The week before I took off for Vegas and NAB, I got in some shooting, in particular on my documentary.
I began my film project by shooting two interviews, one at the Wesleyan Potters, a craft coop and the other of a professional potter at Birch Mountain Pottery.
Both shoots gave me trouble with the lighting, but overall I got a lot of good footage and excellent sound bites.
I also dedicated my weekend to handling the lighting on a classmates film, John.
Showing posts with label lighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lighting. Show all posts
Monday, April 14, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
#81 Wk61 Shooting
Lots of episodes this week and not a lot of time to write notes.
In this show I run down the film project status of each person in class. I also managed to get in two days of shooting for my own film and I try to describe the lighting work I did over the weekend for John's film.
In this show I run down the film project status of each person in class. I also managed to get in two days of shooting for my own film and I try to describe the lighting work I did over the weekend for John's film.
Monday, April 7, 2008
#80 Wk60 Preproduction II
Projects are accelerating
A classmate, John is in the lead with his film project. He has a shoot on the weekend and I'm handling the lights.
We've done a lot of planning, but due to unknown space restrictions, and a lot of unknown unknowns, we're going to have to play it by ear as far as framing and lighting are concerned. There's going to be lots of communication back and forth between the DP and lighting
Tuesday we discussed our shooting schedules in class. I'm scheduled to shoot Thursday and Friday. What a relief to have something to shoot before I go to Las Vegas.
One week left, let me know what you would like me to report about NAB
A classmate, John is in the lead with his film project. He has a shoot on the weekend and I'm handling the lights.
We've done a lot of planning, but due to unknown space restrictions, and a lot of unknown unknowns, we're going to have to play it by ear as far as framing and lighting are concerned. There's going to be lots of communication back and forth between the DP and lighting
Tuesday we discussed our shooting schedules in class. I'm scheduled to shoot Thursday and Friday. What a relief to have something to shoot before I go to Las Vegas.
One week left, let me know what you would like me to report about NAB
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
#79 Wk59 Preproduction II
Lots of activity this week, but little to do with my own film project. Almost all my attention was devoted to Directions, the annual networking event sponsored by my company. I spent four days shooting interview spots of about 30 people. Add to that a lighting gig I'm doing for John's film. John is a classmate, we've worked together on a couple of class projects in the past. He's way ahead of the curve as far as film projects. He's already rounded up his cast, location, got the crew and is shooting throughout April beginning the first weekend of the month.
Somehow I've become the lighting guy. I did a significant light role in our last class project, the Killer, I obsessed about the lighting for the Directions promotional interviews and the video I just shot at the event. That's only because I felt it was a really weak facet of my skill set. Now I think I'd like to work with the camera.
I'll have time to work with the camera on my own project. I'm anxious about getting some footage shot before leaving for Las Vegas. NAB is putting a huge who in my schedule as far as shooting is concerned. I'd feel better taking off the time knowing that I've begun. With all the distractions and obligations it's difficult to get started, but it's harder on my stomach if I don't.
NAB is beginning next week. The exhibition begins Monday April 14 and the seminars start the Friday before. Let me know if you want me to check out specific vendors and you're interested in learning more about a particular technology.
Somehow I've become the lighting guy. I did a significant light role in our last class project, the Killer, I obsessed about the lighting for the Directions promotional interviews and the video I just shot at the event. That's only because I felt it was a really weak facet of my skill set. Now I think I'd like to work with the camera.
I'll have time to work with the camera on my own project. I'm anxious about getting some footage shot before leaving for Las Vegas. NAB is putting a huge who in my schedule as far as shooting is concerned. I'd feel better taking off the time knowing that I've begun. With all the distractions and obligations it's difficult to get started, but it's harder on my stomach if I don't.
NAB is beginning next week. The exhibition begins Monday April 14 and the seminars start the Friday before. Let me know if you want me to check out specific vendors and you're interested in learning more about a particular technology.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
#70 Wk50 On Location
Get ready for a slew of episodes this week. I'm finally catching up.
I'd like to thank Mike Jones from Digital Basin for leaving a comment in show #68. Check out his thoughts there and on his site. Also Brian from Galway left a comment in show #69. Thanks for the encouraging words Brian. I'll be around for a while. Let me know what you're doing and interested in doing.
Check out the song on Coverville.com - Itchycoo Park, covered in show #393. It was one of the first two podcasts I subscribed to and continues to be in my top 5.
After a brief rundown of my adventures over two weeks of shooting on location I update you on the type of work that's starting to come to me at my day job. It may be a small dream, but it's my dream all the same to become the video go-to guy at my day job. That's the point of going to school in the first place.
Right now I'm working on a project for both web and tape delivery using video I shot here in Massachusetts and footage shot in other places in the world where the standard broadcast TV format is PAL. Quite an adventure figuring the conversion process for that. Thank God for the internet eh?
I'd like to thank Mike Jones from Digital Basin for leaving a comment in show #68. Check out his thoughts there and on his site. Also Brian from Galway left a comment in show #69. Thanks for the encouraging words Brian. I'll be around for a while. Let me know what you're doing and interested in doing.
Check out the song on Coverville.com - Itchycoo Park, covered in show #393. It was one of the first two podcasts I subscribed to and continues to be in my top 5.
After a brief rundown of my adventures over two weeks of shooting on location I update you on the type of work that's starting to come to me at my day job. It may be a small dream, but it's my dream all the same to become the video go-to guy at my day job. That's the point of going to school in the first place.
Right now I'm working on a project for both web and tape delivery using video I shot here in Massachusetts and footage shot in other places in the world where the standard broadcast TV format is PAL. Quite an adventure figuring the conversion process for that. Thank God for the internet eh?
Thursday, August 30, 2007
#45 Wk31 - Film Project II
This is the last week of the Film Project II module, which is to say the last week where we can shoot footage that we will edit in 3 weeks.
We don't have anything more we plan to shoot right now, but we may. This week we reviewed our footage and talked about it in light of what we already learned in previous classes and this project. We had problems lighting, but the final footage looked quite good.
There's also information about how to log video, before you capture and I explain how the camera sees compared to how our eyes see.
Next week is another new module where we learn how to use Avid.
We don't have anything more we plan to shoot right now, but we may. This week we reviewed our footage and talked about it in light of what we already learned in previous classes and this project. We had problems lighting, but the final footage looked quite good.
There's also information about how to log video, before you capture and I explain how the camera sees compared to how our eyes see.
Next week is another new module where we learn how to use Avid.
Monday, February 26, 2007
#11 Wk5 - Lighting
Practical Lighting
Tuesday night's class began with how to set up 3 Point lighting, the classic TV news lighting. 3 point lighting consists of the main light, Key; secondary light, Fill; Backlight or Kicker, which separates the subject from the background and Background light.
3 points of light, 4 lights, an amazing paradox. I describe our efforts setting up the scene. By the way, I mistakenly used the term "baffle" when referring to a fabric grid we use on the Rifa to direct light forward. I don't know what it is called and I couldn't find it on the Lowel site.
Thursday night we used the same lighting techniques to recreate a night scene and I include pointers on how to do that.
Podcasts for filmmakers
Finally, I introduce a new segment, reviewing podcasts that I feel are valuable learning tools for anyone interested in working in the motion graphics field. Tonight I'm profiling the VFX Show. Mentioned briefly is episode 5 where the hosts talk about their favorite DVD extras that include helpful movies on production techniques.
Take a look at DVD Breakdown for reviews of DVDs and descriptions of the extras. I also mentioned a book by Robert Rodriquez, the guy who gave us El Mariachi and Spy Kids. It's called Rebel without a Crew.
Chapter Titles
Tuesday night's class began with how to set up 3 Point lighting, the classic TV news lighting. 3 point lighting consists of the main light, Key; secondary light, Fill; Backlight or Kicker, which separates the subject from the background and Background light.
3 points of light, 4 lights, an amazing paradox. I describe our efforts setting up the scene. By the way, I mistakenly used the term "baffle" when referring to a fabric grid we use on the Rifa to direct light forward. I don't know what it is called and I couldn't find it on the Lowel site.
Thursday night we used the same lighting techniques to recreate a night scene and I include pointers on how to do that.
Podcasts for filmmakers
Finally, I introduce a new segment, reviewing podcasts that I feel are valuable learning tools for anyone interested in working in the motion graphics field. Tonight I'm profiling the VFX Show. Mentioned briefly is episode 5 where the hosts talk about their favorite DVD extras that include helpful movies on production techniques.
Take a look at DVD Breakdown for reviews of DVDs and descriptions of the extras. I also mentioned a book by Robert Rodriquez, the guy who gave us El Mariachi and Spy Kids. It's called Rebel without a Crew.
Chapter Titles
- 00:07 This Week
- 00:45 3 Point Lighting
- 01:53 Key
- 02:18 Fill
- 03:29 Backlight
- 04:00 Kicker
- 05:19 Background
- 06:55 Exercise: News Lighting
- 08:54 Night Light
- 12:22 Exercise: Night Lighting
- 14:07 What is Podcasting?
- 18:07 The VFX Show
- 22:49 DVD Extras
- 25:25 Close
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
#9 Wk4 - Light up everybody
In this episode there’s a lot of information about the character of light and lighting hardware. To our eyes light is white, but light is always changing color and knowing how to describe it and measure it is very important to filmmaking.
Measuring light
Two ways of measuring light is CRI, the Color Rendering Index and the Kelvin color temperature. CRI measures the strength of light and how consistent it is. CRI values are on each piece of professional lighting equipment and the best piece of information you can learn is to never buy a lamp that has a CRI below 90%. You can find useful information about CRI on GE’s site, including graphs displaying the color consistency.
Kelvin measures the color of light. The two lights used most frequently in filmmaking are tungsten and daylight. Tungsten, which is a red/orange color, is about 3200 degrees Kelvin, Daylight, which is bluish is about 5600 degrees Kelvin. These values are not heat temperatures, they measure color in a range from black on the low end to white on the high end.
Light kits
There are three different sets of lights we use at school. Arri are tungsten lights and they use Fresnel lenses which concentrates light and directs it straight ahead. Lowell are also tungsten lights and Kino lights are fluorescent lights that are color accurate to either daylight or tungsten. The key thing is to not trust your eyes or the LCD on the camera, trust the monitor.
You can control the light by adding on elements such as barn doors, scrims, gels, gobos and diffusers.
Handling electricity
WARNING WILL ROBINSON: Be very very careful when dealing with electricity and make sure yhou understand how to handle lights before using them. I’m giving you a brief overview, don’t rely on what I say alone.
I do my best to explain about calculating the load your lights are putting on your electrical system. Watts, Amps and Volts are the three variables. You get to do the math everytime you set up lights so that you never blow out the circuit.
Watts / Volts = Amps
Amps x Volts = Watts
Lighten up
Finally, a little more information about matching the color of lights. Don’t be so precise, Leave a little room for variation in color within a scene. As long as it matches your intentions, bear in mind that in the real world, we’re looking at multiple colored light sources all the time and don’t think anything of it.
Chapter times
Measuring light
Two ways of measuring light is CRI, the Color Rendering Index and the Kelvin color temperature. CRI measures the strength of light and how consistent it is. CRI values are on each piece of professional lighting equipment and the best piece of information you can learn is to never buy a lamp that has a CRI below 90%. You can find useful information about CRI on GE’s site, including graphs displaying the color consistency.
Kelvin measures the color of light. The two lights used most frequently in filmmaking are tungsten and daylight. Tungsten, which is a red/orange color, is about 3200 degrees Kelvin, Daylight, which is bluish is about 5600 degrees Kelvin. These values are not heat temperatures, they measure color in a range from black on the low end to white on the high end.
Light kits
There are three different sets of lights we use at school. Arri are tungsten lights and they use Fresnel lenses which concentrates light and directs it straight ahead. Lowell are also tungsten lights and Kino lights are fluorescent lights that are color accurate to either daylight or tungsten. The key thing is to not trust your eyes or the LCD on the camera, trust the monitor.
You can control the light by adding on elements such as barn doors, scrims, gels, gobos and diffusers.
Handling electricity
WARNING WILL ROBINSON: Be very very careful when dealing with electricity and make sure yhou understand how to handle lights before using them. I’m giving you a brief overview, don’t rely on what I say alone.
I do my best to explain about calculating the load your lights are putting on your electrical system. Watts, Amps and Volts are the three variables. You get to do the math everytime you set up lights so that you never blow out the circuit.
Watts / Volts = Amps
Amps x Volts = Watts
Lighten up
Finally, a little more information about matching the color of lights. Don’t be so precise, Leave a little room for variation in color within a scene. As long as it matches your intentions, bear in mind that in the real world, we’re looking at multiple colored light sources all the time and don’t think anything of it.
Chapter times
- 00:08 This week
- 012:9 Lighting terminology
- 02:48 The color of light
- 03:51 CRI
- 05:42 Kelvin color temperature
- 06:40 Light kits
- 08:41 Scrims, gels, barn doors
- 11:22 Changing color with gels
- 13:20 Electricity
- 16:57 Cookies and gobos
- 18:10 Don’t try to match exactly
- 20:34 Close
Sunday, February 11, 2007
#8 Wk3 - Camera and Sound
The Sound and the Frustration
This is the last week for the Camera and Sound module. The class broke up into 2 teams of 5 and continued to use the boom mic and lavalier mic. Tuesday we recorded an interview and a narrative short on Thursday. I spend a few moments explaining the advantages of a Boom over a lav mic.
We’re also using a sound mixer which provides greater control than is available through the camera alone. I explain why it is both simple and hard
We experienced difficulties working with the audio that put us under a lot of pressure to meet our end of class deadline. The big lesson is that no matter what the source of your equipment, it makes sense and can really save your butt if you check the working status before you begin setting up the shot.
Of course all the preparation in the world won't save you if you don't pay attention to details. Despite my best efforts to avoid problems, by coming into class an hour early to prep the equipment, I still managed to miss the fact that the video gain was turned on through our entire shoot.
“Wakey, wakey” as a friend used to say.
We worked up a short story that we would shoot as an in-camera edit, where each scene is shot in one take, as it occurs in the story. Each shot is filmed so that the end and beginning fit in with the next and previous shot. No extra footage because you aren't editing it in the computer, it's all in the camera. It took a lot of planning and discussion to shoot, but it was fun and it worked out rather well. It helped that it was a simple story and it was short, only 3 minutes long.
On the last day of the class we’re introduced to optical stabilization, which makes shooting hand held practical. We didn’t get a chance to use it this week, so I’ll talk about it in a future episode.
I also discuss the need to develop a process for double checking, not only the working status of equipment, but also the settings on the equipment.
Howard Phillips, the associate director of the Film program, will be teaching the next module on lighting, which begins next week.
Chapter times
This is the last week for the Camera and Sound module. The class broke up into 2 teams of 5 and continued to use the boom mic and lavalier mic. Tuesday we recorded an interview and a narrative short on Thursday. I spend a few moments explaining the advantages of a Boom over a lav mic.
We’re also using a sound mixer which provides greater control than is available through the camera alone. I explain why it is both simple and hard
We experienced difficulties working with the audio that put us under a lot of pressure to meet our end of class deadline. The big lesson is that no matter what the source of your equipment, it makes sense and can really save your butt if you check the working status before you begin setting up the shot.
Of course all the preparation in the world won't save you if you don't pay attention to details. Despite my best efforts to avoid problems, by coming into class an hour early to prep the equipment, I still managed to miss the fact that the video gain was turned on through our entire shoot.
“Wakey, wakey” as a friend used to say.
We worked up a short story that we would shoot as an in-camera edit, where each scene is shot in one take, as it occurs in the story. Each shot is filmed so that the end and beginning fit in with the next and previous shot. No extra footage because you aren't editing it in the computer, it's all in the camera. It took a lot of planning and discussion to shoot, but it was fun and it worked out rather well. It helped that it was a simple story and it was short, only 3 minutes long.
On the last day of the class we’re introduced to optical stabilization, which makes shooting hand held practical. We didn’t get a chance to use it this week, so I’ll talk about it in a future episode.
I also discuss the need to develop a process for double checking, not only the working status of equipment, but also the settings on the equipment.
Howard Phillips, the associate director of the Film program, will be teaching the next module on lighting, which begins next week.
Chapter times
- 00:07 Last week recap
- 00:54 This week
- 01:19 Boom vs Lav mic
- 03:24 Reel to reel memories
- 04:20 Mixer revealed
- 05:18 Production problems
- 07:08 Shooting In-Camera edit
- 07:52 Deciding on a story
- 08:26 The other team's story
- 09:21 Our shoot
- 10:17 Critique of video
- 11:16 Optical stabilization
- 12:06 Composition concerns
- 12:46 Checklists
- 13:40 Editorial: Order order
- 15:30 Close
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