STUDIES AND RESEARCH

Technology of Lightning

The importance of light during filming, a survey of lighting equipment and its characteristics, and the possibilities that various light sources offer the cinematographer for achieving the desired film photography.

In the early period of cinema, filming was generally done outside and cameramen could influence the quality of desired light by choosing the time of day to shoot in. Rotating stages sans ceilings that would follow the sun’s path were built outdoors during this period. The only way the cameraman was able to influence the quality of the light was to spread a white calico sheet above the stage thereby softening the sun’s hard light.

Over time, the film industry developed a wide palette of various light fixtures and a multitude of tools to help control light. With a complete knowledge of the available equipment, cameramen and directors of photography were able to chose which lights would be useful for solving specific lighting problems. Some of the characteristics of lighting equipment that should be taken into consideration are: light quality, power and efficiency, light color temperature, size and weight and energy requirements and consumption.

The author of the text lists and describes the two fundamental sources of artificial light: sources with wolfram incandescent filaments (wolfram standard, wolfram quartz-halogens) and those with electrical arches (carbon arch, HMI, fluorescent light sources), in other words, according to another system of organization: lights with lenses, general luminance, soft lights and special purpose lights. The list of lights is supplemented with information on manufacturers, general characteristics and lighting aids that, with the lights themselves, can be used to achieve desired effects.

Silvio Jesenković