Motion Picture and Video Lighting
Lighting is at the heart of filmmaking. The image, the mood, and the visual impact of a film are, to a great extent, determined by the skill and sensitivity of the director of photography in using lighting. Motion Picture and Video Lighting explores technical, aesthetic, and practical aspects of lighting for film and video. It covers not only how to light, but also why.
This revised edition of Motion Picture and Video Lighting is the indispensable guide to film and video lighting. Written by an experienced professional, this comprehensive book explores light and color theory, equipment, and techniques to make every scene look its best, and is heavily illustrated throughout.
Three new chapters discuss best practices of using light to benefit your film, and an extensive appendix includes discussion on additional tips and tricks. This companion website includes up-to-date video tutorials and other resources for students and professionals alike.
Three new chapters:
- Scene Lighting
- Lighting as Storytelling
- Controlling Light
Topics include:
- Lighting sources
- The lighting process
- Lighting basics
- LED, tungsten, Kino-Flo, HMI, and plasma lights
- Methods of controlling light
- Planning your lighting
- The basic methods: a lighting playbook
- Visual storytelling with light
- Understanding and controlling color
- Terminology
- Electricity and distribution
- Gripology
- Set operations
- The team: DP, gaffer, grips, lighting technicians
- Technical issues
- Lighting for greenscreen/bluescreen
- Typical equipment orders for large and small jobs
- Lighting for high speed and macro photography
- Lighting plans for small, medium, and large films
More titles by Blain Brown
Cinematography - Theory & Practice
The world of cinematography has changed more in the last few years than it has since it has in 1929, when sound recording was introduced. New technology, new tools and new methods have revolutionized the art and craft of telling stories visually. While some aspects of visual language, lighting and color are eternal, shooting methods, workflow and cameras have changed radically. Even experienced film artists have a need to update and review new methods and equipment. These change affect not only the director of photography but also the director, the camera assistants, gaffers, and digital imaging technicians.
Cinematography: Theory and Practice covers both the artistry and craftsmanship of cinematography and visual storytelling. Few art forms are as tied to their tools and technology as is cinematography. Take your mastery of these new tools, techniques, and roles to the next level with this cutting-edge roadmap from author and filmmaker Blain Brown.
Whether you are a student of filmmaking, just breaking into the business, currently working in the industry and looking to move up to the next level, or an experienced professional who wants to update their knowledge of tools and techniques, this book provides both a basic introduction to these issues as well as more advanced and in-depth coverage of the subject.
The companion website features additional material, including lighting demonstrations, basic methods of lighting, using diffusion and other topics.
Topics Include:
- Visual language
- Visual storytelling
- Continuity and coverage
- Cameras and digital sensors
- Exposure techniques for film and video
- Color in-depth
- Understanding digital images
- Waveform monitors, vectorscopes, and test charts
- Using linear, gamma, and log encoded video
- Image control and grading on the set
- The tools and basics of film lighting
- ASC-CDL, ACES and other new methods
- Optics and focus
- Camera movement
- Set operations
- Green screen, high speed and other topics
The Filmmaker’s Guide to Digital Imaging
It’s a whole new world for cinematographers, camera assistants, and postproduction artists. New equipment, new methods, and new technologies have to be learned and mastered. New roles such as that of the DIT (Digital Imaging Technician), Digital Loader, and Data Manager are integral to today’s motion picture production process. Take your mastery of these new tools, techniques, and roles to the next level with this cutting-edge roadmap from esteemed author and filmmaker Blain Brown.
The Filmmaker’s Guide to Digital Imaging covers both the theory and the practice, featuring full-color, in-depth coverage of essential terminology, technology, and industry-standard best-practices. Brown covers new industry-wide production standards such as ASC-CDL and the ACES workflow. Interviews with professional cinematographers and DITs working on Hollywood productions equip you with knowledge that is essential if you want to work in today’s motion picture industry, whether as a cinematographer, DIT, Digital Loader, Data Manager, camera assistant, editor, or VFX artist.
Topics include:
- Digital sensors and cameras
- The structure of digital images
- Waveform monitors, vectorscopes, and test charts
- Using linear, gamma, and log encoded video files
- Exposure techniques for HD and UltraHD
- Understanding digital color
- Codecs and file formats
- The DIT cart
- Downloading, ingesting, and managing video files
- Workflow from camera to DIT cart to post
- Using metadata and timecode
The companion website features additional material, including demonstrations and interviews with experienced DITs and cinematographers.
