Lighting and Camera research

Lighting:

Lighting is a very important aspect of film production. Whether natural light or professional lighting equipment is used, every film making endeavor requires suitable lighting to meet the needs of the story and the director's vision. Lighting setups help create the specific mood, emotion and atmosphere conveyed by the movie.

Exposure:

When a scene is shot without enough light, it becomes underexposed. This means the shot is too dark and not much detail can be seen on-screen. The worst case is not being able to recognize the faces of the actors anymore because the shot is too dark and you can only see contours of shadowy screen elements moving around. When there's too much light, the shot becomes overexposed. This means the shot is too bright, and the entire scene looks annoyingly or recognizably washed out in white. A properly exposed film means the shot is not too dark or too bright. It's just right for the scene, and all the elements register well on-screen.

Mood and treatment:

• Film making requires a wide range of talent and craftsmanship to produce a visually accomplished movie. Films are typically categorized into genres like drama, comedy, action, horror, musical, epic or children's movie. Scenes in a film should employ distinct looks with certain emotional qualities, which are achieved through proper lighting, camera shots and movement, blocking of actors and the presentation of props and sets. Lighting lets the camera capture elements of the scene in various ways. For instance, a horror movie utilizes light to make a scene look frightening; a children's movie uses light to make a scene bright, colorful and glossy; and a musical utilizes light to make a theatrical performance look dynamic or flamboyant.

  
  

  Scene Enhancement:

  • Lighting enhances scenes that typically look flat, dull or boring. For instance, it can improve the skin tone of the actors. It can also hide their flaws and flaunt their physical assets. Soft or diffused lighting, similar to the soft lighting in hotels, is normally used to make "beauty shots" (when the camera moves in, pauses and focuses on the subject). Harsh lighting, similar to the sunlight seen on a cloudless day, can produce higher contrast.

    
    

    Continuity:

    A film is not necessarily shot chronologically. More often than not, scenes in a house can be shot at different houses on different days. Lighting ensures there's continuity to the time of day. Two scenes shot at different times of the day should look as if they happened in the same part of the day. Furthermore, filmmakers don't have to wait for the sun to set or rise to shoot scenes. With lighting equipment, they can alter the kind of light to make it look like morning, noon, late afternoon or evening, even though the actual filming occurs in another time of the day.

    
    

    Aesthetics:

  • As an art form, film uses lighting for aesthetics. It creates a new world through highlights, mid-tones and shadows. It creatively exposes specific parts of the frame in reference to the main subject or the atmosphere intended for the scene. It utilizes highlights to separate the main subject from the background and uses shadows to create a feeling of tension or eeriness. For instance, a close-up shot of a person can be lit differently and result in something totally different each time. The person can look frightening with lighting coming mostly from below, as in a horror movie. The person can look like a model with soft lighting. Or the person can look angry and stressed with harsh lighting. All this can be done without necessarily changing the camera shot or asking the actor to change position.

Use of cameras

Sites I've looked at:

http://www.marietta.edu/~mcshaffd/macro/fcam.html

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filmdig.htm

http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/cameras/traditional_film_camera_techniqu.htm

Different camera shots

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html

http://portals.studentnet.edu.au/literacy/Minisites/SCEGGSDarlinghurstrevised/vliteracy/shots.htm

Camera Angles research

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html

http://portals.studentnet.edu.au/literacy/Minisites/SCEGGSDarlinghurstrevised/vliteracy/shots.htm

 Colour balancing and shadows

http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp018.htm

http://production.4filmmaking.com/lighting.html

http://documentation.apple.com/en/color/usermanual/index.html#chapter=9%26section=7%26tasks=true

 Creation of sets

http://www.shadowcreations.ie/sets-for-tv-film-and-theatre.html

https://www.filmskills.com/node/1099

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9UVZbdpYNY