Composition

 

Composition

Lighting

What is cinematic lighting?

Cinematic lighting is lighting for film that evokes a feeling and has a style. It’s the lighting we see in the movies we watch, be they big budget or independent. While the term cinematic lighting is not a precise term and is in fact very subjective, there are some lighting techniques that generally lead to this look.

• Rembrandt lighting

Rembrandt lighting consists of a single light source placed on a 45 degree offset from the subject, about 5 feet away. Positioned roughly two feet higher than eye level, the light source is angled slightly downward and hits the side of the face that is farthest away from the camera. A triangle forms on the subject's face.

• Rim light

A rim light is placed behind a subject that exposes the outline or rim of the subject with light. This lighting highlights the contours of a subject and creates a dramatic and mysterious effect.

• Key light/ main light

A key light is the main source of light in a video or photo. High-key lighting results in brightly lit subjects with more fill light and softer shadows. Fill lights are used to increase the amount of ambient light in a scene and reduce the contrast.

• Back light

Backlight is light that hits an actor or subject from behind, typically higher than the subject it is exposing.

• Ambient lighting

What is ambient light? Creating ambient lighting (also called mood lighting) involves using colour, temperature, and brightness to create a comfortable and even level of light throughout a space

• Motivated lighting

Motivated lighting is used to imitate a natural light source, such as sunlight, moonlight, and street lamps at night. It’s also the kind of lighting that enhances practical lights, should the director or cinematographer wish to customize the intensity or coverage of the latter using a separate light source.

• Soft lighting

Soft light doesn’t refer to any lighting direction, but it’s a technique nonetheless. Cinematographers make use of soft lighting (even when creating directional lighting with the techniques above) for both aesthetic and situational reasons: to reduce or eliminate harsh shadows, create drama, replicate subtle lighting coming from outside, or all of the above.

• bounce lighting

Bounce lighting is about literally bouncing the light from a strong light source towards your subject or scene using a reflector or any light-colored surface, such as walls and ceilings. Doing so creates a bigger area of light that is more evenly spread out.

Another kind of lighting is Chiaroscuros lighting which is a scene with extreme lighting, lots of shadows, it is used to make a scene more dramatic.

Exposure:Exposure is described in terms of lux-seconds, which is a measure of the amount of exposure a section of film would receive under a controlled set of conditions.

ISO: ISO is the film sensitivity. It's a number, more common ISOs are 100 and 400. The higher the ISO, the higher the film sensitivity and the larger the film-grain size. If you plan to shoot indoors in low light conditions, film ISOs of 400, 800, or even 1600 are preferred

Aperture: Aperture is the adjustable lens opening that controls the amount of light that enters the camera.

Shutter speed: Typical frame rate for shooting video is around 24 frames per second, (and sometimes 25 or 30). Shutter speed means you're exposing each individual frame for 1/100th of a second.