How to light a scene

Lighting is an essential part of moviemaking. Half of the struggle in filming is controlling the light to create the right mode for a scene. Film stock, Lens, Aperture, F-stops, all deal with lighting control. With the quality and ability of cameras to capture light improving, less and less are filmmakers restricted by not having enough natural light. Any filmmaker just starting out should know the different type of light and the basic lighting techniques.


The relationship between light and shadow is what lighting seeks to control. Do you want drastic shadows to imply something ominous or dark or mysterious. Do you want little to no shadows, focusing the adenine's attention to some object, implying openness, happiness, or safety.

To start : The bulb
Just like everyday lamps, different bulbs produce a different quality of light.

• Tungsten-halogen bulb: produce light similar to daylight. They are very hot (hot enough to melt plastic and give fingers serious burns).
• HMI bulbs:These lights are generally large, and like tungsten-halogen bulbs they produce a daylight type light. They are better energy wise needing only half the energy for the same brightness. 
• Fluorescent bulbs: Most common in workplaces or school classrooms, Fluorescent bulbs have some variability in the light they produce (warm or harsh). 

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*HMI and Fluorescent lights appeare to flicker on film sometimes. 

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The way the light falls upon the subject can be hard or soft light. Hard light is like a bright sunny day, The light fully illuminates the subject and the shadows it produces are shape and defined. Soft light is gentle, if there were a cloudy day where the sunlight wasn't directly hitting the subject. It's the glossy look that characterizes the movies of the 1920s and 40s. Women actresses sully prefer this light because it give them that glowing angel look, like a halo of light surrounding them. Before touch up and photoshop it helped smooth out features and make them "flawless".

It not just about hard of soft light either, the way light is filtered, reflected, or diffused changes the light.

• Spot lights-are focused and hard, it's the same light as a spotlight. 
• Filed lights-wide light because it's so unfocused it's soft. It's like the lights in a stadium used to illuminate the whole field. 

Reflectors:

reflector is a round piece of material usually white or silver that bounced light back not a subject

tough spun is matted (dulled) glass that sits before the bulb

Soft box enclosure like a tent around the head of the lamp. Light shines through a light material opening.

barn doors seen on the picture above of an HMI lamp, barn doors help direct light to some places while keeping it from illuminating others. 

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A reflector usually creates a softer light. 

The typical set up of lighting a person is the three point set up with Key, Fill and Backlights. 

• Key light is the brightest  it is positioned to the side of the camera (out of view of course) usually on the opposite side of the Fill light
• Fill light lessen the shadows that the Key light creates. It's positioned near the camera pointing straight on the subject
• Backlight gives depth between the subject and the background, outlines the subject giving definition to hair sometimes, adding shine sometimes. 

Realistic looking light is not always the goal, sometimes lights should make the audience feel uncomfortable. That's dealing with the coloring and temperature of light.