Manipulating the Intangible - Light

As filmmakers, we’ve heard it time and again that light is everything when it comes to cinematography. But how do you get lighting like the movies? How can you control light? 

It’s hard; I had no idea until a couple years ago when I discovered the art and science of light. 

Light is intangible, so naturally it’s hard to manipulate. I think the best way to learn about light is watching movies. See how the light touches a person’s face; see how it’s used to set the mood of a scene. It will totally changing your movie-watching experience.

Take for example the second scene in this film I created for Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. The scene is a mother and daughter before her first dance class. It’s set in a hallway outside some dance studios. Instead of have the typical florescent lights on inside, I turned most of the lights off and used the natural light coming in from the windows.  

That is one of my main focuses when lighting a scene, using natural light sources and enhancing them. What that means is don’t try to over power natural light. See where the natural light is coming from and strengthen it with addition lights. In this scene we have three lights, a soft box and two quasar lights. The soft box is shining through the door just to the left of the talent. The first quasar is in the background to fill the space so it doesn’t feel like a black whole. The second quasar is inside the door where the young girl walks through into her dance class. 

The goal of this lighting was to transform the shot from a bland, ordinary scene to a more dynamic scene that makes things more interesting. 

I did this throughout the film with most of the scenes by turning off the florescent lights and using the natural lights by reinforcing it with additional lighting. That’s how you manipulate the intangible. 

Enjoy some more stills and BTS photos from this project below.

Best, Patrick 

BTS Photo Credit: Paul Lim