Research and Planning: Lighting Tutorial

Before we began filming on Wednesday, our media studies teacher gave us a tutorial informing us how to use the lights correctly.

She taught us how to assemble them:



































And taught us how to put different filters over the light to create different ambiences:


































After experimenting with all of the different filter colours, we decided that we liked the blue one best for the puppet scenes, because it gave a bit of shadow and created a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

The lights were easier to use than I anticipated, however we did have to consider the possible health and safety issues that could potentially arise whilst using them.
These were:

• Tripping over the wires
• Touching the lights when they're hot
• Breaking the light/getting cut on the glass

We overcame these health and safety issues by fully briefing our models first to ensure that they were careful when around the lights. We explained that the outside of the lights would get extremely hot so they could not touch them, and we also had to ensure that when we were ready to take the lights down, we left them to cool down first.

It was great that we were able to use the lights because it gave the images and the video a clear finish and helped to create the eerie atmosphere that we hoped to.