Lighting

Only God Forgives (2013)
Larry Smith, Cinematographer

One of the most important parts of film-making is cinematography--moreover, colouring and lighting. My favourite director, Nicolas Winding Refn, creates an atmosphere and general aesthetic in his work with solely the use of lighting and minimal dialog to create a psychedelic, Kubrick-esque experience for the viewer that intrigues then into watching as opposed to bombarding them with too heavy a storyline or dialog (much like Tarantino).
Different tone and textures picked out by harsh lights or deep shadows can define a music video befor the viewer even listens to the song. Additionally, something that I failed to anticipate whilst filming last year was grainy film--a result of poorly-planned lighting choices. 

Therefore when the green light had been given for my current media teacher to invest in new equipment - such as lighting - I thought that it would be best to experiment even beginning to film my music video.

The following lighting tests were achieved with a Rotolight borrowed from the Media department, and taking photographs on my phone of fabric blossoms in different lighting.

Shot indoors; natural light from the window. White background.

Due to the fact that I did not have a red light, I simply closed my red curtains, which created a low--budget red light due to the fact that the sun was leaking through the window.

First of all, I experimented with the lights before using the colour filters. Propping the pillow up against a pillow on the lft hand side of the bedside table, the low level of the lighting meant that certain shapes were picked up in the flower, whereas the right hand side remained unlit--creating a dramatic effect.

Shining the torch from above created a blue tinge due to the fact that the white light contrasted with the red background, achieving the Refn look and also acting as soft light that could be mistaken for a bright streetlight.

Using a white light, I've noticed, make the red background more pink ((or my blackberry camera is bad at picking up colours) - this lighting set up had a similar effect to the low side light above, except for the right side of the flowers were now lit.

Using a bright pink light cause the flowers to blend into their already warm surroundings. There was minimal light, and shadow became the only way of distinguishing shape on non-reflective surfaces.

Medium amber created a sickly contract and even caused my phone to pick up some green tones. It completely changed the range of colours into something warmer and more natural than what appears to be pink and blue neon.

THis was achieved by used the white, film-like colour ring over the rotolight, which softened the image and less light and contrast was picked up between the lights and shadows.

This final lighting test was with two of the rotolight. Due to the fact that the main light is brighter than the other, I used the blue film cover due to the fact that red was already the background cover. The light on the right was pink; it was an effective way of replicating an eery, neon location on a minimal budget.