Production Skills: Lighting

LIGHTING

Lighting Gels

Gels are sheets of multi-colored plastic that are used to modify lighting temperature to achieve multiple effects and moods in certain scenes.

Orange = sun

Blue = outdoor light

When you have selected the color sheet you want you simply attach it to the barn doors (as can be seen on the left) of a light making sure that the gel is close enough to cover the light which creates a beam of coloured light but not so close that it can catch fire also let the barn doors cool down before replacing any colours.This is when you should white balance the camera.

A useful website for finding the right Gel to use and how to use it is http://www.leefilters.com/ which has as wide of a color spectrum you would want 

Scrims

Scrim paper is also thin material that can attached to the barn doors of a light the purpose of scrim is to reduce the lights intensity.

http://lowel.tiffen.com/edu/glossary/#r

http://www.videomaker.com/article/15437-using-scrims-and-reflectors

Reflectors

A reflector is a cheap, light and powerless lighting tool that can be used to reflect multiple sources of light including (Sun,White Objects and lights) collapsible reflectors can come in a range of colors (White,Silver and Gold) each achieving different outcomes E.G gold causes contrast

All of these factors make it an ideal tool to use on a film/photography shoot as they are easy to control and hold and if you wanted to you could also attach them to a tripod also because they are cheap if you wanted to you could buy multiple ones.

Specs

Red Heads = 800 WATS

Blondes = 2000 WATS

3 POINT LIGHTING

Red head lights are useful for multiple types of lighting effects including these 3 which are commonly used for TV interviews and photo shoots

(Back-light) Ililluminates person or subject from behind which creates depth and also helps the subject pop out which you can see happening in this scene from A Clockwork orange (1971). This kind of lighting

effect is commonly used for

(Fill Light) Is a secondary light used to lighten shadows on the opposite side of the key light and also the ones created by the key light source which is the most intense of all the lights on a 3 point lighting shoot. Creating lighter shadows is achieved by moving this light further back

(Key Light)
The key light is the main light and therefore the strongest its purpose is to lighten the main 

subject/object its placed at an angle on one side allowing for some shadow on the other side

This is what a 3 point lighting setup looks like from a birds eye view as you can see all three lights are positioned to do the perspective jobs  (Main,Fill and Back) you would expect to see this kind of setup for TV interviews,photography shoot

In Lee's tech demo we attempted to do something similar and also experiment by sticking a person in a chair in the center of the room and proceeded to play around with the lights to see what we could achieve with the camera and get projected on the screen

Residual current device (RCD)

RCD's should always be used especially when filming on location as some older buildings electrical wiring was not build with the kind of electronics and voltages we use today in mind.At least if you take this safety device and plug it in can  measure electrical current flowing through a circuit and automatically turn off the electricity if a problem is detected. The device is small and easy to use once plugged in
 and essential for preventing fire/death on location.

Step 1 : Plug into socket
Step 2 : Click reset button
Step 3 : If click is not instant don't use RCD

Amp = watt x volt

0.3 amps when wet
1 amp to kill

230V AC National Average

http://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guides-and-advice/electrical-items/rcds-explained/