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Lighting Equipment and Setups Which would be Used for the Following Scenarios

 Lighting equipment and setups which would be used for the following scenarios


A small documentary where portability is paramount 


Lighting - In a documentary where there is a lot of moving about it is always best to have portable equipment which doesn't rely on mains power, therefore something with a battery is most suitable such as an LED portable light, they are very efficient and extremely bright at the same time, you can use coloured filters in order to change the colour or intensity of the light in order to create a certain atmosphere. However, documentaries usually rely on natural lighting in order to make their content feel more natural therefore the use of a portable light reflector could be useful, they allow you to reflect the light of sun in order to capture a photo of your subject with good lighting. The light reflectors have a silver, gold and white surface which all create a different tone which can help suggest an atmosphere in a specific shot. Silver can increase highlights and yield a high-contrast image, this is great for video, product shots, or black and white filming. Gold produces a natural, golden warm fill that is great for sunsets or indoor portraits. White produces an even, neutral-coloured bounce light that works beautifully as a fill light source. Black is used as a flag to block light or can be used to subtract light. Translucent fabric is used to diffuse light, producing a broad light source and a soft effect. In the 60 Minute Interview - Ricky Gervais' funniest ever interview, they captured many scenes outdoors whilst walking around, this may have been done to make the interview feel more natural and relaxed, in the active shots there seems to be no use of unnatural lighting equipment however, the subjects look perfectly sun kissed suggesting that the use of a gold reflector was used in order to produced a natural warm toned result. 

Equipment - If portability is important this suggests that light-weight stabilisation equipment is required as well; the use of a tripod can help capture focus shots whilst also being easily stored, they are also incredibly easy to set up as they require little adjusting. As portability is important, the use of a shoulder mount could be useful, It's easier to move around to capture shots however, it is not as stable as a tripod therefore, you may notice that some shots may contain motion blur.

‘Talking Head’ style interviews


Space - The character being interview should be placed in front of a very simple background so that it doesn't distract from the character speaking. The character should have some distance from the background as we want them in focus however we want the background out of focus in order to make the character talking seem more important and easy to focus on (Johnson). This sort of setup can be seen in "Ricky Gervais' funniest ever interview", the interview is setup at the comedians house, this may have been done to make the audience feel connected as it may feel like the comedian is inviting the audience into the house, when showing the layout of the shoot they have removed all items within proximity in order to make sure that the subject stands out, the subject is sitting in the centre of the room in order to create separation between the foreground and the background. 

Lighting - Using a soft box can create a softer more natural lighting which makes the interview feel more real rather than something staged. The light could be placed at a 45 degree angle from the person in order to create some shadows on the face and make it look more natural to a viewer rather than having the light directly in front of the subject. Using a back light which isn't too strong helps separate the subject from the background making them stand out (Johnson). In "Ricky Gervais' funniest ever interview" the celebrity has bright LED placed behind the character in order to help separate the subject from the background. There is a light between the interviewer and the interviewee, this is placed at a 45 degree angle from each subject which creates soft shadows on one side of the face making the interview look more natural allowing the celebrity to seem more relatable to an audience. In the interview a 3-point setup was used, by having a bright key light, but minimal fill and back light, this will give the effect of anger, whereas in this scene it is very brightly lit with little shadow on the actor, this can make the scene look very happy. 

Camera - The camera needs to be placed close to the subject in a traditional interview as it allows you to reflect emotion clearly and allow the audience to connect with what the character is saying. Using a tripod could help as it will keep the camera steady and in place throughout the interview (Johnson).

A ‘night time’ shoot 


Lighting - Depending on what type of shoot you are doing suggests what equipment you will need, if you are trying to create light trails a flashlight is important as it allows you to paint images using light. If you are trying to shoot a subject then the use of a LED light could be useful as they are very bright however, LED are very white toned which can look quite unnatural, for a more natural warm tone light you can use a fluorescent light instead (Dovey). 

Camera - In order to get a correctly exposed shot at night using manual mode is essential as well as having a tripod as you will be using extremely low shutter speeds in order to make up for the lack of light. The use of a high ISO will help keep the shot well lit however, if the ISO is too high it can cause grain in the image therefore try and keep it as low as possible within reason (Dovey). 


References

Gervais, R., 2019, Ricky Gervais' funniest ever interview | 60 Minutes Australia (Online)
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfgw79mfgIg 
Dovey, J., 2018. How to shoot in low light and reduce noise (night filmmaking) (Online)
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upIFBndu7AQ
Johnson, G., 2016. Shooting Talking Heads - Tips for Shooting Video Interviews (Online)
Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm-s-NO6fUQ&t=146s

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