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Ryan Salazar, Editor-in-Chief, Broadcast Beat Magazine
Modern lighting for broadcasting really got going in 1938 with the appearance of color television. One fact that many people don’t consider is that stage and movie lighting are a bit different. Proper lighting is not nearly as simple as pointing a light and turning it on. All the fancy transmitters and cameras don’t mean a thing if you can’t see the image in the first place. Lighting does two things for us: it allows us to see an image to begin with, and it can help shape or showcase that image, as well. What is being filmed, where the filming is occurring, the number of cameras being used, and the mood the director is trying to produce can all affect lighting.
The first light put into place is almost always the key light. It’s set-up around thirty to forty-five degrees to one side of the camera and set to light up the subject being filmed at about a 45 degree angle. This is good for an average face, but other things might be getting filmed; the work of lighting has begun! A short nose or weak chin can be hidden by steeper angle; it helps trick the eye by lengthening the shadows these facial points cast. A lessened angle has the opposite effect and can help to hide the length of a proboscis as prominent as Pinocchio’s. Bring the light closer to the camera to make the subject look heavier or sturdier, move the light away to make a face appear narrower.
The back light is on the opposite side of the subject from the camera. It starts at the same vertical setting as the key light (a 45 degree angle from
vertical). The back light can be used to make the outline of the subject sharper or duller. Bald, blonde and white-haired people can usually use less intense light. Darker-haired subjects usually require brighter lights to outline perfectly.
The fill light is the other side of the camera from the key light. It’s approximately opposite the key light and set at half the intensity of the key light on average. Usually the idea here is softer light to fill out the image of the subject. Sometimes scrim (a fine wire mess designed for this purpose)