Video Project - Lighting - James Houston by

Pre-production

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:38:30 UTC

Inspiration

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:40:29 UTC

I asked the Director if there were any pieces of media they were taking inspiration from. They said The Lost Boys (1987) would be a big influence, they also generally wanted the whole short film to have a "warm" look.

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:43:48 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:44:24 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:47:26 UTC

I had a look at clips from The Lost Boys and it was mostly warm colours such as reds, oranges and yellows. However, there were a few cooler colours as a small contrast every so often.

Rayzr MC 120 RGB LED Panel Light (Front)

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:51:39 UTC

Rayzr MC 120 RGB LED Panel Light (Back)

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:52:00 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 10:57:12 UTC

I decided to use the Rayzr Lights for this production as I have used them in the past and familiar with them.

They're also really good for lighting up big areas and whole rooms.

I was also confident that these lights would help create the tone the Director was imagining with the inspiration from The Lost Boys.

Aputure MC Compact LED Light

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 15:08:02 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-11 15:09:26 UTC

I decided we could also use the Aputure Lights as they are basically miniature versions of the Rayzrs and can be use for closer/tighter shots or if more subtle lighting is needed.

Production

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 14:55:04 UTC

The Café Scenes

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 14:59:08 UTC

Our start of the production was the very start of the film, which is in a café. As it was the beginning, it was important to set the vibe for the overall film here. Keeping in mind the "warm" feeling the Director wanted.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:03:11 UTC

To create that warm and welcoming feeling a café should have, I went for a bright orange colour

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:06:12 UTC

I also used a yellow (which wasn't as bright) further away, just to get a bit of colour on the opposite side of the characters as well as create noticeable depth to the scene.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:12:12 UTC

For Scene 5 specifically, I used a plain bright light to make sure Blair was lit up and could be seen. To make sure it wasn't too harsh, I had it facing the wall and had someone with a reflector pointing it down. (I couldn't do this myself as I had to act in the scene).

Outside (Scene 6)

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:21:44 UTC

There wasn't too much to do here as the street lights were doing most of the work. But there were a few issues to work around.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:23:37 UTC

The background of some of the shots looked very dark. To stop this, I lit up the trees with the same colour of light as the street lights. Once again helping the scene to have visible depth.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:25:55 UTC

Due to my lights being so bright, the light would sometimes wash out the actors in the scene, especially The Stranger who had pale makeup. Therefore, I used this white bin bag to soften the overall light without losing the intensity.

Veronica's Living Room (Scenes 8, 10, 12, 18, 20 and 21)

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:35:26 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:53:44 UTC

Once again following directions from pre-production, I made this scene warm with a orange light with slightly less saturation than the café scene orange light.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 15:54:45 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:01:15 UTC

Specifically for scenes 10 and 21, a TV is playing movies out of shot. To achieve this, I set one of the lights to a cool blue and manually changed the intensity to simulator a TV flickering. I started at an intensity value of 45, and then randomly went between 15-55 as the camera was shooting.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:03:31 UTC

The blue and orange made a really nice contrast in Scene 21.

Veronica's Bedroom

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:12:23 UTC

The light was orange! My phone auto-colour corrected these pictures for some reason.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:15:59 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:26:35 UTC

Once again a bright orange light. Although in this scene there was some purple, which is a nice contrast to the orange. The Set Decoration Team had sat some purple fairy lights on the headboard, so I used two Aputure lights, set to the same shade of purple, behind the pillows as well as a third for close-ups of Veronica.

Laura's House

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:48:34 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:53:41 UTC

The lighting once again was the classic orange but a lot darker. The dimmer light worked for a romantic setting for the meal and was also quite sinister for when The Stranger turned up. There was also a cool blue light coming from the kitchen area to create a contrast.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 16:57:08 UTC

The Director wanted The Stranger's shadow to be seen before he appears. So I decided to cast him in a bright red light to create a scary atmosphere. I achieved this by standing just behind The Stranger and angled the light, without a C-Stand, to make sure the shadow was in the right place.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 17:04:01 UTC

The Stranger gets burnt to death. To help show this, I used two Aputures. The first few shots I had them both on the same setting, one was stationary and the other I moved a piece of tissue paper back and fourth on it to create the effect of a flickering fire. The later shots, where the fire is going out, I used just the one Aputure and tilted it slowly towards the ground until the light no longer could be seen.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 17:06:45 UTC

The exterior didn't need too much. Just two static lights: one to simulate a street light and one to simulate light from the house.

Outside (Scene 11)

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 17:29:42 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 17:33:49 UTC

For this scene, the Director wanted the lighting to appear as if it were coming from the nearby city. So, I took actual inspiration from the cityscape behind us which had a lot of blue and red lighting.

jlhouston — 2024-12-12 17:38:14 UTC

As the lighting in this scene is more subtle, I used two Aputures, one red and one blue, to simulate the distant city lights.

jlhouston — 2024-12-13 11:43:29 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-13 11:46:01 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-13 11:51:27 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-13 11:53:04 UTC

jlhouston — 2024-12-13 12:17:46 UTC