1h 10m

In Lesson 1, Paul Atkins, ASC, one of the most renowned wildlife cinematographers in the world, teaches indoor on-location lighting of people to a diverse group of young filmmakers. He talks about camera angles and positioning, eyelines, direction of the light, and achieving naturalistic looking lighting depending on your location. He experiments with the positioning of the key light and how it changes the look of the subject in front of the camera including how shadows fall. Paul talks about big light sources vs. small ones, and shows the effect of reflecting surfaces as well as spill light, and how to control it with black floppies, and so much more. At the end of the session, he answers lots of student questions on lighting and shooting interviews.

57m

In Lesson 2, Paul Atkins, ASC, transfers what he taught in Lesson 1 into a very simple and everyday outdoors situation during harsh sunlight. He deals with getting an acceptable image and explains why he recommends always shooting into the sun outdoors. Paul touches on how to adjust for various skin complexions in outdoor lighting, and how to get more contrast even on light skin tones when the sun is out. In conversation with the students, they also discuss what to do if it’s overcast and how to change the setup. The importance of having eyelight is mentioned and explained how to achieve it in any situation. Diffusing sunlight is shown in practice with frames and diffusion. The students ask practical questions from documentary shooting outdoors - how to shoot interviews on a boat, for example. Paul also goes into practical considerations like choosing the right time of day for an interview, the right location, the right clothing for interviewees, and so on. Lighting is also creating shade when needed to create contrast, especially outside, and using reflectors to create a natural looking image without artificial light (or as a fill light).

56m

In his first indoor lighting session of the workshop, master cinematographer and former ASC president Stephen Lighthill, ASC, challenges the students to tell him what their plan is to light the room, and then gives his comments about their suggestions. He talks about the problem of working under existing fluorescent tubes in a room when you are shooting an interview on-location, and how to manage different circumstances - lights you can swap vs. lights you have to live with, and how you can modify their look. Stephen talks about how to tackle different challenges when working with windows - in shot and off shot. They talk about working with multiple cameras in an interview and what compromises that would mean for the lighting setup. They run through various focal lengths and show the different effect that has on the face in front of the camera in combination with the lighting. Towards the end of the lesson, Stephen shows how to light a setup at a bar.

49m

In his outdoor lesson, Stephen starts by advising the students to look at the direction the sun is moving and plan for that. He then proceeds to talk about the sweet spot of various lenses and how to find it - and what not to do with them. Stephen shares his rule of thumb that you should reflect the key light in order to get a natural looking fill light. He talks about the importance of eye light and shows his favorite positioning of a key light - in this case, a large white bounce board. They then swap to a strong LED light and show how easily a portrait shot will look “lit” outside if not used correctly. Stephen talks about the importance of consistency in lighting, framing and lens selection within one production, and much more.