Working with the camera- light sources and shadows

In today's lesson we worked on creating different light sources to make shadows, seeing what type of effects we could make. This has helped us in our planning as we now have something that we could base our ideas on. This idea could be used in our title sequences, especially with the pen action which could write out the titles. This has also helped us work well as a group as we are now being influenced with more ideas and becoming inspired to create different effects. This planning stage will also help us to become more confident in using the camera which will help make our film opening look more professional. This has influenced our planning as we now want to go away and come up with more ideas on how we could film something.


Research into lighting

Lighting is very effective  in filming as it helps express mood and atmosphere in a scene. It can be used for various aspects such as casting shadows or building tension within a scene. However it's mainly used to draw attention to a particular area or person. 

Types of lighting

Low-Key: Low key  is when lighting is created by the use of a back light and this is mainly used in thriller and horror films to represent a darker tone and atomsphere. The mysterious effects produce a sharper contrast of light in darker areas on screen in order to develop deep shadows and silhouettes formations.   

High- Key: High key is when more filler lights are used in order for the subject to appear more realistic. High-key lighting doesn't require any alteration for each scene, however it fails to add meaning or drama by lighting certain parts more significant than others. It can be used to show scenery such as a sunny day or mood such as in love.

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Key light
Key light is usually the brightest light and the most significant when capturing important parts. Using  this type of lighting can result in a high contrast scene, especially if the background is not illuminated.


Back light

Back light is placed behind the subject which helps neutralise the effect of the key light. This makes it seem less dominate and by doing so makes the character look more rounded.

Filler light

Filler lights are used to soften the shadows created by the other lights making the image look life like without any effects.