Note: I’m using Flickr to host the pictures in this post, so all the pictures will link to their Flickr page if you click on them. They are available in full-size there (1280×720)
For my advanced cinema production class, I had to do a lighting project that had a surprising amount of creative freedom to it. For my project, I wrote a six page treatment, picked five scenes out of that treatment, lit them and took stills of how it was lit. All of this I then presented to my class.
The name of my movie that I never actually made was “The American Dream is Bagels.” The story follows an all-star high school basketball player, Jason Newhouse, dependent on his skills as an athlete to get into college. When he finds out he isn’t offered any scholarships, and his single-mother can’t support a college education, he’s forced to take on his part-time minimum wage job at a bagel shop full-time. I don’t want to spend too much time delving into the story beyond each scene’s context. If you are more interested, I will post the treatment later.
I undertook this project over the span of a week during spring break. As a result of my procrastination, my classmates got to all the Arri light kits as well as most of the Lowell light kits. I was left with the last Lowell light kit, which featured their V-Lights. Here’s the equipment I was working with:
- Two Lowell V-Lights (500 watts each)
- One Scoop light (200 watt bulb)
- Homemade reflector board (tin foil taped to foam core)
- Blue cellophane (they were out of blue gels)
- Panasonic HVX-200 HD camera
With the equipment I had, I knew I was limited in a few areas. I couldn’t really do more than a three point lighting set-up and the v-lights aren’t easy to control. The barn doors on them don’t have much movement. However, there were some pros to my equipment: it was portable, it was good for low-key lighting, and it simplified the process of lighting since I only had so many options. Plus, one of the main things I learned doing this project is that it’s not about the equipment, it’s about knowing what you want to see. But enough of me blabbing on, let’s get to the images, right?
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