Benefits of Using Halogen - Review and Critical Thinking

Review Questions 1. What are the benefits of using halogen light bulbs in lighting fixtures for filming? -Halogen light bulbs are super useful during film because they provide a uniform color so that the lighting can be consistent looking throughout multiple scenes. 2. Describe in detail how to create the effect of light coming through a window onstage in a theatrical production. -An ellipsoidal reflector spotlight, or an ERS, provides intense light onstage for a theatre. A gobo, is a cutout template that will project the shape onto stage. If you combine the two, you can create a light coming through the window effect onstage. 3. What is hard light? How does it differ from soft light? How can the intensity of hard light be altered? -A hard light is like natural lighting, the type that comes from being in the full sun, it is usually too bright and can have harsh shadows. Soft light is a light that is being reflected off a surface, such as a reflector board, and being placed onto actors. Hard light can also be altered to having a softer intensity with a reflector board. 4. What is three-point lighting? Describe the three components to this lighting setup. -Three point lighting is exactly what it sounds like, lighting coming from three different points. It starts with the key light, which is the main and brightest light. Then there is the back light, which is directly opposite the camera during filming, it is behind the objects or characters and outlines them in a thin light. The final component is the fill light, which has the purpose of softening shadows. 5. What skills and characteristics do you think would be necessary for a lighting board operator to be successful? -They would need to be good at technology since that is a bit part of the lighting board since there are a lot of different factors. They would also need to be good at memorizing things because they need to remember which buttons do what so they don’t accidentally press the wrong thing during a theatrical performance. Critical Thinking Questions 1. Imagine that you are in charge of lighting for a film or theatrical performance. The scene that you are doing the lighting design for is one in which a young boy meets an alien. How could you alter the mood or feeling of the scene with the lighting? Describe how you might change the lighting to alter the scene. -I think I would make the lighting really blue/green toned to go with the sci-fi-ness of the scene that the alien brings. I would also want the lighting to be soft because I think the mood of the scene would be the little boy’s astonishment of seeing the alien. The softness would make the scene seem sweet and hopeful. 2. How might a film or play's purpose affect the choices made about its lighting? -Lighting plays a huge part in influencing the mood of a scene, it can really make or break it. If the scene was a mystery or a thriller, I would have intense shadows and dim lighting to influence the suspense. However, if it were a romance I would have soft, pastel colored lighting. 3. How is lighting for film different from lighting for a theatrical production? -In film, it is a lot easier to hide things or light certain things up with lighting. On the stage in a theatrical production, everything is visible. In order to hide certain things like parts of the set, or places where the actors go in between scenes, they need to be very dark so that you cannot see them from the audience, but still lit up enough that the actors are able to see what they are doing. 4. Think about a scene from a film, television show, or theatrical performance that you've seen. Describe the scene, including what is happening in the plot during this particular scene. How is the scene lighted? What effect does the lighting design have on the scene? Would you do anything differently in terms of lighting if you were designing the scene? -One thing that really sticks out to me is the dark lighting with intense shadows that you see in scary films. One that I have recently watched is It, and I feel like the filmmakers did a really good job of contrasting the scenes that were there for comedic purposes from the ones that were supposed to be scary through the lighting. The comedy scenes were light and had natural outdoor lighting most of the time, whereas the scary ones hd lots of intense shadows on peoples faces and objects. 5. Why is lighting design an important aspect for filmmakers? -Lighting is important because filmmakers usually want their actors to look good in the things they are filming, so they have special lighting that creates a soft light onto them rather than harsh, unflattering lights. They also use it to show the mood and purpose of the movie and draw the audience into certain scenes and make them feel what the characters in the movie are feeling.