Lighting Workshop

Today (15/09/15) the class went to do a lighting workshop. We went to the drama room, as the black interior would make the lights brighter and better, to setup the green screen, lights and cameras. We had 3 tasks to complete during the workshop: lip-syncing in front of a green screen, reciting a horror narrative with dark lighting and an interview scene. However before we could start any of these tasks we had to setup.

After we had completed setting up we went straight into the first task: the lip-sync. The person lip-syncing would be singing "California Girls" by Katy Perry and could do whatever felt natural to them. We had two classmates do this, one lip-syncing and the other dancing with some props, in front of the green screen. The green screen would allow us to make the setting match the song lyrics (or not if we decide something else) rather than having a plain background.

Next up was the horror narrative which I had to perform and despite not being the best actress I think the effect makes up for my acting! The effect darkens half of my face to create a mysterious look which matched the script I was reading. As I did not get to see the effect until we had finished filming I was surprised and happy with the outcome. I would love to use this effect in my own music video, if we choose to have a dark theme or song.

The last task was the interview scene. We decided as a class to have the person being interviewed in front of the green screen so we could change the background, similar to the lip-sync. We had the interview off-screen so only there voice could be heard and the person being interviewed would have to make up the answers which were perfect. Overall effect was really clear and nice and it will be interesting to see how this piece is edited.

As an extra task we were ask to make a lens flare effect however we ended up making a silhouette which, in my opinion, was even better! A classmate held a rainbow coloured umbrella behind her and in front of the camera so the colours glowed and created a silhouette. This technique would be really good to use in a dark themed video as it creates a sense of mystery and the unknown.

All of the footage that we collected today will be edited together so we can test our editing skills. We can edit images into the green screen and use Adobe After Effects to make the sequence more exciting to watch.

Overall I have learnt a lot about lighting and how much it can impact a shot. There are so many techniques that would be interesting to use depending on the song of the music video. Lighting is something I will defiantly keep in mind whilst shooting our music video.