Realistic Homes - Lighting

Lighting design can be an involved and detailed task when filming on set. This could mean that you are tasked with recreating natural lighting that spills in through windows and doorways, mimicking the light of the sun or the moon outside. Or, perhaps the demands of your set call for more artificial and bright lights so that the camera can pick up subtle changes in texture and shape within the filming frame. It is important to find out from the director or the head cinematographer what type of lighting the set requires and what feel or mood the lighting is supposed to create. Having this information will help you decide how to go about lighting the set in a realistic way.

There are many ways to get creative with the lighting on a closed set. Having control over how much light comes in and is reflected helps with this, since you need not control for the unpredictability of filming outdoors, where you are at the mercy of Mother Nature, and may find yourself competing with the sun, or lack thereof. For instance, if you are asked to light the interior of a child's bedroom at night, you might have enough light in the scene from the night-light plugged into the wall and the aquarium lighting coming from the character's fish tank. These weak light sources in combination may be sufficient to light the nighttime shots without bringing in any other lighting. Another example of creative lighting may be the light that a wide screen television emits. If you are setting a scene in one of the new condos in Brampton, perhaps the characters living there have a jumbo television that lights up the entire room, providing ample light for filming while giving the home a natural and realistic look in terms of lighting.

Depending on where in the world your story is set, natural sunlight can be another great source of realistic lighting, and a very cost-effective one as well. For instance, if you are recreating Arlington TX homes, it is fair to assume that the sun shines most days in this sunny southern state, and so by using the light coming in through windows, the lighting will look natural and realistic because it is! Without having to install lights or shine them in through windows, using the natural light of the sun can save time, money and frustration. Yet this is not always an ideal solution, since your resulting filming schedule would depend upon the weather forecast.

Knowing the characters in your story will prove beneficial when designing a lighting plan. The right color, shade and amount of light can add to the drama or the intensity of a piece, and can also underscore motifs and themes of the piece. A character who sells Lake Scugog real estate may live in a very different home than a character who, for example, creates electronic circuit design software, and these two characters will have different lighting requirements as well - the real estate agent may live in a large sunny home, whereas the designer may be more of a reclusive person living in a dark basement apartment. These are just a few examples that show how lighting must change with the characters, and the correct combination of lighting and set can bring the story and its characters to life.