3.12 - FILM and MOTION PICTURE LIGHTING

1.) FILM LIGHTING3.12 - FILM and MOTION PICTURE LIGHTING

Lighting for film is an art form within itself. Witness only, many of the fine (and not so fine) films produced during the past decades. In addition, film is a wonderful and valuable medium to capture and then study lighting and lighting techniques.

Lighting for film is a marriage between the cameraman, his film and the processing lab. Film lighting techniques are heavily dependent on the knowledge of how a particular film stock will react to a particular type of light - in respect to; intensity, contrast and color temperature. A multitude of image qualities are available by manipulating; exposure, color temperature and film processing.

2.) FILM LIGHTING - TECHNIQUES

Both daylight and artificial sources are commonly used for film lighting.

Lighting fixtures for the film industry are similar to stage lighting fixtures, except, they are larger and of higher wattage. Although incandescent fixtures are still used, many new fixtures using H.I.D. (high intensity discharge) sources, are now also commonly used.

The fresnel, open face flood (broad) and the '9 light' are all popular film lighting fixtures. The '9 light' unit, consists of 9 Par lamps mounted in a 3 x 3 matrix. This provides a 'large source size', and is excellent for 'key' or motivational lighting.

Color temperature and color balance is very important in film. Often the sources will be balanced using color correction filters, either over each individual fixture, or on the camera lens itself.

Film lighting makes extensive use of reflectors (with various different types of surfaces) to bounce and reflect light and to 'fill' in the shadows.

Fixtures are usually mounted overhead, on stands or on trucks. When 'on location' large generators and 'miles' of cable are often used to power the fixture