Lighting practical

Lighting practical blog

We are going to be filming our coursework outside as the concept is based on homelessness. This means we will only have natural lighting which is difficult to work with. I am going to look at the lighting outside at different times of day for a typical day in winter. To do this I am going to take a photo from the same place at 2 hour intervals over the day.

8:00

At this time in the morning the sun is still rising so it is still fairly dark. This would be ideal for the first shot in our course work where the homeless person is waking up as it seems earlier than it is due to the fact that the sun rises later during the winter. The early morning would be cold so the visible breath would add to the characterisation and storyline that would be fitting with our concept of homelessness.

In addition it would seem as if the homeless person wakes up at a very early time as she cannot sleep well as she is forced to sleep on the streets and she has no other option.

Finally this would be an achievable time as I doubt anyone would be willing to be ready to film our coursework any earlier than this. Additionally, the camera would make the video darker than it is so if we filmed any earlier then the footage would be too dark for what we want.

10:00

At 10:00 the sun has risen further so the sun is brighter. This may be a problem as we may get sun flares blocking some of the image on the screen. However this may add more context to the storyline and the way of life for this poor homeless person.
This time of day would be ideal for some of the shots showing the homeless person looking at families and groups of friends as she spends her day longing for the life of a 'normal' teenager.
We would have to do the first shot of the homeless person waking up earlier than this as the lighting at 10:00 does not lend itself to the idea of the homeless person waking up after a sleepless night on the streets. In addition it would be too risky to start filming this late on in the day in case we need to re do some shots and we may run out of time quickly and the sun also sets earlier in the winter so we would have even less time due to the fact we would be filming our coursework in December.

12:00

At midday the light is at its brightest. This lighting is not far different from the lighting at 10:00 so it would be fine to continue the shots of the homeless person longing for a life she does not have by watching happy families and groups of friends that a girl of her age should be with.
This lighting leaves us plenty of time to film numerous shots for our coursework including the shot where the girl has her one treasured possession stolen from her to show her vulnerability.

14:00

At 14:00 the light is darker than it was at midday which would mean the atmosphere would be lonelier and colder. This would make the homeless person seem even more vulnerable if her treasured possession was stolen at this time.
This lighting may have been affected by the grey clouds as seen in the sky at the top of the image on the left. However, it is highly likely that in December the weather will be similar as it will be cold and rainy.

16:00

At 16:00 the light is even darker and we would use this as one of the last shots as it is nearing evening where the weather will get colder and the light will get darker.
As previously mentioned the camera will show light darker than it is seen in real life so if we filmed any later than this then you would not be able to see much of the image.
In addition I would not feel comfortable filming in a busy place when if the light is much darker than this.

18:00

 There are two images taken at 18:00 as it was so dark outside that you could not see anything. The first shot is taken with the flash on the camera, the second image was taken without the flash.
As you can see there is not enough light to see anything so it would be illogical for us to film anything this late as it would be a waste of time.

Evaluation

I believe the ideal times to film our coursework would be 8:00 - 16:00 as the lighting would permit enough to show a clear image and they are not unreasonable times for our group to be up and working. The lighting at these times is perfect of our concept and would change quickly during the day so our film opening would show almost a day in the life of this homeless girl until her treasured item is taken from her.