Need to film a scene in an automobile? Check out these tutorials for lighting car interiors.
Lighting Lesson 6: Challenging Situations
This week, let’s look at some slightly challenging lighting situations: green screen, low-light/night shots, and the great outdoors.
Wooden Niccolls
The folks over at The Camera Store TV do some of the best camera reviews on the web, but they sometimes take on more creative projects as well. Here, watch as they recreate scenes from Goodfellas and Collateral.
Project 2: Faces in the Dark
Use different contrast ratios to illuminate faces.
Lighting Lesson 5: Stylized Lighting
At this point, we’ve spent some time discussing fundamental lighting setups, equipment, and the use of color. Next, we’ll start looking at more specialized equipment that can be used to create stylized looks. A lot of that comes down to our ability to shape light effectively.
Filming an Interrogation
Here’s a quick video with some great tips on emulating the lighting from iconic interrogation scenes.
Mastering the Color Palettes of Famous Directors
Courtesy of StudioBinder, here are a few videos that look at how different directors use color schemes and color psychology in their films.
Lighting Lesson 4: Color Theory
This week, we’re talking about color. This could be considered more of a general cinematography topic than a lighting-specific topic, since the color in a shot is defined by location, props, and wardrobe, as well as lighting; not to mention the crucial role of color correction in post-production. However, lighting plays a vital role in the color composition of a shot and some understanding of basic color theory is important for everyone behind the camera.
Photography Terms Are Stupid
Ever been confused by the myriad of strange terms photographers use? So has everyone who has ever held a camera. Photo and video gurus Tony and Chelsea Northrup get mad about it in this funny – but painfully accurate – look at some of the least logical photography terms.
Lighting Lesson 3: Fundamental Lighting
In the first lesson, we discussed the basic properties of light: its color value, measured in degrees kelvin; and its brightness, measured in lux or foot-candles. However, there is another measure of light that you will probably hear discussed in relation to photography and video: the “stop.” It’s common to hear photographers talk about gaining or losing a stop of light – so how much light constitutes a stop?
Lighting An Office Scene
You might be surprised by how many movies, television shows, and short films take place in offices. Here’s a quick look at how to recreate some office looks, including the toxic workplace from Fight Club and, of course, the banal-but-ridiculous sitcom setting from The Office.
Project 1: Light That Moves Us
Let’s see some inspiring examples of lighting.
Lighting Lesson 2: Safety and Equipment
All film equipment needs to be handled safely, but this is especially important when it comes to lights, since you are dealing with electricity and heat. Here are a few tips for handling lights and lighting equipment.
Kubrick’s Lighting and Cinematography
Here are a couple of videos that examine the brilliant lighting techniques and cinematography utilized by Stanley Kubrick. The first looks at Kubrick’s use of practical lights and the second delves into his 1975 classic Barry Lyndon.
Lighting Lesson 1: What Is Light?
Welcome to the Spring 2018 session of the Film/Media Studies Production Practicum. This semester’s topic delves into two areas that are crucial to film and video production: lighting and color grading. I’ve chosen to pair these two topics together because they parallel each other in different stages of the production process. Lighting affects the way footage is captured during filming, using a combination of on-set equipment and camera settings; color grading affects the way existing footage is processed during post-production, using either editing software or a dedicated color grading program.