How to become an excellent lighting engineer

How to become an excellent lighting engineer

Lead: One of the creators of TV images, also known as "illuminator", uses various professional lamps to create various "light and shadow effects" according to the artistic styles of different images. There is a specialization in the industry, so how to become an excellent lighting engineer? I have compiled the following contents for you. Let's take a look at them together.

What would a lighting engineer do?

The lighting engineer carries out the lighting plan of the cinematographer.

Manage the lighting team.

With the help of the assistant, you should manage the lighting technician, operate the electricity consumption, arrange the lighting of the site, and do a good job in the previous scene/site lighting.

Electrical safety.

Lighting engineers and/or generator operators are responsible for the electrical safety on site. If the site is small and there is no generator operator, the lighting engineer is responsible for electrical safety.

Attend the pre-production meeting, step on the spot and make regular preparations for the project.

Discuss the lighting method of the film with the photographer and foreman, discuss each scene separately and decide which lighting and equipment are necessary.

Take precautions and pay attention to any possible problems.

This includes arranging spare lights for close-ups, redistributing lights before problems appear or are solved, etc.

Be a photographer's second pair of eyes.

When the scene or scene is illuminated, the lighting engineer must become the photographer's second pair of eyes. Be sure to look for ugly shadows, underexposure, overexposure or insufficient light when shooting.

Look for any opportunity to make the scene look more interesting.

This is not difficult, but it is also very sensitive. Some photographers like lighting engineers who obey the plan. You can't give better advice until you are more experienced, familiar with photographers, understand their preferences, or understand what the scene needs.

What do lighting engineers need to know?

Lighting engineers need creativity.

Lighting engineers need to combine creativity and professional skills perfectly, but creativity is very important. You may need to do something different or come up with an interesting solution on the spot.

High level of professional skills and knowledge.

You need to know how to use all the equipment, make full use of lamps under any circumstances, and have the most basic understanding of camera, sensitivity and tolerance.

Excellent problem solving skills.

Many times when there is something wrong with the lighting, things that you can't control will happen. At this time, you must come up with a solution, or provide photographers with a variety of options on the basis of existing equipment.

Excellent communication skills.

You should be able to communicate clearly and give consistent orders to your subordinates. If you are vague, it is likely to mislead your team and waste a lot of time. Learn to communicate effectively.

Quick decision.

One of the duties of lighting engineers is to integrate a large amount of information internally and make decisions quickly based on this information.

Patience and wisdom.

Many times, you have to cooperate with slow departments and staff, discuss with other departments, or ask them for something. Patience and wit are necessary.

When lighting the scene, the photographer will decide the position of each lamp to achieve the appearance he wants. Photographers can express what they want in several different ways, from very specific instructions to aperture readings.

For example, "I want to use t 12 as the main light, illuminate the white coated paper through the grid, shoot from here with an F2.8 lens, and then use a 4k lamp and a plano-convex lens as the backlight". Lighting engineers should translate very broad instructions into appropriate lighting equipment (for example, I want big warm and soft lights here, and I want cold and hard side lights there). In any case, as a lighting engineer, you must have a very solid understanding of the equipment and know how to play their role according to different situations and instructions.

Although the photographer is responsible for the overall lighting and the appearance of the film, with the closer relationship between lighting engineers and many photographers, lighting engineers may give more or less freedom according to the situation. In some cases, depending on the scale of production, the lighting engineer may be allowed to expose the background, add the last light, or serve as a photographer for the second unit.

Preparation and technical steps of lighting engineer.

Sometimes, lighting engineers and assistants have days or even weeks to prepare projects. At this time, doing a few things will make your work easier.

Read the script! Take notes and mark any questions, doubts, lighting problems or effects!

Be sure to read, read. Ideally, you will read it before the technical steps, but generally speaking, this is impossible. If I have time, I like to do this: look at it before visiting the site, and look at it again after doing more preparatory work. Then I will watch it again the night before shooting, or the morning after shooting.

Watch any reference that the photographer gives you, or anything that the director and photographer are discussing.

Sometimes the director may already have a special movie or scene, and the photographer may also want to make a certain scene have a certain appearance. Your job includes helping them achieve these looks, so be sure to read any reference materials.

Further discuss the lighting method with the photographer.

Discuss further with the photographer on the basis of your technical position, appearance reference and reading the script. Discuss the perception of movies and scenes respectively. You can draw the light layout above your head at will.

Attend any necessary production meetings.

This is your chance. You can ask any questions and have an in-depth discussion. You usually check the whole schedule and discuss every day of shooting with all the key people present. Ask any questions you are worried about, such as the extra time to discuss cable laying, more manpower, special rigging, anything you think will be convenient for shooting, anything that producers or other departments need to know.

Technical entry point

Technical stepping is very important for any department in the preparation stage, especially the lighting department. Lighting engineers must be involved in all technical steps. Technical stepping allows you to imagine where and how the scene will be staged. You should actively ask questions and coordinate with other departments and staff.

As a lighting engineer and electrician assistant, we should pay attention to some special points in stepping technology.

Discuss lighting methods with photographers. Make charts, lists and take notes as needed.

Make a list of equipment, or ensure that the equipment on the equipment car can meet the demand.

Make cable lines and find safe places for electrical appliances and facilities.

Determine the position of the generator and/or truck.

Special equipment requirements, and discuss the requirements of rigging, including lighting, special supports, scaffolding, aerial work lifts, etc.

Equipment assembly area

Where the sun shines. Will the sun shine through a window all morning?

The lighting engineer is at the scene.

What do lighting engineers need to pay attention to at the shooting scene?

Be sure to get to the scene early on the first day of shooting. Be sure to arrive 10 to 15 minutes before the assembly time, but I think the first day is particularly important, so you should arrive 20 to 30 minutes in advance, introduce yourself to the people around you, have breakfast and prepare for the next difficult and stressful day.

If you happen to receive the call in advance, you should run the cable immediately. Generally, the generator operator will start to generate electricity and supply power to the departments that need electricity, but you must connect the site with any nearby external equipment, so be prepared.

It's time for assembly. When you pull down the wire and/or install the lamp by hand, you should report to the photographer and let them work silently during the whole walking process.

Generally speaking, after a phone call, you will take a walk immediately or an hour later. If you can't start walking right away, you should go back to work, otherwise please pay attention to the following points:

Actor's behavior.

This will let you know exactly where to light it. According to the actors' actions, you will know whether any lights need to be moved outside and where the main lights should be placed.

Pay attention to any possible problems.

Are the actors piled up in a strange way? Are they too close or too far away? Whether one person's shadow will cover another person and so on.

A safe place where wires can be routed or hidden.

If you are lucky, you can use the scenery to hide the wires. If necessary and there is no other choice, you can ask the art department to help you hide some wires.

Existing prop lights.

I like props, so do many photographers. You must go out and look for them. Sometimes the art department lets them out just because they look good. Power them on, install bulbs and dimmers. Even if they are not used for the time being, they can still come in handy if the photographer suddenly wants to light up the lights.

When the machine position is arranged, discuss the lighting with the photographer. Carry out their instructions and start lighting the scene. After the lighting is finished, rehearse once before the start (check the position of the plane, lighting, rehearsal, adjustment and shooting). Watch the rehearsal and make any necessary lighting changes. When they start shooting, if possible, they must watch. You should pay attention to anything bad, or something that you think photographers don't like. Sometimes you will find some omissions.

For example, actors leave the room, but when they walk in the door, no light shines on them from the other side. The next scene takes place in a bright room, so they should walk into some kind of light source.

If you are familiar with the photographer, you can try to figure out their preferences, use the walkie-talkie (if any) to ask the crew to bring relevant props and ask the photographer if they want to light up like this. If they say "no", you can cancel the order, but if they say "yes", you are ready.

This kind of thing is very sensitive. If you just know the photographer casually and can't ask them face to face, then set up props, turn on the light source and ask the photographer what he thinks. If they hate it, they will tell you. If they like it, you have done a great service.

Tools that lighting engineers should carry with them.

1, adjustable wrench

8 or 10 inch crescent/hook wrench works best. If you want to be light, buy a 6-inch crescent wrench with extra wide jaws.

2. Multifunctional tool pliers (Lesemann)

Lehsmann's multifunctional tool pliers are the most commonly used in the industry. If you want to save money, buy a low-end one, but make sure to meet all your needs.

3. Screwdriver

You may have to rewire in the wild, or you may have to deal with many situations in the wild. Picquics is the best because you can put small parts into the drill.

4. Knife

Knives are used every day at the scene, so be sure to buy more blades. But be careful, they are quite sharp!

5. Circuit Tester/Circuit Tester

The line tester will show whether there is current passing through, which is very suitable for quick troubleshooting. Plug the circuit tester into the electrical appliance, and it will tell you whether the electrical appliance is hot, grounded and polarized correctly. For a little more money, you can get a built-in leakage test switch. Necessities for every lighting engineer.

6. Clothes peg

C-47, clothes peg, bullet, whatever you want to call it. You can open the clothes peg for fine adjustment, or turn the clothes peg backwards (C-74) to fix the screen and let the light pass through. Spend more money on a stronger one. Absolute value.

7. Plug

In this way, alternating current can be divided into three ground wires. But keep it below 15 amp, and don't fuse! There are usually plugs in equipment cars, but that doesn't mean they can be found at any time. Write your name or initials on the plugs and make sure to recycle them at the end of the day.

8. Colored lenses

Although it is not needed every day, it is not ranked in the top three, but it is still very useful when it is used to aim at the position of the sun on the exterior of the sun. If this product exceeds your budget, there is a good substitute, which is the welder's glass lens.

9.2 inch black paper tape

It is not in the main list because people think it is an extensible tool and it is available in most places. Clothes pegs are also extensible, but they are very important to work, so they are included in the main list.

10, exposure meter

Not all photographers will require lighting engineers to bring an exposure meter (illuminator), but if you need to ensure a certain intensity of a lamp, or change the equipment to match the exposure, or the photographer's own exposure meter does not work, it will give you great help.

abstract

The so-called "there is specialization in the industry." The lighting engineer, like other positions, is a gear in the film industry system, and a small belt is indispensable. It doesn't matter whether the position is high or low. Only by continuous learning and accumulation can we move from ordinary to extraordinary!

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