Pre-Production: Lighting Director

The lighting director, George came in today to speak with my group and I about the basics of lighting and further treating lighting for out music video. I found the hour session we had with him an engaging experience and enjoyable as it was inspiring to learn about lighting. George is an experienced lighting specialist who has huge knowledgeable talent within different types of lighting and effects. Therefore, I learnt about numerous lights and technique.

For instance, he firstly introduced us to strobe lighting, which can be diversely fast or slow. George then explained aspects about UV lighting, including white, or coloured. He then took his time allowing us to understand information about profiles, including tungsten basic lighting (can change temperature), spot lights and back lights (gels.) However, profile lights hold drawbacks, for instance, one can’t move these lights and they stay exactly where one places or points them. They can vary in shape, for example, circles or boxes. George promptly told us about flood lights, flood lights hold the power of washing light out with colour. They also work best with green screens or infinity screens.

The last few lights which we got introduced to were soft boxes, which are very popular and pixel lines. Soft boxes usually use LED lights and can be heavily diffused but can also soften and become a blur. One can change the colour temperature of soft boxes, ranging from bright, crystal white colours to deep, yellow feels. George also explained about the means of pixel lines, for example, pixel lines are meter ling LED lights which usually work best for floor work and they can beneficially alter in most colours. Finally, we were introduced to demo lights. Demo lights can act as a wash and are beaming lines of light and can be presented in an array of different effects, for instance, through strobe lighting, colour, size, shape and also speed.

As I understand, lights are very popular when producing a music video as they can completely change the feel, mood or atmosphere of a location or subject. Therefore, George spoke to my group and I personally after his talk. However, he explained lights can become a problem depending on the budget.

UV Lights in action. 

Strobe Lights in action.