Post 13- Advanced Production Skills Workshop 3

We began the lesson by having a class discussion about they ways in which we could enhance the quality of our video work through the technical element of lighting, however in addition to this we still wanted to develop a sense of style on our own production work.We began by looking at how lighting affects sources and colours. A quote by Broadwell and Thompson states “Lighting can be characterised by its source. In making a documentary, the filmmaker may be obliged to shoot with the light available in the actual surroundings. Most fictional films, however, use extra light sources to obtain greater control of the images look. In most fictional films, the table lamp and street light you see in the mise-en-scene are not the principle source of illumination for the filming.”

This image is taken from the film Forest Gump,in class we had a group discussion about the different types of lighting used in this shot that we noticed as well as this we also looked at the shadows. From looking at this image we can see that it relies heavily on natural light, as well as this the lighting seems to be very soft which thus emphasizes a cool and calm style to the shot. Another thing that is evident from this image is that there are a number of attached shadows, these can only been seen if you look close enough though. For example this image shows that there are attached shadows under Forests blazer sleeve. When looking at this image it seems clear to see that both characters are placed under a tree due to the darkened light, and the lightest part of the image is at the back on the right, which shows very little sun.

This second image shows a completely opposite use of lighting to the first. The use of hard lighting makes the image look very artificial,it is this hard quality which creates a bleached effected on the clothes of the characters meaning we where unable to see any form of attached shadows. The background differs greatly in comparison to the first image,the brightness is blurred out due to the amount of contrast in the image.


Having looked at and analysed the first two images, discussing how the lighting changed the effect of the image, we now needed to extend this knowledge.
The picture opposite is an image from the filming of  Harry Potter, this image shows the addition lighting they have chosen to add into this scene. From the mise-en-scene and from the audience point of view the light source is meant to be coming from the old style street lamps however this would not illuminate the characters enough and would cause a lot of shadow. Thus they opted to add overhead light to illuminate the two characters faces and clothing, this creates a clearer overall picture.

After looking at the previous images we went on to look at another two images of how lighting can be used to create different atmospheres. The first image, shown opposite was of a clear corridor, the filmmaker would have no control over the light sources as they are already in place. The lights are at the highest point possible, thus illuminating the whole corridor. The hard bright light creates reflections of the walls and floor.

The second image we looked at was taken from a film and had a much more interesting atmosphere from the audience point of view. The light sources they have used create shadows below the lights themselves pointing the light upwards. There is also ceiling lights hidden by the piece of wood pointing down so we can see the middle of the corridor, there is also an additional light source coming from in front of the character to illuminate the mans face.



Many of us don't think or worry too much about lighting, when in fact, it is very important when producing a short film. Lighting has some distinct elements to it, these are key lights, fill lights and back lights. The key light is probably the most important element of lighting, which most producers and cinemaphotograpers use. The purpose of key lighting is to highlight the form and dimension of an object. The fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a specific shot, and may even illuminate certain aspects of a shot, and the back light is also another form of illumination, although they do not produce light themselves.

We Then went on to discuss the use of 85 filters, which adds a warmer atmosphere to shots. Below is an example of an 85 lens filter, which we notice in the second image there is a slight tint of orange, which warms up the image giving it more of a daylight and sunny look. During production we will need to consider all of these elements and how it can create a clear representation of what we want to show.

I was absent for the experiment that the rest of my classmates did . however i came back and caught up on what they were doing, they were spilt into group and asked to look further into the effects of lighting and how it can be used to create an atmosphere, relating back to the photos we looked at previously. They were all given a different school corridor and were asked to shot two different scenes. The first was using the light that was available to use such as ceiling lights or natural lights and then for the second scene they had to find a way of manipulating the light to change the atmosphere of the shot. The video is shown below.

The first shot shows the light sources that were available to use, this was the natural lighting coming from the windows and the ceiling lights. However in their next shot, they used the light off the ceiling lights and turned on the spotlights in the ceiling, they moved the lights so they were facing down onto Carolyns face. This had a massive effect on the atmosphere it no longer felt and looked like a school corridor and could be any location. This was very successful and they were very pleased over all. However, they were unable to block out all off the natural light, which lead to a mixture of artificial light and natural light which doesn’t come across very nicely on film.