The Importance of Lighting

Lighting is one of the most tedious and frustrating aspects of film making.  It also is one of the most important aspects.  Lighting is easily my least favorite thing to do during the production of a film.  My extreme dislike coupled with the importance of lighting is the reason we need to put aside a lot of time to truly understand how to use it.

One of the sources we will be using for our film is entitled "Basic Lighting Setups".  It is just one of the few sources on lighting that we will be using.  Essentially it focuses on lighting techniques that are used in various situations such as emulating the mood of interior and exterior sources.  In a situation such as this, it stresses the importance of not eliminating shadows, but instead you should create the effect of real-life lighting.  This is a main component of side-lighting.


There are many different setups other than the aforementioned side-lighting technique.  One of the easier techniques is the head-on key.  This is used for simple overhead lighting.  In this setup, the key light is placed directly in front of the subject so that there is an equal amount of lighting on both sides of the face.

Perfecting the lighting may be our biggest challenge for the production of this film.  We are excited about this challenge though, and we're looking forward in learning more about the different techniques and setups.  "Good lighting is invisible.  Bad lighting is obvious".

Source:  Basic Lighting Setups.  Gloman and LeTourneau.