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How you light a scene will determine the quality of the video that you produce. When it comes to video production basics, lighting is one of the most important aspects to consider. There are a number of different techniques that directors use to create specific effects, or to enhance color or characters on screen. One of the most basic and common lighting techniques is known as three point lighting. The three different lights that are used in three point lighting are: Key light, fill light, and backlight. The key light is typically the brightest light that you will use. This light is generally placed at a 45° angle to the camera. The fill light will also be placed at 45° angle from the camera but on the opposite side of the camera from the key light. This fill light is intended to “fill in” shadows and should be less bright than your key light. The backlight is designed to offer a little extra lighting to shoulders and heads of your subjects. How to Learn about the Effects of Lighting? In order to learn about how different lighting techniques affect the video shot, the best thing that you can do is to set up lights in various positions, record the shot, and then review how it translates to the screen. Write down every detail about your setup including the height of each light, the wattage used, as well as the angle and position of the light. Shadows that are created by natural lighting or by ineffective lighting can create an unintended consequence in your finished product. Sometimes, you will want shadows to create certain emotional impacts on your audience members. For example, you may wish an actor to be hidden in shadow to create the illusion of mystery. You may also wish to have the character’s key features such as his or her face, to be more pronounced than another character or even the clothing that they wear. The angle of light will make a difference to each shot. Balance Balance is an important factor that will allow you to unify the look and feel of your shot. The color temperature of any video shot will be important as well. The “hotter” the color balance is, the paler and less natural or healthy looking your subjects will appear. It all comes down to what effect you are hoping to achieve in any particular shot. Understanding color balance is a process of experimentation as well as education. Outdoor Lighting When you are shooting outdoors during the daytime, the sun will always trump any lighting that you have. It will also create problems that you will have to address such as washing out features in your characters. In this case, you will want backdrops or color correcting lights that will help to hold the color of your characters in place. When you use the proper lighting, your characters will appear more real and lifelike. Video production and lighting go hand in hand and there are many options available for any given scene. Rick Davis, an experienced TV Producer/Director, invites you to increase your knowledge of video and television production. He has plenty of free how-to videos and PDF cheat sheets to help make your video productions easier. To see more details on this topic check out his YouTube video entitled:Easy Video Editing.
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