Learning the art of lighting
By: Andrew Solt
As I enter my third semester taking a television broadcast course, West Virginia Today has me entering a new role. This semester, I’ll be working with my classmates as a videographer, and there are plenty of elements of shooting in this role my classmates will depend on me for, whether it’s making sure that interview shoots are done correctly or capturing the best b-roll to tell the story visually.
The part that always makes me nervous is lighting. Lighting can make or break an interview and can ruin b-roll altogether. And there are a lot of variables that go into this process.
Professor Wright held a lighting demonstration for our class a few weeks into the semester, and I helped him with all the setup and the lecture. We set up what we thought would be a good interview scene with two lights and two cameras. For me, this lecture taught me a lot about lighting – from front lit to back lit and shadows that often form on someone’s face. Although, white balance and ISO are very important to the quality of the video, lighting is just as important.
Unfortunately, when you are out in the field, the setup of two additional light sources is highly unlikely so the ability to use natural light and windows to help light an interview subject is very important. If you have a window, you can more than likely use the natural light coming through it, and may not even need any overhead lights at all. I also learned how important it is to keep the interview subject away from a window in the background because it will wash out everything and overexpose much of what is in front of that light.
Out in the field, lighting is much more complicated than in a controlled room, and unfortunately, most of the time we are not in a controlled environment with great lighting. I have learned that every time you go out to shoot, the environment is different, and each shoot has its own challenges. Often, lighting is one of those challenges. The ability to use natural light offers a more natural tone within the video.
As I look back on the work we produced for the first show of the semester, I have much greater appreciation for good lighting. Before, I thought about light as simply how bright or dark the screen was. Now I understand it creates much more than just the brightness of the shot. It can create mood, tone, and as Professor Wright always says, “ Good lighting shows the difference between professional work and average work.”
As we continue to progress through West Virginia Today, I am very excited to continue working with all of my classmates to improve our work, especially through more advanced lighting techniques. It seems like yesterday was the first day of class, but now we are closing in the midpoint of the semester, and before we know it will be over. I am very proud of everyone for what we were able to create in our first episode, and I can not wait to see where we can go from here.