“Filmmaking is so rewarding but it’s also a difficult process and you will be asking a lot of your team constantly. You need to know that they have your back and that you have theirs, so work with people you trust and admire. I always try to work with people much more experienced than I am so I can learn from them.”
“It’s not always possible but sometimes you have that luxury and I say always accept it as both you and your project will benefit from it. Enjoy the process. Relish the journey. Don’t take yourself too seriously and appreciate the people around you and what they bring to the project – no film gets made alone and take it from me, it feels much better to accept awards for your films with your friends from the project right there with you.”
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Chapter | Sixteen
Lighting
OVERVIEW
How to make the most of your movie on screen – using any available light you can get your hands on.
Your movie needs light like oxygen. Give it enough and it comes alive; too much and it’s overcooked. Without good lighting it’s just a series of events, with no meaning, no purpose and no feeling. Whatever you put into the film – whether it’s a gripping script or a unique subject – it only becomes vibrant and living once you feed it with the right lighting.
Lighting is to movies what descriptive words are to novels. In a movie, lighting is describing everything rather than just labeling. With good lighting, a “man at a desk” becomes a menacing man at a desk, “a room” becomes an inviting room, “a staircase” becomes a spooky staircase. So take a look at the initial ideas you had before you think up ways to get the lighting right; everything you need is right there in your script or your ideas.
BEFORE YOU START
Almost everything you need to know about lighting you know already. You hear a lot in film school, books or online about the various ways you should light a movie and the rules you have to follow – like three-point lighting, contrast ratio and the rest. Ignore it. There are no rules, just a lot of very useful safety tips (you need those) and some shopping hints.
Almost every shot needs some help with lighting. House lamps or proper film lights, big wattage or small, it’s rare to get through a scene without using some additional artificial lights. Even scenes shot in good daylight need some help with reflectors, helping to enhance available light.
FIGURE 16.1 Make use of reflectors when shooting in studio, to maximize available light. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©jay_b Image# 1123566.)
Trust your eyes: ignore technical limitations. Look at the movie you first saw in your mind when you first dreamt it up. Stick with that and search for the light – any light, anywhere, from any source – that will reproduce it. Some filmmakers just won’t settle for anything less. Stanley Kubrick avoided electric light for a lot of Barry Lyndon, shooting a lot by candlelight. He knew the look he wanted and didn’t settle for a predictable “period costume” movie.
Terrence Malick wanted certain kinds of daylight only found in “the magic hour,” like dusk or dawn. You can’t recreate that artificially or buy it with CGI – it has to be real, shooting when the low sun makes the ground purple and blue, the sky pink and the clouds ochre.
NEXT: PLAY AROUND
Teach yourself how the camera deals with light, and how lights affect what you shoot. It’s easy. Play around with lights, move them up, down, sideways, swing them back and forth (like that great scene in the end of Psycho in the basement). Cover them in wraps, colored gels, cloth – all flameproof. Put stuff in front of lights, make shadows. Bounce light around the walls. Reflect light upwards, downwards, anywhere you want it. Shine lights through glass panes covered in dripping water. Bounce light against water trays to make ripples on the walls. Throw smoke or dust into the air to make light appear as shafts. Just don’t light it like you see it in every other movie.
You know what you want and how it should look. So play until you see what you like.
NEXT: GET TECHNICAL
There’s no short way round – it helps to know what each of your lights do and how to make the most of them. You could buy some lights from a home hardware store, like garage and yard lights, or portable car repair lights.
Anything that makes light is a potential lamp for your movie. Proper movie lamps can make your movie look less interesting, just like everyone else’s. Use desk lamps, candles, torches, fires, car headlamps – anything. You don’t need real movie lamps. Experiment to find just how much light your camera needs before it makes “noise” (those snowy white dots all over the screen when the camera doesn’t have enough light). But it is surprising how little you need. Watch Collateral (2004) to see how great video can look at night in the city.
Use the camera as a member of your lighting team. Remember it does half the job of lighting as you open or close the iris, or change shutter speed, or alter white balance.
FIGURE 16.2 Use shadows and reflections to create innovative ways to depict action. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©ulamonge Image# 167997.)
BUY YOUR KIT
Zero budget kit: Look for table lamps, desk lamps or garage lights – anything which can be maneuvered and pointed. Look around in your basement or attic or try yard sales for old slide projectors: these are good for throwing strong, nondiffused light at the action, so you get sharp, deep shadows and bright white areas. Also get a reflector (white card os stiff plastic sheet) and extension cables.
Budget kit: Try a complete set of three lamps from specialist film and video lighting companies, or through high street photographic suppliers. This will contain a key, fill and smaller back light, often with tripods and reflectors, in a sturdy aluminum case. Your biggest lamp needs to be at least 300-400 W.
FIGURE 16.3 Reflectors are great for making use of what little light you have. Improvise with any firm, portable white surface. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©bjones27, Image# 9397028)
Bigger kit: If you want to get hold of a bigger kit try getting:
At least two large versatile key lamps, from 400 W to 800 W, such as a Redhead. Make sure these have “barn doors” with them, to direct the light to the subject.
At least two small, directional lamps, such as Mizars (small and powerful) or Dedos (small, portable, low voltage, with sharper light).
A wide fill lamp with a diffuse beam.
Extension cables.
Distribution boards or multisockets.
A large, flat, reflective surface such as white card or flexible polystyrene.
Fireproof colored gels, for placing on the lamps and altering the light color.
Some greaseproof paper to diffuse strong light.
Bull-clips or pegs to attach cookies or gobos – opaque patterns cut out of board to create particular shadows.
Spare bulbs.
Gaffer/duct tape.
FIGURE 16.4 A studio Fresnel lamp. Fresnel (pronounced fre-nel) makes a softer light, and can be focused into spots or cast a wider beam. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©Soundsnaps, Image# 837558)
Table 16.1 Use these starting points to decide how to get your lighting right. Then experiment from there to get the right look for you.
Choose What You Want for Your Movie: Start Here
Naturalistic lighting
This is lighting that you don’t notice is there. It’s enough light just to help out the camera, to make sure it can pick up the action. To get it, use light from large sources, spread out for big areas. Rely on natural daylight where you can. Back it up with soft lights if you need to. Your first question before you shoot is, “Can I avoid lighting this scene?” It’s subtle, avoids flashy effects, and is low-key. It’s a very cheap way to work.
No, thanks, I want something more like the
movies, a little more punchy.
Realistic lighting
This is a kind of natural effect, but amps it up to exaggerate things a little. Faces get more expressive, and places get more atmospheric and moody. It’s a good middle route between natur
alistic and expressionistic but can risk looking like every other manufactured movie. Set the aperture so you get darker shadows, with fewer grays so they become black, and the lighter areas are the most defined.
No, still not enough – I want a more
emotional effect, all high drama and high emotion.
Expressionistic lighting
Expressionistic lighting is for emotional impact only. It doesn’t look anything like reality, and isn’t supposed to. It’s great for music promos, looks cheesy in dramas, and is a no-no for most movies. But you can try sampling a bit of it to add a twist to your more sedate lighting set-ups.
FIGURE 16.5 Reflectors are used to bounce light in this production by filmmaker Preston Randolph.
LIGHTING IDEAS
Take a look at these ideas as starting points for you to light a scene. Then build on the idea and twist it your way, by adding or taking away lights, or combining it with other ideas on the list.
Table 16.2 Light ideas to set a scene
What I Need Where to Start
Standard light, on specific atmosphere One strong lamp 300 W to illuminate subject. Avoid daylight through windows, watch for blue color cast outside against the orange cast indoors. Useful to have smaller desk lamps too.
Softer atmosphere One 300 W at side/front of face/subject, softened with a softer side light to show up the background too. Reduce shadows.
Harder atmosphere Create shadows, remove other lights except for 300 W.
Upbeat mood Open aperture slightly. White balance set to enhance orange. Use stronger light, no higher than head height.
Colder light Raise the lamp so it points downwards, and use sharp shadows. White balance set to filter out orange.
Warmer light Use softer, smaller lights, lower down, below head height.
Two people talking One light pointing at one side of the couple. Use reflector to bounce light upwards to neck and chin. Soften background if needed.
Brighter light Move lamps closer (half the distance between light and subject and light gets increased × 4)
More expression Hard light, strong shadows, raise tripod to have lights above pointing down to faces. Then increase contrast by altering aperture/iris.
Denser atmosphere Add smoke or dust to reveal light. Or try swinging lights to create moving shadows.
More exotic, dreamlike effect Try adding water reflections on ceiling. Project light through colored cloth or paper (flameproof ?C they get hot. Open the aperture/iris.
Light at outdoor location Bounce light – use white card, reflectors. Avoid in-camera lights. If power source available use 300–800 W lamp, far enough away from subject to reduce artificial look.
Fast action Try 1/1000 shutter speed, with strong lighting. If image is too dark increase aperture to compensate.
Night during day Close aperture down. Use smaller pools of light to pick out subject.
FIGURE 16.6 Harsh light from above, creating a tense, dramatic effect. It also makes the figure seem more threatening. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©AVtg, Image# 8413209)
FIGURE 16.7 Create a warmer look by softening shadows. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©suricoma, Image# 7923934)
FIGURE 16.8 Use a white umbrella (available for less than $10) to diffuse light from a strong lamp. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©dorusana, Image# 5050281)
Experts’ Tips
Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo, maker of The West Side, Webby Award-winning web series, Los Angeles
“We had no funding whatsoever and our lighting kit consisted of a few shop lights purchased from Home depot.”
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FIGURE 16.9 Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo, setting up a scene for The West Side, using a reflector to bounce light at the action.
Chapter | Seventeen
Sound Recording
OVERVIEW
This is the big one that can really undermine your movie. Everyone notices if you get sound wrong, but yours is going to be right. Here’s how.
Quick start recording:
1.Pack your video and audio kit (see essential shopping list later).
2.Set up the scene you want to record.
3.Check out the list below of the hierarchy of recording techniques to find the best way to record.
4.Plug in headphones and listen to the clarity of what is being recorded.
Watch out for sound interference from cell phones and other electrical stuff. You’ll know it – it sounds awful.
When you have the scene recorded just fine, send the crew off for a coffee and spend a few minutes gathering extras for the rest of your soundtrack:
1.First get “room tone,” or “ambient presence.” That’s the totally unnoticed background sound behind the talking – like traffic, crowds, birdsong and so on. Check out the box later on recording it.
2.Then get your sound effects. You can’t reproduce these in a studio as Foley because your budget is too small. Use a lavalier mic or uni-mic.
Then play back what you have got on headphones to find out whether the sound is useable.
FIGURE 17.1 A boom mic makes a very natural recording, and allows you to move the mic closer to whoever is talking. (Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ©bjones27 Image# 6452283.)
MICROPHONES
A mic is basically a device for turning one kind of energy into another – sound energy gets turned into electrical energy. A loudspeaker simply reverses this process at the other end.
You need external mics. The on board mic on your camcorder is not great for real movie recording. Use it for freecording, travel and improvised movies but avoid it for any place where you need to control the sound on your movie – which is nearly all the time.
There are two types of mic, dynamic and condenser, with dynamic the most common for camcorders since they don’t need any power to run. These are based on the idea that a magnet placed near a coil creates an electrical current. At the front of the mic a thin diaphragm vibrates as sound waves hit it, which in turn moves the coil against a magnet. The pulses which this creates are then recorded to match the images. Condenser mics work differently, needing their own power source, but can produce stronger sound, and are better suited to studio work. They have two diaphragms at the front of the mic separated by a small voltage. When sound waves hit the mic, the distance between these two diaphragms alters as the front one vibrates, discharging a current to create a signal, which again gets recorded to match your images.
Think of mics in the same way we talk about vision – some work near, some far away, some wide and some narrow, just like our eyes.
Unidirectional or cardioid mic picks up sounds in front of the mic, with least sensitivity to the sides. Where you point the mic is what you get. The most common ones are hand-held versions or fixed at the end of a pole, or a “boom.”
Omnidirectional mic picks up sound equally all around it, making it ideal for general ambience recording.
Lavalier mic is a short range omnidirectional mic, small enough to clip to a person’s clothing. It’s ideal for clear, close-up, voice recording.
YOU’VE GOT THREE AIMS WHEN RECORDING AUDIO
1. Record clean sound.
Use mics that pick just what you want and nothing else. Make sure you use a mic with the right range and use headphones to tell if the sound is too loud or quiet.
Always record at the maximum level, without it tipping into distortion. Look at the LCD monitor on the camcorder; find the “audio levels” or gain. Usually, there is a sliding scale with red on the right side of the scale, green on the left. Avoid slipping into the red too often; instead your sound should just skip into it now and then, hovering around the ideal point just before red.
2. Control the sound environment (see later for more on that).
To make a good movie soundtrack, you need to be able to control what’s in your sound environment, and you can then add a few extras to make the movie more atmospheric. To do this, record each part of the sound environment separately – either at the same time
or after you finish shooting a scene.
3. Match what we see to what we hear.
Your next challenge is to make sure that the sounds match what we see on screen. This means looking carefully at what is on the screen and making sure these sounds are present. For example, if a bus rolls past as the actors are talking, then we expect to hear it in the background. The easiest way to make sure you have everything is to record a separate ambient background track at the same time as you record the main action.
Use a mic socket splitter which means you can plug two mics into one mic socket on your camcorder. A headphone splitter (two people can listen in) for your MP3 player might do the job.
Use the boom to record the actors’ voices, or whatever is the most important piece of sound we need to hear.
At the same time, record general background sound with an omnidirectional mic, or if there’s too much background noise going on, use a handheld uni mic.
Stand-Out Shorts Page 9
