Directions | Lighting and DSLR Workshops

Lighting is something that I have taken into consideration before but have never really had any knowledge or experience as to how to properly light a scene.  We had two workshops on lighting, firstly looking at three-point lighting and then moving onto experimenting with expressive lighting.

We were first shown the standard lighting equipment used in the television and film industry - we focused on using fresnel lighting.  These lights can be toned down with the use of 'scrim', which is a circular mesh that cover the light by varying degrees to decrease the intensity of the lights.  You can also use coloured 'gels' which filter the light into different colours.

Three-point lighting is a very basic but effective way of lighting a scene, usually used for interviews or for a single person in front of the camera.  This is a simple set up and is more of a functional use of lighting than an artistic or expressive.

We experimented with more interesting lighting setups the following week.  I wanted to see how we could achieve a silhouetted effect by placing the lights behind the subjects which I was considering using for my project.  Whilst I thought this looked interesting and could work in my project, I felt the effect was almost too surreal for the mood I was aiming for so instead we played around with three-point lighting again and used it as a basis for making more interesting effects with the light.

I enjoyed working with the lights, but I do not feel I should meddle too much with trying to make particularly abstract and obscure lighting set ups, instead I feel as though my project would suit more natural lighting to convey the tone I want to.  I will still see where I could use the fresnel lights for my shoot in case the lights I have available on set do not work how I want them to.

After working with lights, we looked at using DSLR cameras for filming.  Throughout the course I have been used to using the Sony EX cameras, so it was somewhat refreshing to look at a different and more affordable alternative.  Although the DSLR cameras we were using were limited with regards to changing colour, saturation etc, we were able to change the lenses to achieve different effects.  I particularly liked the shallow depth of field effect you could achieve on a DSLR, which is certainly something I would like to look into for my film.

In another workshop, we looked at the extra attachments for the DSLR cameras, mainly stabilisation tools like the fig rig and steadicam.  I found the steadicam incredibly difficult to use, but it is something I would like to try again in the future as I really like the fluid movement you can get from using a steadicam.