Artificial lighting

I have experimented with the use of creative artificial lighting. for the Drama Piece – One Day, I set up a 3 point lighting with two additional lights one been an additional fill light just behind the camera and the other been off to the right to create a tree shadow as if the sun was behind it.  I did this because I wanted to create an atmosphere of an outside setting. I also used an orange gel however once I white balanced the shot it wasn’t as effective it was more subtle, although once I bought the footage into final cut pro and had a bigger creative range so it worked out better. For the scene I used a mixture of hard and some soft light I did this because I wanted there to be some contrasting but not too much I wanted there to be some soft areas such as the horizontal line of the floor to the curtains instead of there just been a straight black to floor there is a little more fading between the line which creates a spotlight effect. I did this because it reflects somewhat on their relationship how their feelings have changed the truth coming out about how they feel.

I wanted to also create a scene filled with light so that the table and the subjects are in focus and there movements and emotions can be clearly seen by the viewer also because I felt that for the type of acting and dialogue it was appropriate, although I still wanted to there to be some shadows to add a bit more interest so that it didn’t just look like a soap opera. Although at times there were some unintentional shadows on the actors that I didn’t intent as shown below. There is some shadowing around the characters eyes which hide some of her expression, although this could express to the viewer that because he can no longer see into her eyes a connection is lost a barrier put up which is the shadow.

Low key lighting – Reflection – hard lighting

Whilst setting up a shot for a slow-motion action of picking up a dice and dropping it, I decided to light the scene low key and with hard light in front of the camera. I did this to cast hard shadows so that any movement would appear silhouette in there actions. I also did this because the table I was using had a slight shine to it and so I knew that it would create a light path leading from the horizon one lower third to the camera. I did this because the contrast draws the eye of the view and makes the shot more interesting. I think that this shot was good because it is interesting to the eye and could be used on something like a tv series title sequence.

Natural lighting – soft lighting

Whilst setting up the camera I lowered a blind on the window, I did this to create a softer light. I did this because I wanted the shot to have a softness to it because I wanted the shadows to not be hard and in focus but to be faded into the light and out of focus. I did this to draw the attention of the viewers to the keyboard which is crisp and hard white which contrasts well with the other colours which are soft. This draws the interest of the viewer and could be used on something like an advert for a website or something computer developing related or a short film or a documentary on some kind of typing computer related work. I think this is a good shot although it would have been better to get a little less of a close-up and a narrow aperture so that the whole keyboard would be in focus.

Sun rays / hard lighting strong and bold shadows

Whilst setting up a shot, I had issues with the exposure settings because it kept changing because of cloud coverage at the time. this made keeping a correct exposure difficult.

 

Intentionally hard light? – TALK ABOUT THIS. Reflect on this, was it good if so why was it bad if so why?

 

I didn’t manage to fully overcome the exposure problems and so there were parts of the shot such as the shot that was overexposed and parts that were underexposed – give an example. This kind of problem could be overcome with more than one person doing the shot and if I film outside with conditions such as in this shot I will make sure to bring a bigger crew and lighting equipment such as reflectors.

low key lighting Drink out of focus light – bokeh –  –  Fizzy drink — bubbles — bokken’s – One small led torch rotated at the glass.

For this shot, I used a low key lighting set up I did this by just holding an led torch which I then shined and moved it on and around the vicinity of the glass which created the moving books with a few bubbles effect I wanted to achieve. I wanted the focus to be mostly the bokeh which is why I chose to use only one light low key. This shot was good because It attracts the eye of the viewer and is pleasing to the eye. Although other than just a moving set of lights out of focus it isn’t that interesting of a shot although it could have been if I had a character in behind the glass on a long shot and racked the focus the character. That would have made the shot even better.