Motion Picture and Video Lighting

Lighting is at the heart of filmmaking. The image, the mood, and the visual impact of a film are, to a great extent, determined by the skill and sensitivity of the director of photography in using lighting. Motion Picture and Video Lighting explores technical, aesthetic, and practical aspects of lighting for film and video. It covers not only how to light, but also why.

This revised edition of Motion Picture and Video Lighting is the indispensable guide to film and video lighting. Written by an experienced professional, this comprehensive book explores light and color theory, equipment, and techniques to make every scene look its best, and is heavily illustrated throughout.

Three new chapters discuss best practices of using light to benefit your film, and an extensive appendix includes discussion on additional tips and tricks. In addition, a robust companion website includes up-to-date video tutorials and other resources for students and professionals alike.

Three new chapters:

• Scene Lighting
• Lighting as Storytelling
• Controlling Light

Topics include:

• Lighting sources
• The lighting process
• Lighting basics
• LED, tungsten, Kino-Flo, HMI, and plasma lights
• Methods of controlling light
• Planning your lighting
• The basic methods: a lighting playbook
• Visual storytelling with light
• Understanding and controlling color
• Terminology
• Electricity and distribution
• Gripology
• Set operations
• The team: DP, gaffer, grips, lighting technicians
• Technical issues
• Lighting for greenscreen/bluescreen
• Typical equipment orders for large and small jobs
• Lighting for high speed and macro photography
• Lighting plans for small, medium, and large films

Blain Brown was educated at C.W. Post College, MIT, and Harvard Graduate School of Design. He began in New York as a commercial still photographer before starting in the film business. After working as a gaffer, be became a cinematographer doing primarily commercials and music videos. After completing his first feature film, he moved to Los Angeles where he has been Director of Photography on 14 feature films as well as national commercials, promotional films, industrials, music videos, and documentaries. He has worked in many states in the U.S. as well as Mexico, Canada, India, Italy, France, the Philippines, and Jordan. His experience includes 35mm and 16mm projects, as well as 24P High Def, DigiBeta, BetaSP, and DV. He has completed projects as a director, editor and screenwriter; with three screenplays produced. He has also taught courses in storytelling and visual communication. As a Director of Photography specializing in features and commercials, he is now based in Los Angeles. His books include A Sense of Place; Cinematography; and The Filmmaker's Pocket Reference. His work can be seen at www.BlainBrown.com.