The best part about a video, also what makes it better than other forms or media texts is that it represents the story in a visual way. For videos to be better than other forms of media, they have to be aesthetically pleasing. Video lighting contributes a lot to the general aesthetics of the video.
The main reasons why video lighting is important are :
- Lighting can determine the mood of the video
If a scene is fairly dark and has a hard contrast, it is probably a scene from a horror movie but a well lit scene would almost always indicate happiness, this is why light is important to set the mood and the a aesthetic of a film.
- Poor lighting = more time in the editing room
If a video is shot with poor lighting, the ISO would either be too high making the footage grainy or the footage would be too dark to edit, this would require wither really good and lengthy color correction as well as editing or a Re-shoot. This would waste a lot of time.
- Light determines the quality of your project
Even basic lighting in a video will make a huge difference on a set, This would increase the overall viewing quality of a certain production.
Three point lighting :
This type of lighting typically involves three lights, The main or the Key light, the fill light and the back-light.
Key Light :
A light that is placed beside the camera and it lights the subject of the shot.
Fill Light :
A light that is placed opposite from the fill light, mostly used to cover up for the shadows created by the key light.
Back-Light :
A light that is placed behind the subject to give it separation from the background.
This diagram best illustrated the three point lighting technique :
With every camera having a different way of overcoming light issues, the best way is to open the aperture as wide as it can go, this makes the sensor well exposed, especially if it is a Full-Frame sensor like Sony A7-III.
Another way to overcome light issues is to use Reflectors, diffusers and flags with the standard lights, these would help to better spread the light and get most of the shots well exposed.
Another concept regarding Lighting is the light temperature and white balance. The color temperature of the whole shot is affected by the type of light, the whole shot can get a warmer or a colder look by adjusting the light temperature. The white balance is a filter (applied by the camera) over the actual shot that adjusts the warmth or the coldness in the actual shot.
All these methods are used to control lighting in all videos, be it short films, music videos, documentaries or even full grade films.
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