Controlling Light

At Still Moving the control of light is one of the most misunderstood elements of our work. 

We are often told (usually enthusiastically) that a room is really bright or apologetically that it’s really dark. 

In order to get a suitable exposure, we do need some light; and most rooms have sufficient ambient and artificial light to get this exposure. But beyond this basic requirement there is a staggering array of options available. 

We have explored a few of these below...

The first considerations on location are which angle within a space will work best for framing our subject/scene and how we can use our cine lenses to achieve the desired look while taking any location limitations into account.

When deciding this, we will often do a shoot recce to ensure the space will accommodate our equipment and observe window placement and any artificial lighting. Using a light meter allows us to work out which lighting instruments we will need; to achieve the desired contrast ratios.

Once our angle is set, we move any furniture that is not benefiting the shot and set dress as required. At this stage we can begin lighting the space, the amount of equipment and options can seem daunting. Our go to light is the kino flo 4ft 4bank, this is an industry workhorse and produces clean soft light while drawing very little power. 

The most powerful light source we have to deal with is the sun, and taming sunlight to create suitable ratios between highlights and shadows can be a challenge, we employ several techniques depending on the length of shoot. When we have the luxury of a sunny day and don't need to have continuity of more than 30-60 minutes using large bounces and diffusion frames can be very effective!

This setup results in this final shot -

On indoor shoots, a basic way we can overcome the sun is to close curtains/blinds, or putting neutral density gels on windows to bring the intensity of the sun light down is an option.

If the shot requires a window in the background it can mean using powerful lights to avoid an over-exposed window or an under exposed subject.

For our 'Student Universe' campaign with online sensation 'Bash the Entertainer', three, four bank Kino Flos were used through a 2m x 2m diffusion with a grid on to minimise spill onto the black background and an additional four bank was used on some shot as fill light. This video really benefited from the black studio space as the controlled environment meant we had full reign over the direction and strength of the light.

Alongside big soft light sources we also use dedolights for precise pools of light and HMI lights if we need to simulate bright shafts of sunlight or compete with the sun. The ability to create different lighting styles allows us to craft a suitable look for the videos we produce, this can be dark and moody - in this Forge scene for Ruroc where we had our HMI 1.2k pushing through the slatted wooden door. This was gelled with 1/4 CTS to bring it a little closer the interior light and also to bring the general sunlight that was coming through to a slighty warmer colour temperature, whilst retaining a slightly cyan tonality with the atmosphere we created with our hazer.

The manipulation of light can have the most impact on the look of the work we create for our clients, it is also an element which the team at Still Moving really enjoy working with. The ability to create everything from moody dark scenes; to bright high key commercials and everything in between is something we do on a daily basis.

So regardless of whether we're presented with a nice bright space or a really dingy one, our team will be able to make it look as good as possible!