Equipment Test - Tripod/Panning, Dolly and Lighting

In order to implement more technical shots into our film we created test shots using a tripod, practicing panning, a camera dolly and also experimented with lighting to better understand how to correctly illuminate a subject for film. We tested the three-point lighting method, since this will be the easiest and most practical for our films and is also one of the most common types of lighting used.

The idea is to use three lights placed a different points around an object or character in order to illuminate them in the most natural way possible. The Key Light is the main light source and provides the strongest point of illumination. The Fill Light is used to eliminate any shadows that may occur on the opposite side of the object/person due to the Key Light. Finally, the Back Light is used in order to enhance the object/person and bring them out of the background. If something is only lit from the front it will appear very flat against a background, so by illuminating it from behind and highlighting it slightly it will appear a lot more three-dimensional and real.

We tested out the panning on the tripods just to ensure we were able to use them smoothly, particularly since our preliminary task has a few panning issues. We also tried the dolly, which will be useful if we want to do a shot where someone is walking past or running, and we want to follow alongside them.

Below I have included a video of this exercise and the dolly and panning exercises we practiced: