camera and

light plot: pre-

production
TYBAMMC
 Camera plot and light
plot

• Pre-production is essential in the

filmmaking process, because without
proper planning, your production could
run over time, the film could go over
budget, or you could find yourself in the
editing room with missing content.
• Some even say, “Production is pre-
production.” Whether its storyboarding,
location scouting, or budgeting, each of
the steps below plays a crucial role in the
success of your project.
 Camera and lights

• Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a

film, play, or other performance. There are three parts in a production: pre-
production, production, and post-production. Pre-production ends when the
planning ends and the content starts being produced.
• Cinematographers likes drawing lighting plans. But no matter the scale of the
production, cinematographers insist on hand-drawing lighting plots for every
location and scene. The benefits to the practice are manifold. Most obviously,
with a detailed plan, cinematographers can account for the space he'll need on
set.
• He can take stock of his equipment prior to the shoot and pencils in the lights,
stands, and where he plans to draw power from on set. This includes camera
positions and how lights are flagged.
 Lights

• First, cinematographer breaks down camera moves into

parts for scenes. Then, he goes through these visual
strategies with the director to make sure they're on the
same page.
• This also benefits the producer, who will find it useful to
know where lighting setups will fit into the schedule as
well as what kind of lights they will need to fill in for the
budget.
• According to cinematographer, you should get "to scale"
set maps from your design department, shrink them
down, then simply fill in the map with your lighting plans.
He likes to color-code his lights so that he knows what
function they'll perform.
 • Pre-production formally begins once a project has been greenlit. At this
stage, finalizing preparations for production go into effect. Financing will
generally be confirmed and many of the key elements such as principal
cast members, director and cinematographer are set. By the end of pre-
production, the screenplay is usually finalized and satisfactory to all the
financiers and other stakeholders.
• During pre-production, the script is broken down into individual scenes
pre-production

with storyboards and all the locations, props, cast members, costumes,
special effects and visual effects are identified.
• An extremely detailed shooting schedule is produced, and arrangements
are made for the necessary elements to be available to the film-makers
at the appropriate times. Sets are constructed, the crew is hired, financial
arrangements are put in place and a start date for the beginning of
principal photography is set. At some point in pre-production, there will
be a read-through of the script which is usually attended by all cast
members with speaking parts, the director, all heads of departments,
financiers, producers, and publicists.
• Principal photography can take place in a studio or in an actual setting, and the
choice of location depends on artistic and economic aspects. While shooting in a
sound stage offers more accurate planning, constructing sets may be expensive.
Costs and artistic reasons are the main drives behind filming on location.
• However, outdoor shooting requires more effort because equipment and
personnel must be transported to the location. In the early days of cinema,
filmmakers tried to film outdoors as much as possible, as sunlight allowed
exposure of the still relatively insensitive film; nowadays, due to the increased
use of CGI, more shooting is done in a studio.
 These icons are used while making a sketch of stage or scene to get an idea where the lights
would be set up. This is an important step as lights would used as per that shot like indoor shot
or outdoor shot. It is also as per the need of the shot in the screenplay the light set up would be
made. So, camera plot is important to know which camera set-up is required for the type of
shot, as well as camera angel, how many cameras would be needed.
based on the scene and emotion lights are used…
• Every cinematographer is an artist who makes creative decisions on how to guide the
viewer’s eye within the frame using lighting equipment. Their applications are broad, but
their creative interpretation is what makes their lighting cinematic (or not). They include:
• Which props and scene elements should be emphasized
• Whose perspective we’re seeing the scene through, and how much light they should be
able to see
• How characters differ from one another in a frame
• Which emotions are being expressed through harshness of light, or its color
• Each of these decisions are then realized technically by planning and executing lighting
setups to create the desired effect. But the cinematographer must dream up what these
effects will be before setting up any lighting equipment.
• Do watch this video for lighting effects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ5hpcn6tIM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAglas428D8
 • The most basic lighting in film is the three-point lighting setup. Lighting
from three directions shapes your subject and sets them apart from their
Three-pointing background.
lighting • To achieve this, your film lighting equipment needs to face your subject
from three directions: front, back and side (generally).
• KEY LIGHT: The key light is the light that registers most prominently in your frame. So,
when you look at the image of Amelie above, you’ll see that the screen-right portion of her
face is brightest. That’s the key light.
• FILL LIGHTS :When using a key light, you’ll notice it casts shadows. Fill lighting is used to
remove those shadows. Quite simply, fill lights fill in the shadows of your frame. You’ll
notice that the screen-left portion of Amelie’s face is in shadow, but with her features still
plainly visible. That is a fill light at work.
• BACK LIGHT: The back light gives an edge light to the rear portion of your subject. Often,
the backlight shoots down from a higher angle. You can see that Amelie has a light contour
along her shoulders and the nape of her neck. There are times actors will look flat and
two-dimensional and adding a back light will give the subject depth.
• You’ll generally want to flank your camera with your key and fill lights, spaced about 60
degrees on an axis from your camera.
Example
Soft film lighting:

• When talking about how a scene

should feel emotionally, one
thing that is referenced by
cinematographers frequently is
how hard or soft the lighting
should be.
• The hardness or softness of light
concerns how large a light source
is, and how it affects shadows on
your subject.
 • This is an effect created by heightening the key light and using fill
HIGHER KEY lights generously. This keeps the lighting bright and balanced in your
frame, creating almost no shadow. This balances the lighting from
LIGHT object to object in your frame — which is known as your lighting
ratio.
DIFFUSED • You can soften a light source with diffusion
OVERHEAD materials like gels or Chinese lanterns to reduce
LIGHTING shadows. This is great for shooting close-ups.
 • Conversely, smaller light sources, including bright sunlight, will heighten the
shadows on your subject. Conservatively, this should be avoided. But it can also
Hard film create dramatic effects, as was popularized in the classic Film Noirs, which
featured suspicious and volatile characters. It is great for drawing attention to the
lighting: area or subject. Hard lights creates harsh shadow. Hard light sources from
sunlight, or powerful light source.
• LOW KEY LIGHT: Low key lighting
refers to minimizing, or
eliminating, the fill light your
shot so that it is intentionally
shadowy. This can create
dramatic, suspicious, or even
scary effects.
• Natural film lighting: Natural film lighting refers to using and modifying the
light that is already available to you at your location.
• Before you shoot, you can take your camera to the location to see how well
the natural light holds up. You can decide from there how what additional
lights you might need, or how you might adjust the light. For example, you
can use bounce boards for reflecting the light, or black flags for blocking it
out.
• In this video, Roger Deakins discusses how he first learned to pay attention
to how natural light behaved — during fishing trips as a kid. Deakins is also a
proponent of simplicity when it comes to lighting.
• For example, he speaks about using Magic Hour, or the soft light created by
the sun at the end of the day, for specific moments. And, further, its about
how the selection of locations, and how they appear at different times of the
day, created appropriate moods for the shoot.
Natural film lighting
Side Lighting
• Needless to say, side lighting is for illuminating your scene from the side, parallel
to your subject. It is often used on its own or with just a faint fill light to give your
scene a dramatic mood or what’s referred to as “chiaroscuro” lighting. To really
achieve this effect, your side light should be strong to create strong contrast and
low-key lighting that reveals the texture and accentuates the contours of your
subject.
• When used with a fill light, it’s advisable to lessen the fill light’s intensity down to
1/8 of that of the side light to keep the dramatic look and feel of a scene.
• When to Use Side Lighting:
• Side lighting brings out the textures or edges in a scene. Using side lighting
creates a better sense of depth in a location. It can make subjects seem farther
off by accentuating the space between them.
 • When cinematographers light a set, they always ask themselves
where, within the scene, the light comes from.
Motivating • They might, for example, choose to take the practical lights that are
lighting already in a location and elevate their effect. This is motivated
lighting.
• Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins is known for the
motivated lighting choices. Consider this shot from his work on
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford:
 • Bounce lighting is about literally bouncing the
light from a strong light source towards your
subject or scene using a reflector or any light-
coloured surface, such as walls and ceilings.
Doing so creates a bigger area of light that is
more evenly spread out.
Bounce • If executed properly, bounce lights can be used to
create a much softer key, fill, top, side, or
Lighting backlighting, especially if you don’t have a
diffuser or soft box.
• When to Use Bounce Lighting:
• Bouncing light off the ceiling creates more diffuse
illumination and results in even, soft light. When
you need more ambient light across a whole
environment, bounce light is a great choice.
• Colour temperature describes the “colour” of white light by a light source
radiated by a perfect black body at a given temperature measured in degrees
Kelvin.
• You'll understand colour temperature better if you've ever changed a light
bulb at home and noticed that it doesn't match the other bulbs in your
fixture.
• Light can be warm (yellow/orange) or cool (blue). Colour temperature can
even affect the tone of your story. The best lighting misses both cool and
warm to create an environment and to get the color you want out of an
object or subject.
• Light sources change depending on the kinds of bulbs you use. The build will
affect the colour temperature and bulb strength can change the CRI as well.
Tungsten (Quartz Halogen/Tungsten Halog
en)
lights
• Tungsten or Tungsten Halogen lights are incandescent filament bulbs
which are common in homes and offices but have been being slowly
replaced with longer lasting, more reliable bulbs. What sets these bulbs
apart is that they take advantage of what is known as the "halogen
cycle." Each bulb has pressurized halogen gas within them. That gas
helps redeposit evaporated tungsten metal back onto the filament to
shine brightly.
• Tungsten lamps operate at a high temperature, and thus have a higher
colour temperature and are more luminous.
• Tungsten bulbs are often used to mimic daylight because they produce a
warm light. They usually have open-faced light fixtures or Fresnel.
• Advantages of Tungsten Lights
• Almost perfect colour rendition
• Low cost
• Does not use mercury like CFLs (fluorescent) or mercury vapor
lights
• Better colour temperature than standard tungsten
• Longer life than a conventional incandescent
• Instant on to full brightness, no warm-up time, and it is
dimmable
• Disadvantages of Tungsten Lights
• Extremely hot
• High power requirement
• The lamp is sensitive to oils and cannot be touched
• The bulb is capable of blowing and sending hot glass shards
outward. A screen or layer of glass on the outside of the lamp
can protect users.
HMI lights
• HMI stands for Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide. So, maybe stick
with saying HMI light. Much easier. HMI lights are a metal-halide gas
discharge medium arc-length lamp.
• HMI lamps are capable of between 85 and 108 lumens per watt, up to
four times that of conventional incandescent lamps. They're able to
produce that high of an output thanks to a chemical reaction between
mercury and electricity in the bulb.
• HMI bulbs are designed to emit a 6000K colour temperature light to
match sunlight. HMI lights are also flicker-free.
• Advantages of HMI lights
• High light output
• Higher efficiency
• High colour temperature
• Disadvantages of HMI lights:
• High cost
• High power requirement
• Dims only to about 50%
• The colour temperature increases
with dimming
• HMI bulbs will explode is dropped
and release toxic chemicals
Fluorescent light
• A fluorescent light contains low-pressure mercury vapor bouncing around to
produce ultraviolet light. Fluorescent lights are more efficient than
incandescent light. They are capable of generating up to 100 lumens per
watt, similar to the output of HMI.
• Fluorescent film lighting is achieved by laying multiple tubes next to each
other, combining as many as you want for the desired brightness. The good
news is you can choose your bulbs to either be warm or cool depending on
the scenario you're shooting. You want to get these bulbs close to the
subject because they're not great at opening up spaces. Fluorescent lighting
is used to light interiors and is more compact and cooler than tungsten or
HMI lighting.
• Advantages of Fluorescent lights
• High efficiency
• Low power requirement
• Low cost
• Long lamp life
• Cool
• Capable of soft even lighting over a large area
• Lightweight
• Disadvantages of Fluorescent lights
• Flicker
• High CRI
• Domestic tubes have low CRI & poor color
rendition.
LED lights
• LED stands for light emitting diode. LED lights are solid-state
semiconductor device. LED’s are extremely efficient. They're truly the
lights of the future, mostly because we keep inventing new ways to use
them. LED lights can reflect daylight, and many have a variable colour
temperature. So, you can seamlessly switch colour temperature as needed.
• Uses of LED lights
• LED’s are more and more common on film sets. You can use batteries to
power them. That makes them portable and sleek - no messy cabled
needed. You can rig your own panels of LED lights to fit any space
necessary as well. LED’s can also power Fresnel style lamp heads such as
the Arri L-series.
• Advantages of LED light
• Soft, even lighting
• Pure light without UV-artifacts
• High efficiency
• Low power consumption, can be battery powered
• Excellent dimming by means of pulse width modulation
control
• Long lifespan
• Environmentally friendly
• Insensitive to shock
• No risk of explosion
• Disadvantages of LED light
• High cost.
• LED’s are currently still expensive for their total light
output
Lights
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAlOSxK1PjQ- types of lights
some useful kinks for further study
• https://www.amazon.com/Set-Lighting-Technicians-Handbook-Distrib
ution-ebook/dp/B00B5V6DWC
• https://www.amazon.com/Sight-Sound-Motion-Aesthetics-Production
/dp/1133307353/ref=la_B001I9WB8Q_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1
522174766&sr=1-2
• https://s.studiobinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/the-little-bl
ack-book-of-lighting-for-film-and-video.pdf
• https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/cinematography-techniques-no-f
ilm-school/
Types of camera and shots
• Pl refer scanned copy of book
• https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/which-cameras-do-filmmakers-us
e
- types of cameras used in films
• https://old.amu.ac.in/emp/studym/100010534.pdf
• https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/important-cameras-cinematic-h
istory/
types cameras
Studio camera with teleprompter
Dolly camera set up with track
EFP camera (Electronic field production)