Lighting Engineer: The wizard who plays with light and shadow

Lighting Engineer: The wizard who plays with light and shadow

For some reason, Domin, who studied electrical engineering, has been engaged in the profession of lighting engineer, which is completely unrelated to his profession. For sixteen years. Domin introduced that the main job of the lighting engineer is lighting. For example, when taking pictures of people’s faces, how do you get a good-looking picture? For example, when shooting an atmospheric scene, how do you control it under different backgrounds, such as night scenes, day scenes, indoors, and outdoors? Movies are an art of light and shadow. If the lighting is not good, the film will definitely not be good. Every time the author asks a question, Domin always seems to mention the difference between the past and the present. Time flies, and the profession of lighting engineer is developing in the intertwining of change and stability. Domin, as a personal experiencer, tells the story of his time in this profession.

The three major abilities of communication, understanding and learning are indispensable

Taking movie shooting as an example, the daily work of a lighting engineer includes: viewing locations, holding meetings, discussing scripts, and lighting in advance. wait. ?The foundation of all this work is communication. ?Domin believes that the lighting engineer profession is all about collective projects and needs to coordinate and communicate with all aspects of the crew, such as directors, producers, photographers, etc.

The second is understanding, which can also be said to be understanding, understanding of the script, understanding of the ideas of the director and producer, etc. As a lighting engineer, in addition to successfully completing the production of the film, you must also embody the ideas and wants of the director and photographer in the film, and then do better on this basis.

Finally, there is learning ability. If you want to make a movie, you must watch many movies of the same type, including the style, tone, and atmosphere of the movies, and learn to absorb the essence. In addition to reference, you must also observe more in daily life and try to learn as much as possible, such as reading professional magazines to understand the latest industry trends.

Movies give the greatest sense of accomplishment

Domin believes that movies can give him the greatest sense of accomplishment. ?After the film is completed in a few months, I will feel that through systematic work, I have completed a work. ?Compared with movies, Domin believes that TV series bring less sense of accomplishment. TV series usually have 20 or 30 episodes, and some are even 60 episodes long, which is not concise enough. But movies must be controlled to about 100 minutes, and at most 200 minutes, which is the essence.

Talking about the works that he is satisfied with, Domin modestly said that he was not satisfied with many of the film and television works he participated in. After repeated questioning by the author, Domin mentioned two movies: "Red River Valley" and "Eye of the Eyes". Domin feels that the director he is most comfortable working with is Jin Chen.

As a lighting engineer, Domin enjoys the fun and hardships involved. The fun is being exposed to new things every day, constantly meeting new friends, feeling less bored, and having more opportunities to contact the outside world. Hardship is inevitable, the key lies in whether you like the job.

High quality and good price, lack of welfare protection

The talent market demand for lighting technicians cannot be simply summarized as "supply exceeds demand" or "supply exceeds demand". The reality that Domin sees is that for people in this profession, busy people will be very busy, and idle people will be very idle. ?If you want to become a popular lighting engineer in the industry, both professional ability and human behavior are very important. In other words, you must also be a good person when doing things. Because the film and television industry is a collective project, it requires communication with many people. It is not just about finishing things at a desk. There must be team spirit. If you are not a good person, no matter how good your skills are, no one will hire you. ?

In terms of salary, what Domin knows about the market situation is that Shanghai is higher than Beijing and Guangzhou. ?Take the salary of a lighting engineer assistant as an example. It is 150-200 yuan a day in Shanghai and 80-150 yuan a day in Beijing. The salary of assistants in the same department also varies greatly. For example, if there are four or five assistants in a department, their salary may range from 70/100/200/250/300 yuan a day. Generally speaking, good quality and good price depend on the specific work content you are responsible for. The salary of the lighting engineer assistant must be negotiated with the producer and investor, and then a contract must be signed. Their salary is not fixed and is a negotiated price. ?

?As for the lighting engineer's salary, it is mainly determined by the investment amount of the film. Before the reform, if you made a movie in a film studio, you could only get 10,000 to 20,000 yuan. But now the cost of making a movie may be 50,000 to 100,000 yuan. If it is a foreign movie, it may be 5,000 to 6,000 US dollars. ? Domin said that the annual salary of a lighting engineer with ten years of work experience can reach more than 100,000 yuan.

?If you are not short of money, as a lighting engineer, you still have to think more about your health, because the protection of this profession is still a little bit less. Currently, 70% of people who work as lighting technicians are not affiliated with a specific unit, so they do not have social security and other benefits. ?

The threshold for newcomers to enter the industry is low

How long does it take to grow from a newcomer to a lighting engineer? Domin doesn't think there is a definite number of years.

?The film factory before the restructuring had an art committee for review. Newcomers had to start as assistants, then as assistant lighting engineers. After becoming lighting engineers, they first worked with other lighting engineers to shoot, and finally shot a movie alone. If you want to shoot a movie alone, you must pass the review of technical and artistic abilities by the Arts Committee. But now you don’t need a full-time professional title or shooting work to be a lighting engineer. The main reason is that the producer system is popular in the film and television industry. As long as the director, producer or investor thinks you can be a lighting engineer. ?

Domin said that the process for newcomers to become lighting technicians is not as standardized as in the past. This change has advantages and disadvantages. If we completely follow the past methods, many talents may be buried; if we completely follow the current methods, there will also be many people who are just trying to fill the gap. Domin believes that the development of this profession will become more and more professional and more connected with the outside world.

As a senior in the workplace, Domin gave three suggestions for the growth of newcomers:

1. Start from the bottom. Freshly graduated college students should start from the bottom, because what lighting engineers have to learn is relatively abstract. There is nothing that can be copied when making a movie. The scenes are different every day, the people you come into contact with every day are different, and the atmosphere is different every day. As a newcomer, every day All need to learn new knowledge.

2. Have a basic sense of aesthetics. If you want to work as a lighting engineer, if you don’t have a basic sense of aesthetics and don’t know what looks good and what looks ugly, you will definitely not be able to do it well. As a newcomer, you must have a preliminary understanding of what is beautiful and what is not, and be sensitive to color matching.

3. Have a certain understanding of the equipment. Lighting engineers are inseparable from various lamps, and what supports the function of lamps are many instruments and meters, such as light meters, test tables and other light viewing equipment. These tools require newcomers to slowly become familiar with them. Nowadays, technology is developing faster and faster, and equipment is getting better and better. A large number of imported equipment are used in China, and 60 to 70% can keep pace with international standards. Even when shooting movies all over the world, the equipment used, including photography equipment, recording equipment and other technical equipment, is the same. The key lies in how to use it, which requires newcomers to have a certain understanding of the equipment.

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