Lighting a Scene for Video: Advanced Strategies and Techniques

Okay, so you know the basics about film or television lighting. You know the difference between a scoop and fresnel, and understand the concept of three-point lighting. Now what? It depends on what you are trying to achieve with your film or video production. First you must know about what you are capturing the scene with. Lighting for a film camera is practically a science and is all about light meters, specific calculations and fractional variances. The application of lighting for video can be almost as complicated, but film cameras are mechanical, and manually operated. Film media is also more sensitive than video, and most importantly you cannot just re-record over film. You only get one shot at it. A few of these differences play a large role in how you go about lighting a scene.

Lighting for film is above my head. So this segment will mainly deal with lighting for video, but some things may still apply. Let us first compare how differently a film camera captures an image. Basically, film captures an image by a chemical process when it is shown light. At 24 frames per second (fps), the lens converts the image it is seeing, compressing it down so that it fits onto a single 35mm film frame. Any object in the image will be exposed to the film and captured on each frame. The object's visibility depends on how much light it reflects back to the camera. Now, there are variances in this process. To begin with, all objects reflect light based on three principals, the object's color, how reflective it's surface is, and how much light is falling on it.

Secondly, film is available in different 'speeds'. The speed of film determines how sensitive it is to light. Show the film too much light and you wind up with ghostly images. If you do not show the film enough light you will have nothing but dark frames. Another variance is the camera's aperture, or iris. This controls how much light enters the camera lens, so the iris setting is critical as it also determines focal length. The color temperature and brightness of the lights will also determine if the image color is captured correctly. Last but not least, if you are using lighting gels or camera filters, these too must be calculated in. All this to make sure the film image is captured correctly. And in the end they will not know what the results will be until the film is sent to the lab and processed. See why DP's use light meters?

A video camera operates under the same principal too, but video is more forgiving and easier to work with. How does video technically differ from film in the image it reproduces? I don't know. I only know how the video process basically works. A video image has to do with electronics, and I am not an engineer. All I know is that when compared side-by-side, video looks 'shinier' than film. Film has texture and looks more realistic. This is due in part to the millions of tiny round multi-sized grain particles in the film image, which is the chemical result of being exposed to light. Video is a series of square pixels uniformly patterned inline on a grid. Perhaps this has something to do with its lack of texture. Video may be a forgiving medium on the technical side, but it can also be unforgiving with the image it reproduces. Video is stark naked, showing every imperfection in the scene. As with film, adjustments in lighting, camera setup, make up, etc. have to be made.

Unless you want to go to film school, learn all the nuances in lighting, the how's and whys of light meters, let us suppose you are an average Joe or Jane the video producer. We will begin with the camera. With video, the image quality begins with camera quality. This only really matters if you are asking money for your services. How much money you charge will depend on the camera quality. Whatever camera you are using, this brings us to step one in lighting, set your camera up first. You will be recording through the camera's eye, not yours. Position the camera and set up the image you will be lighting. After the shot has been composed, then light the scene. You should be operating with a vector scope and waveform monitor if you want consistent and accurate results. With these scopes you can monitor how the light is reflecting back and make any changes. On lower budgets you may have to rely on the camera's automated functions. Higher end cameras have basic features that can display certain light readings like a 'zebra' setting, which will indicate the brightest parts of the image.

Whatever camera is being used, you should be working with a monitor. A monitor may seem unnecessary, but it is much easier to see what you are shooting than squinting one eye into a little hole. Let the camera operator do that if you have one. Another option is the flip-out screen on some cameras, but these little LED monitors usually do not produce accurate results. If you need more encouragement, you should be more interested in seeing the image on a monitor similar to what your audience will have. One advantage of using a high-end camera viewfinder is that the monitor screen is usually black and white. Maybe it is because I use the viewfinder a lot, but I like to see what I am recording in black and white.

When using monitors, I will occasionally switch the color off while lighting a scene. The reason is that I am trying to configure the image in terms of light composition. In general, there should be an even amount of white, gray and black to compose an evenly lit image. Seeing the image in black and white helps me determine this. Colors have their own brightness, and will distract from what I am trying to achieve. If it looks good in black and white, it will look great in color. Studio work or close images of people are a little different, so grayscale is not necessary. Either way, try to use a monitor if you can. Providing that you are using properly adjusted and accurate video monitors, what you see on the screen is what you are going to capture on video. It sure beats going back to re-shoot.

Lighting a scene combines some know-how sprinkled with a little creativity. Now that the camera is set up, you can see the scene you will be working with. If the camera will stay in its position, but zoom in and out for several shots, light the scene at its widest shot. Position the lights according to where the actors (if any) will be, and light them first. Use three-point lighting, or a variation of it. Next, position how your background lights will affect the scene. At this point you can create a natural looking scene, or something a little moody. It is okay to be creative because there really are no rules to lighting, but use motivational lighting whenever appropriate.

Motivational lighting is best described with an example. You have to light a scene with common things like a recliner with a table and lamp next to it, and bookshelf near a window, You will probably want to make it look natural as possible, but a little enhanced to bring the props out. Let's say that the actor will enter the scene at night. In this case you will use two lights with pale blue gels to light the first part of the scene. The blue gels are supposed to represent the moonlight. Position a soft light to illuminate the interior so that the camera sees a hint of the props. Then set a fresnel spot light behind the scene wall so that a beam shines through the window onto the lamp on the table next to the recliner best as possible.

The motivational part so far is the moonlight shining through the window in that it is a single light. If you were to use two lights shining in from different angles, it would imply that there are two moons. The soft light that is falling on the interior is only meant for the camera's benefit so that it will not produce an almost totally black image. While this is considered artistic composition in film, it is avoided in video for a couple of reasons. When the light does go up all the way, the auto iris in the camera will try to correct for the new light. It will open and close erratically, producing inconsistent results. Gently lighting a darkened scene will minimize this. You could switch to manual iris, but how will you adjust it correctly when the lights do go up? I have been told in the past that another reason why is because of television standards, in that a mostly black image makes the broadcast signal weaker. In terms of digital video and HDTV, this may not apply anymore.

One more example of motivational lighting is when the actor enters, turns the table lamp on and sits down in the recliner. This will require a little more preciseness and timing. Try sitting in a dark room sometime and turn on a table lamp with someone sitting next to it. Notice how the light falls on the person and around the room. What color is the light? This is what you will be trying to duplicate for the camera. Why not just use the table lamp to light the actor? If you are using a camcorder or camera that can see relatively well in low light this might not be an issue. Just remember that you want a good solid signal of the actor reflecting back to the camera, and a table lamp may not provide enough light for that. If you are working with 32K lights, the table lamp will definitely not be bright enough.

Therefore you must simulate how a normal lamp's light would fall on the scene when it is switched on. This will require using a fresnel spotted down and raised off-camera, so that its light will fall approximately the way the table lamp does. Use a stand-in actor sitting in the recliner to see how it affects them. You may have to use some artistic license to get the light to fall like you want. You will probably need to pin the light down further with barn doors, and use a pale yellow or amber gel to simulate the color of a normal incandescent lamp. Motivational lighting comes into play as to where you position that light. Setting it on the other side of the recliner will produce a conflicting image. While you may get away with it and the viewer may not notice, subconsciously they may momentarily get distracted. The light should be coming from the table lamp's direction.

Next you must correctly time the light when the actor switches the table lamp on. It will require a bit of practice with a gaffer and the actor before actually rolling. You could have another light softly brighten up the background at the same time. Again, this is for the camera's benefit. To complicate things even further, try adding a light for the bookshelf and background. Say there is a small plant arrangement on the top shelf. The blue light representing a moon will fall on the plant from the back. When the table lamp is switched on another light with a yellow gel could be used to shine on the plant and bookshelf to bring them out. You could always avoid all of this and switch the room light on off-camera with broads and scoops. This was only meant as an example for motivational lighting. In some cases you may have an actor already sitting in the recliner and will remain there. Here is where you can get a little artsy.

Even though the actor may be lit normally, the background can still be enhanced. Try a green gel instead of yellow to light the plant and bookshelf. Raise or lower the light so that it casts a shadow. Then use a second softer light with another color to light the wall from the opposite angle. If the background is just a wall, try using a spot with barn doors. Pin the barn doors down to make a strip of light, and attach a color gel of your choice. By adjusting the light's height and angle, you can spread the strip of colored light however you like. If you are looking for something more dramatic, just modify the three-point lighting on the actor and darken the background with blue or red shadows. You could even use an ellipsoidal with a 'mini-blind' or abstract cookie insert and light that on a wall.

These are only a few techniques to play with, and are based on film-style shooting in that each scene is recorded and lit separately. A live (for the most part) television sitcom set, with actors moving to different parts of the scene is lit from above. Every nook and cranny is brightly lit. Next time you watch a sitcom look closely. You will not see very many shadows. This is one of the reasons why television shows like sitcoms look good, but somehow unnatural. When lighting for your scene, it is a matter of style, taste and what mood you are trying to set. You obviously would not use dramatic or shadowy lighting during an interview with a politician, and you would not brightly light a scene meant to be intense or scary. These are just tips and a few options to remember next time you are planning for a shoot. So go out and experiment with these and other lighting techniques to further enhance any scene in your video or film.