Whether you are lighting an interview or a scene for a movie, the background light must always be considered. How much light should you use? How many shadows need to be created? Should you apply a simple splash of color or something with more texture? When making these decisions it’s handy to have a variety of cookies to choose from.

A cookie, short for “cucoloris,” is a large board with a pattern or shape cut out of it. It’s placed in front of a spot light in order to throw a textured shadow or a silhouette onto the background. These shadows and silhouettes can include tree branches, blinds, or something a little more abstract. Cookies can bring additional ambiance to your scene and are not only easy to use, but also fairly easy to make.

To make your own cookie all you need is a large board, at least 24″ square and preferably 1/2-inch foam core board, though thin plywood, sheet metal or cardboard would work also. To help control the bounce from the light source, choose a board that is black on both sides. Next, use a sharp edge, such as an Xacto knife or box cutter, to cut out the pattern of your choice. Drawing your pattern on the board prior to cutting may help as a guide. Remember, if your desired effect is a silhouette, cut out the area around the shape, not the shape itself.

Cookies are a basic lighting accessory that will allow you to vary your lighting design. By learning how to make your own cookies you can create endless design possibilities while being able to be more adventurous with your choices.

There are many ways you can use light to alter the mood of your movie. Knowing what kind of movie you’re making will help in deciding what kind of light you will need to set the desired mood. There’s nothing scary about a well-lit scene, and you wouldn’t necessarily want shadowy, mysterious lighting for a comedy, either. Before you start lighting your set, you should ask yourself, “does this scene call for high-key or low-key lighting?”

A common misconception regarding the terms high-key and low-key is that they are describing the strength of the key light. Though the key light is part of the equation, it will always remain constant and should focus on good exposure of the subject. The “high” and “low” are actually referring to the strength of the fill light.

Once the key light is set for proper exposure, the fill light can be adjusted to light the opposite side with either a high or low amount of light. High-key lighting means more fill light. This will give you little to no shadows on the subject and their surroundings, which will result in a cheerier, normal looking scene. Low-key lighting means less fill light. With less light to fill the shadows, your scenes will appear to be more mysterious or suspenseful. With other lighting techniques, such as chiaroscuro or cameo lighting, you might not use a fill light at all.

Your lighting choice should reflect the type of movie, or scene, you’re shooting. Good lighting choices can enhance the mood of your movie and add impact to each scene. Don’t stop at 3-point, high-key and low-key lighting. There are many specialty lighting techniques you can use to get that desired look and feel.

Litepanels brings the Fresnel into the 21st century with the new Sola series. Offering beam control of 70° to 10°, the revolutionary new daylight-balanced Solas provide the controllability and single-shadow properties inherent in a Fresnel light, but utilize just a fraction of the power of conventional fixtures.

Like all Litepanels, Sola Fresnels feature instant dimming from 100% to %0 with no noticeable color shift. The SolaENG provides manual focus and dimming control via camera lens style ergonomic controls. The Sola6 and Sola12 provide on-fixture motorized control of focus and local dimming via a convenient touch screen, and are also remote-controllable via their integrated DMX interface. Output is fully flicker free, and remains consistent even as the battery voltage goes down.

Employing Litepanels’ ultra-efficient LEDs, Solas draw 90% less power than conventional tungsten lights, with very little heat generation. Additionally, Litepanels’ cool-to-the-touch lighting systems substantially cut down on air conditioning requirements in studio applications. Importantly, the Solas weigh only 1/3 as much as their HMI predecessors with no external ballasts. The fixtures have a universal AC input and can be used on any 85-245 watt power worldwide.

Litepanels Solas are available in three models. The Sola6 draws 75 watts yet produces output equivalent to a 650W tungsten unit, and weighs 6 lbs. (2.7kg). The Sola12 draws just 250 watts yet produces output equivalent to a 2000W tungsten and weighs only 14 lbs. (6.4kg). Designed for both on-camera and off-camera mounting, the SolaENG is only 4” x 4” x 5” (102mm x 102mm x 127mm) and weighs just 10 ounces (.28kg). Employing a 3” (7.62cm) lens, it draws 30 watts yet produces output equivalent to a 250W tungsten. The SolaENG runs on 10-20VDCsources such as camera batteries, or via an AC power adapter.

We just got out of our Videomaker Lounge and conference room feeling the glow of our first webinar with our partnership with YouTube. We’ve watched webinars, but have never conducted one ourselves, so this was a new learning experience for us here at Videomaker. We feel everything went well, the only hitch was not enough time for the live Q&A session at the end of our seminar. But isn’t that always the case?!? Read the rest of this entry »

The office is bustling, here at Videomaker, as we prepare for our upcoming workshops. The weekend of October 9^th is coming up fast and we couldn’t be more excited. For the first time ever, we’re offering an Intensive Lighting Workshop, as well as our Basics of Video Production Workshop.

Our Basics of Video Production Workshop is a start-to-finish course on movie making. This is a great way for beginners to become familiar with the equipment and the processes involved when telling a story with video.

For those of you who already have a grasp on the basics of video production, the Intensive Lighting Workshop will allow you to build upon your production skills and knowledge by focusing on light theory, equipment and techniques.

If you’ve been to one of our workshops you know that it’s a great way to get hands-on experience with professional equipment, learn new techniques and work with people who are as enthusiastic about movie making as you.

It’s not too late to sign up, so if you have never attended one of our workshops, or just want to build upon your previous experience, now is as good of a time as any to join in on the fun.

Click here for more information on attending a Videomaker Workshop