Progress Report Week 20

Finals Week is here and I am keeping busy lighting our film!

We have a more established idea of where the sun is in relation to the house now, so I made adjustments to this shot. The first image is a render from a technical issue. It's not pretty, but I feel like it's important to show the technical issues going on since the blog is like a process book. I felt like the lighting setup that we have (which is gorgeous) was too strong for this shot, so I wanted to sort of tone it down so that the hand could stand out more without overexposing it. 

This shot I think I've improved. I think the got the over lighting in the background working a lot better now.  I also like the lighting I got on the computer screen area too. What I think isn't working as well is the character lighting. I got David illuminated well to separate him from the background. That being said, I think its too harsh and casting very strong shadows. I got help from a classmate and so the shadow issue on the wall is honestly a quick fix but we noticed something while working together. In sequence 100, I am lighting shots 040 and 080. He is lighting 060. In the film it's a back and forth between David and his father at the same time of day. We realized that we should definitely be collaborating on these shots so that they match up well because there are not time jumps, but also because there are things about mine that work, like the lighting of the environment, and there are things about his that work better. like his character lighting. We would like to combine the best aspects of our work and hopefully we can use this good combo for all the shots that have a bunch of similarity to each other. 

So for this shot, the top image is the most up to date lighting. In the continuity list, the time of day is morning so the light is coming from the window, so like think of you (the reader) as being the light source. This is the reverse of what it was before (below image) which is set up more like an evening shot would be. Although I worked hard on both of these, I can't deny that I feel the previous lighting is more visually appealing. I think I want to talk to the director to see if perhaps it's possible to change the time of day for this shot, because the shot is a time lapse, so the idea is a 'picture' is taken at the same time of day each time a piece moves. I don't feel like there is a story driven need or a consistency need for it to have to be morning so perhaps it could be reconsidered. That being said, it's not my call to change that decision, so if it does stay as morning, I would like to take some of the better aspects of the older version to improve the morning one. I think if the background (the door and wall areas) could be darker to help the foreground stand out. I also think the board itself should have a light to help separate it from the table it's on. Whichever way it goes. I think what we have now could be improved.

So for this shot I think I've successfully got David separated from the background, without overexposing the white pieces. I also think the background pillars are blending with the background better now. I got a nice rim light on there that is just a bit too much right now, but I can lower the intensity pretty easy. I think what this shot needs is cast shadows now so the pieces and characters look like they are actually in the environment and not just a sticker put onto the frame.