Lighting

In our open session, we unfortunately didn't have much time to go through much of the lighting in detail, and as I hadn't used it as much as I'd wanted to in my previous year, I decided to explore the notes further and look into the idea behind lighting in greater deal. 

Within our session, we were asked to think of what was actually meant when someone says 'lighting', here are ours as well as the other groups' answers:

• Colour Temperature (The idea of warm and cold colouring through lighting kits and filters)
• Hard Lighting/Soft Lighting (Intensity)
• Direction of Light
• Shadows/High Key Lighting
• The Style of Light 

 In todays session, I learned about lighting in greater detail, from technical words used to describe it, to creating scene lighting. In groups, we each gave examples of words we thought went with lighting. This is what we came up with:

1.

• Intensity = The Strength of the light, e.g. Hard/Soft
• Direction
• Colour Temperature e.g: (Picture 1.)
• Spread e.g. Spotlight/Floodlight
• Duration e.g. Intermittent... 
• Style e.g. Flattering/Harsh
• Where it faces e.g. Contouring/Frontal/Skimming/Direct
• Shadowed/High Key
• Modulated/Plain
• Focused
• Diffused
• Chiaroscuro/Flat

Different equipment we learnt about included:

• C-Stand - Used to hold a particular piece of artificial lighting. It is made primarily of metal with extending legs much like a tripod. (Picture 2)
• Arri Lamp - Consisting of a number of elements, this one had a 300W bulb. Other pieces that can be added, including lighting gels - used for colour correction (CTB = Balances Daylight...) and barn doors - used to control how much light passes through as well as adding a (limited) sense of direction.
• Lens - There are different kinds, including a Stepped Lens that is used for Lamps; and a Fresnel Lens (Picture 3) which feathers the edge of shadows. I learnt that when there is a lens, the broader you make the light, the harder the shadow is.
• Dedo Light - Uses low voltage
• Kino-Flo Diva-Lite - This is a fluorescent fixture and presents a soft light. To soften the light more, you can add a cover for the lamp. However, the Kino-Flow does take time to get to it's brightest. (Picture 4)

 Next, we were taught about thinking past just '3-Point Lighting', and were given a demonstration on setting up scene lighting.

      I learnt that the Key Light is that which is used to cast a shadow from the subject. It is the principal light used on set to give the subject shape, depth, form and an element of sharpness if needed. The Key can cover the whole scene, or be used in multiples if there is movement by the subject, however it is not necessarily the brightest light used. Cross Key lighting is often used, yet side/side or frontal lighting may also be utilised.

  'Fill' is light coming from any source, be that a lamp or piece of reflector board. It's main purpose is to balance the light and gives the option to alter the depth of shadows on a subject.

  Backlight is any light that comes from behind the subject and often helps form a more flattering light on them.

  Overall, I now understand the importance of lighting on a film set as it often produces the majority of mood and atmosphere of the piece. It also directs the audiences attention a lot of the time through it's focus on certain areas. It can be used to flatter a subject in what is known as 'beauty shots' or, if need be, provide a more even appearance and diminish many shadows placed upon subjects. Shadows can be altered to how the cinematographer feels fit, by producing feathered edges or more hard boarders, depending on the kind of style that needs to be represented.