Editing 001: Adjusting Lighting

Editing 001: Adjusting Lighting 

(Edit took place on the 22nd October 2012)

The "backbone" shot to our music video is inspired by Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2U" music video. This shot is where the performer is positioned in-front of the camera in a mid-extreme close up against a black background.

Our original footage of our performer, and artist of our chosen song - Brian, the results where satisfactory in my opinion, however Myself and Sam wanted to archive a more dark, and shadowy background than previously seen in Sinéad O'Connor's music video (as mentioned many, many times on my blog).

To begin with, we tried out editing a few clips of our footage we've already filmed, just to see how it would appear in the editing software Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and how we could cut to different shots throughout our track.

We then decided to leave our footage and move onto our "backbone" shot and experiment with different lighting effects, transitions as well as syncing our MP3 track to our footage. The outcome would not be the final edit of the clip, since this was only experimenting in-class what features would look appealing within the mise-en-scene, however, it is very possible our outcome today being a final edit of a selected clip is being considered.

Non-ambient Lighting Effects:

I decided to surprise Sam and film a little bit of our editing process.

Nice singing Sam, very nice indeed...

Although, I'm so fussy when it comes to my hair...anyways:

To adjust the lighting, we first tried using a spotlight. A spotlight is an non-ambient light source which focus light on one particular aspect or object.

Spotlight - 3DS Max

However, our results could of been better. I then suggested to Sam to use an Omni light. As an Animation student at the Hewett Sixth Form I'm very familiar with how Omni lights work since I have used them in the animation software 3DS Max.

Omni light - 3DS Max

An Omni light is different to a Spotlight since an Omni light produces light in all directions, whereas the spotlight is only in one direction. By using an Omni light, we have the option to have an equal amount of light in all directions which dramatically enhances our shot's appeal from the original since the background is no longer as bright as the foreground of the mise-en-scene.

Here is a screenshot showing the effects of an Omni light in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. The footage which I recorded above also includes us editing the Omni light.

3DS Max Images from:
http://www.expertrating.com/courseware/3DCourse/3D-Lights-1_clip_image002.jpg
http://www.expertrating.com/courseware/3DCourse/3D-Lights-1_clip_image002.jpg