LINKEDIN LEARNING SESSION 5

Continuing from the last learning session I wanted to dive deeper into lighting as I found it quite an interesting part of the previous set of videos I watched. The course I looked at was called Video Foundations : Cameras and Shooting as it has a lighting Essentials section that I thought could be a great continuation point.

Lighting instruments/accessories

• Fresnel Light ( special focusable glass lenses)

• open face light (open-faced reflectors to focus light from the bulb)

• always have a screen in front of a glass bulb facing forward as it could break (health and safety)

• Chinese lanterns as they provide inexpensive soft lighting

• Fluorescent light (lightweight, soft even light)

• LED Film and Video lights (Expensive)(bulbs don't get hot due to low power, no heat, safer to use on location)

• PRACTICAL LIGHT (any light use to provide light for most of your lighting needs) can be aimed, bounced, diffused and can have colour gels placed in front to change the hue of the light.

Light reflectors and other equipment such as umbrella diffusers to cast soft light, fill light and can be used for soft key lighting. Barn doors are used to cast and shine the light in whatever shape and direction that is desired for the film. Black wrap can be fixed onto barn doors to shape the light in any way. and flags can be used to block light and cast shadows

Lighting gels come usually in large sheets and are attached with C-47's (wooden clothes pegs)

• Diffusion gels are used to soften hard light and sheets can come in different thicknesses but all do take away some of the strength of the light

• Neutral density gels used to cut down the intensity of the light but do affect the colour temperature

• Colour temperature gels are used to convert light colours and to correct light eg natural light to hospital lighting and are used to add, fix or remove colour.

This lighting essentials guide has been a really informative and more in-depth guide into the kinds of lighting that are used in the world of film and what each of them are used for and what they can do. Learning how to manipulate and plan lighting in accordance to a set will be an invaluable skill and if and when I have a chance to practice this within my work as when we were taken around on a tour of the BBC facilities in Media City UK with Emma, the kinds of lighting rigs that they had set up seemed very advanced and if that is the industry standard then having some basic knowledge of lighting will be a great tool in my portfolio of skills.