Indoor lighting

Indoor lighting is an important aspect of film making, especially for amateur productions, due to the reliance on artificial lighting which is not needed for scenes outdoors in the daytime, for example. Knowing proper lighting techniques for indoor filming is very important in film production because unlike with natural lighting, using artificial lighting incorrectly could lead to the scene looking stressed as a result of too much lighting or bland and dreary due to too little light. In our trailer, some scenes such as those in the family kitchen are to be filmed indoors which means knowing proper and effective is vital in order to make our trailer look as professional as we can.

I researched how to light indoor scenes by looking at various video guides on YouTube, most of which focused on the three-point set-up. Below are two of the videos I came across which both explain and demonstrate the three-point light set-up, however one is in a studio and one is in a living space which is closer to the indoor settings which will feature in our trailer. 

As the videos explain, the three-point lighting set-up consists of three light sources working together to properly and effectively light a subject. The three light sources which make up the set-up include the 'key light', the 'fill light' and the 'back light'. From the videos, especially the first one, I found that natural lighting from, for example, a window can be substituted for one or multiple lights in the three-point set-up. Also, you can reflect the light from a source to use as a specific light which means that we can successfully light our indoor scenes cheaply and without needing too many artificial light sources.

The videos also mention using only one or two of the light sources which make up the three-point set-up rather than all three light sources to create different effects and moods. This idea may be able to benefit us in the way we try to conform our trailer to the conventions of the urban drama genre. This could include using lighting to create a more sinister atmosphere or use different lights to create tension in a film. This could be done by keeping the background dark and lighting the subject with perhaps only the key light to create prominent shadows. Overall, I think the three-point lighting set is definitely something we should try and incorporate into the production of our film trailer as it gives us the chance to create effective lighting cheaply and with equipment we have access to. Also, as I said, due to the incorporation of multiple light sources within the set-up, it allows us to easily create certain moods and atmospheres in order to conform to the conventions of the urban drama genre.