Goal – Students will discover the importance of lighting and how to better control the lighting of an environment or the lighting within an environment
What you see is what you get, unless of course you cannot see what you are getting. In video it is easy to make the common mistake of lighting assumption: ‘My eyes can see things well, therefore this will make a great shot.’ A filmmaker must always be aware that no camera has the ability to take in as much information as the human eye. The best that can be done will only be done with assistive lighting and lighting tools.
For this journal entry you will need to write a description of how you would use a 3 light kit or our existing studio lighting to light an interview or a special guest on a talk show. Find an image online to reference with a link or describe the setup in thorough detail. Draw or explain how the lights are positioned and why they are positioned in this way.
Read the article “Light Right – A Crash Course in Lighting Video” (http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=12800456) for in depth information on lighting. Search google and youtube for help with lighting as well.
Sample diagram setup free with Gliffy
Due on Tuesday 10/14
5 comments:
When about to film an object, even though the lighting looks good to you’re eyes, a lot of the time it doesn’t look crystal clear on film. The reason for that is because the camera’s lense isn’t the same thing as your eye. It sees different things! Most people can see a contrast of about a ratio of 1000:1. The best video cameras out there can deliver a contrast range of about 250:1. The ones we have in school have about 100:1 ratio. http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=12800456).
People have to use and setup lights to make the lighting in the room appropriate. This “setting up routine” involves the use of a 3 light kit. In this kit there are 3 lights that you use to properly light up your object of desire. One of the lights, illuminates the object, but casts a shadow on the wall behind the person.
That’s where the second light comes in. This light gets rid of the shadow behind the object(not completely, but the annoying shadow part).It also makes it look like the object is standing out more, like its more 3-D.Sadly this light has a disadvantage as well as the first light. This light casts a shadow on the object itself. For example if the object were to be a person then some portion of there face would be “shadowed”.
For this final problem the third light steps in. This light almost completely gets rid of the shadow on the object, so now you can start filming! To see how these three lights look like visit: http://www.pixhost.com/pixl/larryde/britek-3-continuous-light-kit.jpg . Quote, “The best that can be done will only be done with assistive lighting and lighting tools.” (http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=12800456
-Mila Deych
TV and Media
A period
October 7, 2008
There are a few different ways that you can set up your three set light kit to light an interview or a special guest on a talk show.
The way that I would one of the lights is about three yards from where the person is sitting but also right in front of her. I would raise the light to be almost as high as the ceiling. This would be the light with no umbrella on it. I would place the second light to the left side of the person. This light will have an umbrella on it. The height would be about five feet off the ground. My final light would be placed to the right side of the person. It would have an umbrella attached to it, and just like the other one it would be about five feet from the ground. I would put those two there to soften up the face and have no dark spots.
This is the way that I would say is the best, but there are different ways you can set the lights up.
By: Jackie Connors
If I was a lightening person and my job was for me to find the best way to light an interview with someone I would use the three light kit. I would use a three light kit because I would need three to get a perfect lighting. I would use one of the lights out of the three light kit. The first one would be a light without an umbrella on it. So it would just be the light shinning on the interviewee side of the face that it is set up on. For example if the interviewee was sitting in a chair in the middle of the set and I was to put the light on his or her right side the shadow would be casted to the left side of their face. If that one light was not enough then you would put another light up with an umbrella so that way it casts a softer light. If you have on soft light and one bright light you would want to put the brightest one the furthest away because if not one side of the interviewees face would be lighter then the other. If you wanted to out line their hair and or shoulders you would put a camera behind then put off to the side so it is not in the shot. You could also use the back light if the person that is getting interviewed does not want there face to be shown you can use a back light to show that there is someone there. I chose to use gliffy.com to show how I would set up the lights if it was an interview. The website is http://www.gliffy.com/gliffy/#d=1510959&t=journal_entry_3. That is how I would set up lights for an interview.
Jen B.
Lighting is a huge help in filming. Good lighting makes all the difference. Even with poor quality cameras, your productions can come out looking like something off the television all because of good lighting.
“To stay inside your camera's optimum exposure range, you'll need to compress the contrast range, either by adding ambient (fill) light or by reducing light on overexposed areas.” (http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=12800456)
Two problems in lighting that occur in school classrooms are the overhead lights and the windows. The overhead lights often make people look sickly and the windows cause contrast problems. “If you try to shoot in a room with open windows on a bright day, one of two things will happen. If you leave the camera on Auto or Manual exposure, when a window comes into the shot, the exposure control will sense too much light and close the iris down. The foreground subjects you're trying to shoot will suddenly become silhouettes. The other thing that might happen if you leave the exposure on Auto or Manual is that the windows will "blow out," overexposing to a solid white that seems to glow around the subjects.” (http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=12800456) The reason for this is because the sun is much brighter than the fluorescent lights inside. The easiest solution for this problem is not to shoot the windows in your scene and to plan your shots at different angles.
“If you simply must have a window in your shot, your best bet is to set the camera on Manual exposure; set the exposure so the windows are overexposed but not completely "blown out." Then add light to the interior scene.” (http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=12800456) One light mounted slightly above the person’s face and off to one side of the camera will greatly improve your video, and will come out much better than the overhead lights. If you’re interviewing someone in front of a window try positioning them at an angle looking into a corner of the room and about 6-8 ft. away from the window. “Position the camera so the window is not "in frame" to avoid exposure problems.” Position the light about 4-5 ft. to the other side of the camera, and a couple feet above the person’s eyes. The window light serves as the “backlight” and the single light as the main light. Set the camera’s White Balance to Indoor or Tungsten (depending on your camera’s model).
If you have no light, use sunlight as a reflector. This could be with just a piece of poster board. “Position your interviewee in front of a window, about six to eight feet from the window-but this time angled toward the window. Position the camera near the window pointing into the room, so the window is not "in frame" to avoid exposure problems.” (http://www.techlearning.com/shared/printableArticle.php?articleID=12800456) Then have the person hold the poster board outside of the shot, on the shadowed side of the person’s face. In this situation the sunlight is the main light and the poster board is the “fill” light. Set the camera’s White Balance to Outdoor and your interview should come out very nicely.
- Michele B.
The three light kit allows appropriate lighting in the room. Allowing you to move the lights around in different directions. Each light has a hand spun reflector. This allows you to the perfect amount of light. Three point lighting has complete light kits that includes everything to produce professional lighting in the studio or on location using a luminous defused light that captures details while allowing you to switch between high contrast and ultra soft lighting.
Using the three lighting i would set the light up high pointing at the person that we are shining the light on.
Hannah D.
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