During a class lesson we were asked to think about the quality of video production through technical elements such as lighting, we did this by looking at two main elements, which were direction and quality. When we look at quality we are focusing on the intensity of the illumination for example, hard lighting, which is a direct light source creating bold shadows with crisp textures and edges. On the other hand soft lighting such is indirect light of diffused which blurs contours and textures, and there is a softer contrast between light and shade. When we are looking at the direction of light we are concentrating in which the light source has been positioned for example back, front, side, above and how it bounces of different surfaces. Every light source has a point where it is brightest, and a point at which it wanders and loses itself completely.
This is an example taken from the Madonna Vogue music video. We can see from this picture that they have used a soft light source, which I turn as created an image, which has blurred contours and textures. This is shown on the faces, which don’t have defined shapes and curves. Its also shown in the women’s clothing as it is unclear what she is wearing due to the softer light source not illuminating the clothing.
This example is again taken from the same video however; this is an example of hard lighting. We can see this through the direct intensity of the light illuminating the diamonds on her back. The direct light source has created crisp textures and edges again shown on the diamonds as well in the outline of her shoulders. We can also a bold dark shadow underneath her arm.
In class we were separated into two different groups, one looking at direction and the other looking at quality. In my group we were given direction to focus on. We were given the hypothesis “how can you manipulate your lighting set up to achieve variations on direction within your lighting designs?” As a group we had to allocate roles these where Director, Camera, Clapper, Recorder and Gaffer. I chose to take on the role of Recorder and was responsible for taking down notes on the experiments variables and monitor decisions and revisions made. Where were given a range of equipment to use in our experiment and were left to come up with our own decisions on how we would like to set up and arrange our experiment. Are equipment was;
- Mini DV camera
- Tripod
- Batteries
- Base plate
- Tape
- Laminated whiteboards and marker pens
- 1x lowel pro 250W lamp
- 1x stand
- Extension lead
- Barn doors
- Torch
- Black wrap and crock clips
- White materials and tin foil
- Safety gloves
- The direction of light helps to show the main characters
- It helps creates shadows and effects within the pictures
- Shows body features such a clothing differently depending on the direction
- Helps to highlight facial expressions
- Help to add tension into a scene.
After looking at already existing photos of direction of light we then had to make predictions on what the equipment will do to then quality of light. As a group we predicted the following:
- The black wrap will focus the light and make it darker whereas the foil will make the direction of light brighter
- The use of the umbrella will make the light softer
- The white sheet will be used as a back drop to block out any unwanted shadows as create a clear background
- Whiteboards will notify the audience if what they are about to watch
- The tripod will mean we can steady the filming when moving the camera.
Then we had to identify the factors that will need to be changed. As a group we said the intensity of the light would need to be changed. The equipment and materials will need to be changed to show the different directions. The position of the light will need to be changed. We then had to identity how will we measure and record the effects while remaining safe; we said that we will record the direction of light through filming. We will make sure we move and hazards out the way before filming. We will make sure that we read through the risk assessment before we start filming, this lead up to make sure the Gaffer will constantly need to be wearing safety gloves when operating the lights. Finally we had to say what we would be keeping the same, we would keep the same person we are filming throughout our experiment so it will be easier to see the different effects. We will also keep the position of the camera the same throughout.
From looking at the video we can see how by the use of different equipment and reflective surfaces change the direction of light, some example I have noticed is
- 0.06- here we are using a front light and the use of barn doors and we can see the brightest point of intensity from the light to the side of him while in the top right hand corner the light is fading away into the black background.
- 0.51- here we can see the use of hard lighting which is shown by the sharp, dark showed created behind him.
- 1.04- through the use of manipulating the barn doors we can see we have created a tunnel effect where the light is just focusing on his body and nothing else around him.
- 2.13- when we have used the barn doors and place the light as a backlight we can see that we can direct the light completely off his body, which creates the looks of a silhouette effect of his body shape.
- 2.30- we can see that again through using the barn doors we can direct the light to just one side of his body.
- 2.50- through the use of a side light we have create a softer lighting and has crated a lighter and bigger shadow of the body.
- 4.16- when we have used the silver foil we can see that the direction of light is much softer and let intense. This is showed as the shadow fades away and isn’t so sharp. Manipulating the foil created this.
- 4.54- we used the black wrap here to try and bounce the light back up to the body. We can see that light is less intense and it is harder to see his body shape and facial features.
- 5.45- here we have used a white sheet placed underneath him to try and reflect the light and make his face bright. This was successful as his face is much more illumined.
- 6.06- we then tried to create a contrast and took away the white sheet. This wasn’t very successful as the table was grey and was still very reflective. However we can see a small shadow on the left side of his face, which wasn’t there before hand.
I think we had many strength to our experiment and was very successful in showing how the different position of light can have an effect on the direction on light. I think the use of the barn door was most successful as we could really see the difference in direction and how it created different effects such as the tunnel and how the shadows faded away. If we were to do this task again I think that we should move out back light further away making sure that it wasn’t in the view of the camera. A lens flare can be seen in our video as we placed the light source to close to the person.
Quality
The other group where given the task to look at quality of lighting. By using the same pictures that I have looked at in direction I can now look at them again but this time focusing on quality. I can see that there is a variation in the different qualities of light. In the photo of her close up and her back I can clearly see that they have used hard light to clear the crisp textures and edges. I can also see that in some of the pictures they have used hard light that have created bold shadows such as the man walking down the stairs. Finally I can see that they have used soft lighting such as the two people sitting down, we can see the blurs of the contours and textures and it easy to see the difference between the light and dark areas.
The equipment they had was:
- Mini DV camera
- Tripod
- Batteries
- Base plate
- Tape
- Laminated whiteboards and marker pens
- 1x lowel pro 250W lamp
- 1x stand
- Chimera and diffusion attachments
- Speed ring
- Black card
- Black sugar paper
- Scissors
- Safely glover
- Extension lead
- You will be able to show the difference between the hard and the soft lighting through the use of equipment.
- To be able to see the different quality effects in different shots
- The use of diffuses would have an effect on the quality of light.
- The direction of the camera for example the distance of the light to show the different light effects and how this will create different shadows.
- The different diffuser that you will add to the camera will need to be changed to show the effect it has on quality.
- The position of the camera will stay the same throughout the experiment
- The lighting position will need to stay the same. This will allow the audience to see the different types of lighting such as hard and soft.
Even through there film was very shot and it was hard to see the changed between each scene, when you pause the image and then compare it is much easier to see the difference for example
- 0.01- this is an image with no diffuser and it just hard lighting we can see that the right side of his face it illuminated at the left side is in shadow. The direct light it’s hitting is face and clothes and reflecting of him.
- 0.10- this image is again hard lighting however with the use of a flag, where they have used cardboard and placed it on the side of the camera to block out an unwanted light. This has also channelled the light to just the left hand side of his face, while the right side is in shadow and is much darker.
- 0.23- here we can see the use of an ½ diffuser and no flag. Compared to the first image we can see that the image is much softer and it much nicer to look at through the camera and for the audience.
- 0.44- here we can see where they have cut cardboard to try and create a blind effect on their character, even through it wasn’t very successful you can still see the cast shadows on the character.
After watching the film it was very difficult to see the different effects using the filters and the cardboard, this was down to the shot being very shot meaning we didn’t have much time to see the changed clearly. However from watching their video and listening to there feed back they had some strengths and weakness within their experiment as well as things they would do differently if they had the chance. These where:
- As the camera was out of focus it was clear that the camera was focusing on the laminated board rather than focusing on the character, meaning the shot was blurry. This was due to the camera not having enough time to focus on the character after the laminated board was out of the scene due to the fact the shot were very short.
- When it came to planning and using the camera they said they would have liked to have more of a group discussion on planning what they wanted to do as they left it was rushed.
- This lead to the length of the film being very short, they said they would have liked to film for longer if they had the chance, as the shot were too short to distinguish the difference between the qualities of light.
- When they tried to create a blind effect of shadows on the character it wasn’t as successful as they had planned. This was due to the fact they had used cardboard that wasn’t very strong. They said if they were to do this again it would have worked a lot better and had a much effect if they could have used a much stronger material to cut the slits out off.
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