My project

For my project, I chose to look into if and how lighting can effect an audiences perception of an atmosphere, character and overall scene in film.
The reason I chose to look at lighting is because it's not something I prioritise when I go out and shoot a film, but I know I should as it can be a very important and useful tool.
I am hoping that after finishing this project, I will come to really understand and appreciate the importance and impact lighting can have and learn to incorporate lighting techniques and set-ups, that are developed to help actually aid the narrative, in my own films. I also hope that this opportunity will help me think about and exectute the lighting on a shoot as if it were second nature.
I chose to look at lighting within film noir and german expressionist films because they have a very ballsy way of using light; there's nothing really subtle about the way they use light. It's very harsh and definitive. I love the way the light is used to help tell the story and communicate information rather than just being used to make a character look young or attractive, as we see in a lot of films these days.
I wanted to explore this sort of lighting because I think it can be a very useful tool when making films, and I want to get a grasp on how you can actually use it in more of a productive way than just using it so your footage isn't under exposed and so your actors 'look nice'.

My initial ideas were to shoot a scene three different  times using three different lighting set ups. I also wanted to look into using and experimenting with filters, but was advised to limit my project to just using lighting at this stage, which I definitely think was the right call.

Pre production

As research, I looked at several film noir films, including The Glass Key, Miller's Crossing and The Third Man. I also watched Citizen Kane, as I am going to be filming my project using black & white.
I took 'Painting with Light' by John Alton of of the library to get some tips on most effective and interesting ways of lighting.
I went online in search for some lighting tutorials, to learn some basic set ups and important things to consider when lighting a scene. I came across a page that had 20 various different lighting tutorials and so I picked out the ones which were relevant to what I am doing and took note of the different names and uses for the lights and the different set ups.

I sat and sketched out some of the key scenes I wanted to film. As I have limited time, preferably, I want to film the scenes that have the most interesting or significant lighting set ups planned. I did a few drawings of what I want the scene to actually look like, but the plan is to light the scene in different ways to see if and what effect the lighting will have in a scene.

 Scene 1 sketch

Scene 1 lighting floor plan

- One light focused on the character,
  illuminating his as he's sat on the chair.

- The two other lights shining either side of the
  set on a dim setting.








Scene 2 sketch

Scene 2 lighting floor plan

- Back light to help keep character 2 from
   blending into the background.
- A narrowed light (using the barn doors) to 
  light character 2's mouth
- A light to illuminate character 1 in high key.







Scene 3 sketch

Scene 3 lighting floor plan

- Backlight to silhouette character 2

- Two lights to illuminate  character 1.
  The right one with wire mesh in front.









I took out a set of Dedolights and a 7D and experimented with the lights in my house, just so I could get to grips with the lights and how they worked. Unfortunately, the kit I got was missing one of the lights and I later found out that one of the two lights left didn't work, so I could only do some basic lighting set ups.

The Dedos are probably my favourite set of lights to work with, due to their range of adjustable settings and because they're so easy to use.
After swapping the bad kit for a different one, I took a set of Dedo lights into the studio theatre and experimented with the lighting, taking pictures of my subject as I went. This activity was specifically to experiment how I can light a character, changing brightness and the position and angle of the light. Unfortunately, after swapping the previous kit I had with a new one, one of the lights' bulbs were blown, I was running out of time, so I just proceeded using the two working lights. It would have been useful to have a three point lighting set up going on, but this still allowed me to experiment with various techniques and set ups.

Production

For my actual shoot, Jemma and I booked out the studio theatre to shoot in. I thought the studio theatre would be an ideal place to shoot my film because of the lack of windows and the black curtains that I could use as a back drop.
My actor contacted me less than an hour before the shoot to tell me that he could no longer make it. Luckily, because Jemma was doing her shoot at the same time, in the same space, I got to use her actor instead.

We decided that Jemma should shoot first, as she had less to do. 

When it came to shooting mine, scene 2 was probably the hardest to light. I'd had the idea to light the second characters face only partially, so only his mouth was illuminated. I did this because he's a character we don't see much of in the film. We hear a lot about him and his power in the city, due to his wealth and connections, but the idea is we don't physically see him until this shot. The idea surrounding just lighting his mouth was based on the fact that this is a character that we had only previously heard about from other characters. What we're lead to know about him thus far is all through 'hear-say' and not based on fact. So by lighting his mouth, it was kind of a way of showing the audience a truer representation of the character. We're hearing directly from the character a suggestion of what kind of man he is and the power he has. The other character then takes off his hat, to symbolise his loss of self respect and pride, as the other character has got a hold over him, and has essentially "won".

The reason that this shot was so hard to arrange was purely because the strip of light I wanted to lay across his face was really hard to make narrow enough. I wanted it t be a slither of light so the rest of his face was in darkness. I spent a lot of time moving the light further from the subject and increasing the brightness and then moving it closer and decreasing the brightness and changing the position of the lights to create the desired effect. Eventually, I found that having the light extremely close to the subject but on a very low brightness was the best way to do about doing it, although it was difficult because of the distance between the subject and camera, the light getting in shot was a bit of an issue, but I got there in the end.


Scene 3 was also a bit fiddly because of the fan cover I used. If it was too close to the light, the criss-cross pattern became non-existent on my subject, but the closer you put it to the subject, the harsher the shadows were and the clearer the pattern. This would have been simple enough, except the fan cage was really quite small, so there was a very small threshold between having the fan close enough to the subject to see the shadow clearly, and having the shadow fully cover the subject, too. I used the fan cover to represent how the character was feeling in the scene. In this sequence, she has been found by her powerful and wealthy partner, whom she has betrayed. She knows it is impossible to run from him as he has the power and means to find her, and she knows she can't earn back his trust or loyalty. She can't run or hide from him, so she just excepts whatever fate lies in store for her.

Scene 1 was rather straight forward to shoot. I shot it in my house in the living room the day after our shoot in the studio theatre. The lighting set up was rather simple, although the cramped conditions meant I couldn't get the lights to cover as much as the set I wanted them too.
It was during a take I noticed how the actors shadow on the wall behind him got bigger as he leaned forward. My intention for this shot was for the character to sit in the bright light and lean forward as he developed an idea/plan. When I saw how the light made his shadow react, I immediately thought it's be a great way to visually represent the idea growing inside his head.

Post produciton

Editing the sequences together was pretty straight forward. I didn't do anything fancy with them, just edited them together in a simple way. I was going to add foley to some of the clips, and even recorded it, but when it came down to editing the sound to the image, it was taking up far too much time. So, I decided to leave the foley out, as it's not really necessary anyway.
I was having a bit of trouble with the sound files. I'd recorded sep sound for scenes both one and two, but for some reason the sound for the second scene had come out very muffled and unclear, so I had to use the camera sound instead.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am extremely happy with how my project has gone. I have learnt a great deal from it; a lot more than I had expected. It's been a great opportunity to explore something I didn't have much knowledge of before, and feel like I have gained a great new skill through this project.
I think by going out and actually doing this investigation through actually experimenting with light, I have learned so much more than what I would have by just reading about it in a book.
I have looked into the reasons and techniques behind lighting in a far more greater depth than what I ever would have if I'd not done this project.

The shots are far from perfect, as I had to use people available on short notice as actors, who were lacking in experience. They were all static and simple, so I could focus on the lighting alone. The lighting set ups aren't perfect, or to a standard they could have been if I'd had more time and space to work with.
All these things are what I'd try and improve on if I were to do this project again. I'd manage my time better and look into finding some better locations and actors next time, to help improve the quality of my shots.
There's a lot of room for improvement, but so far, I am happy with what I've produced and learned.

I feel like I've gained a valuable new skill through studying lighting. Not only as a way of brightening a scene or making an actor look nice, but how to use it as a tool to communicate meanings to an audience and as a way of adding another dimension to a films story, that characters themselves and their relationships with one another.

Videos and links

Presentation link: http://prezi.com/dp8h71d4xlaf/exploring-lighting/

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3