soft on the subjects face which looks really natural and beautiful, he was saying this is easy to transport and is good for shoots.

Overall it was a really enjoyable class and I defiantly learnt a lot about lighting and being a gaffer, there is a lot of technicality to it that I didn’t realise. The amount of lights and the reason people use different lights is so different. Its interesting to think that there is technology out there that can make lighting a room super easy but its also nice to know how to create a similar effect with a multitude of tools.