We were mainly looking at the differences between Hard Lighting and Soft Lighting. The main differences between Hard Lighting and Soft Lighting is Hard Lighting creates sharp-edged shadows and Soft Lighting is softer in cotrast to the light and shade. It is indirect or difused which blurs contours and textures. Direction of lighting can come from many different angles including the front, side, back, under and on top.
This is an example of Hard Lighting. You can clearly see the sharp-edged shadows around the gentleman.
This is an example of Soft Lighting. You can clearly see more of he neck and there is a mix between light and dark across the man's face.
To help us get a better understanding of we looked at the music video Madonna - Vogue. This was a great example of showing the different lighting effects of quality and direction as well as hard and soft lighting. In groups we were handed screen shots of some parts of the video and in groups we had to talk about the effects of lighting.
Above is the three screen shots we were asked to talk about. We talked in groups about firstly whether we thought the lighting was hard lighting or soft lighting and what effects this gave with shadows, edges etc. We then went on to talk about where we thought the direction of the light was coming from and what the quality of light was like.
The rest of Madonna - Vogue can be seen by clicking this link:
MADONNA - VOGUE
"Quality" Practical Work
We was separated into two groups in class. We was set up to explore lighting "Quality" and the other group was set up to explore "Direction", both groups explored these in a practical workshop.
We was in a group of 5 so each one of us had to take a different role in the group. The roles we had allocate around in the group were:
- Director
- Camera
- Gaffer
- Clapper
- Recorder
- Actor in scene
I decided to take the role of the clapper. My job as the clapper was to write down on a white board what the audience are watching. So for example whether we are using a diffuser or blue gels.
Equipment & Set up - We was using all different kinds of equipment in this workshop from cameras to crock clips. Below I have listed the equipment we was using and had to set up:
- Camera
- Tripod
- Base Plate
- 1x Lowel Pro 250Watts Light
- Barn Doors
- Torch
- Batteries
- Laminated White Board
- Marker Pens
- Light Stand
- Crock Clips
- Diffusers
- Safety Gloves
- Props - Wine bottle, telephone, shot gun, stool, chair
We set up all our equipment in the school drama studio. Our recorder drew a birds eye view of how we set up all our equipment and props. This can be seen below:
Predictions - As a group we predicted that by doing this workshop we could aim to show the other group the differences between hard and soft lighting. We also predicted that using different diffusers we could see if this effects the quality of the light.
Factors To Change - The factors that we decided to change are as followed. We felt that we needed to change the direction of the light. So for example moving the light closer or further back to show different lighting effects and seeing if it causes different shadows. Also we were looking at moving the camera to see if this has any other effect.
Factors To Measure - The factors that we needed to measure were what different lighting effects had on the quality of shot. Also we had to measure the amount of lighting we wanted. This is to make sure we create the effects we wanted.
What Will Stay the Same? - The thing we wanted to stay the same was the angle and positioning of the light. This is because it could have drastic effects on trying to tell the differences between hard and soft lighting.
Below I have posted our video. We were trying to show the differences between hard and soft lighting.
Quality Lighting Video:
After watching this back though you like our group also feels is that is hard to get an understanding of the differences as the video is maybe not long enough. So therefore without sounding patronising it is to everyones interest to pause the video at certain points to see the differences in the lighting effects. In our group discussion after the workshop we highlighted the agenda of the error we made but we did not feel it effected us on the targets we wanted to achieve. We presented our less than marvellous video to the rest of our class using the quite fantastic pause button to pause at certain points to show and explain the different lighting effects.
Strengths & Weaknesses of Experiment -
Like I said one of the weaknesses in the group was our overall video that we finished up with. We felt we did not record for long enough to be able to show the differences in lighting without pausing to be able to see. However we felt that the different lighting effects we did was a success because when you did pause the video you could quite clearly see this. So this was on of our strengths. Another strength we felt we had was how well we all worked together as a group with setting up equipment, setter ling into our roles and overall working well as a team. This has given us great experience for when we go into our production groups to make our short films. One weakness we had was we filmed with the camera out of focus. This is because the camera was focusing more on the white board telling us what lighting we was using. Another weakness was we was unable to to create the blinds effect we wanted. We was unable to create the shadows across our actor that we wanted so that was disappointing.
How Will This Help Us? - Learning this will give us great experience when we go into our production groups. We have gained experience from learning the different types of lighting and will be bale to showcase these in our short films. Also working in groups and each having a role has been good because when we go into our production groups we will be able to settle into our roles easier.
"Direction" Practical Work:
The other group focused on the Direction of lighting. There job was to focus on how the different direction of lighting can change the way that characters are shown. There practical work can be seen below.
Direction Video:
The Video shows how changing the direction of lighting can effect the way characters or portrayed. For example at 2.19 you can clearly see a dark shadow across the actors face. This lighting effect will make the audience feel that he is quite a dark and mysterious character. But if you contrast this to the lighting effects at 5:49 you will see a clear change to how the actor looks. With the tin foil placed in front of the light and the different direction of lighting the atmosphere is a lot different and the way the lighting has changed it could make the audience feel that the character is quite interesting and the good guy.
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