Lighting for television and film Gerald Millerson

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Skilful lighting involves a subtle blend of systematic mechanics and a sensitive visual imagination. It requires anticipation, perceptiveness, patience and know-how. But learning through practice alone can take a great deal of time. This book is a distillation of many years' experience, with advice and guidance that will bring successful results right from the start. Whether you are a student studying lighting techniques in the television, video and film media, or a professional lighting for the camera, this book will be an invaluable aid. Other members of the production team, including camera crews, designers and directors, will also find the information here interesting and useful. The book concentrates primarily on the fundamental principles of lighting in studios, on location and display, as well as single-camera, small unit production, improvised and economy lighting, and working with limited facilities. Emphasis is also placed on the safety aspects of working with lighting equipment. Lighting for Television and Film reflects the author's considerable experience of lighting techniques in BBC studios, his teaching and consultancy work. Gerald Millerson's analytical writings spring from a lifetime's personal experience in the medium, and from his teaching and engineering background. During his career with the BBC, he was primarily associated with studio operations in the Television Service. His lecturing background included courses in TV production at a number of American universities. His other books for Focal Press are Television Production, TV Scenic Design, Video Production Handbook and, in the Media Manuals series, Effective TV Production, Lighting for Video and Video Camera Techniques.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface to the Third Edition (p. 13)
• Acknowledgements (p. 14)
• 1 An introduction (p. 15)
• Why bother? (p. 15)
• Why do we need lighting techniques? (p. 15)
• What can lighting do? (p. 16)
• What is bad lighting? (p. 17)
• Learning to light (p. 17)
• 2 The nature of light (p. 19)
• What is light? (p. 19)
• White light (p. 19)
• Light and shade (p. 20)
• Light intensity (p. 21)
• Surface brightness (p. 22)
• Gray scale (achromatic values) (p. 27)
• Tonal contrast and tonal gradation (p. 28)
• Contrast range/subject brightness range (p. 29)
• Tonal range and pictorial effect (p. 30)
• Tonal values and picture impact (p. 30)
• Detail (p. 31)
• Color (p. 32)
• Assessing color (p. 35)
• Color mixtures (p. 38)
• Color effect (p. 40)
• Color specification (p. 40)
• Tristimulus primaries (p. 40)
• CIE chromaticity diagram (p. 41)
• White light and color balance (p. 41)
• Color filters (p. 42)
• Polarization (p. 42)
• 3 The eye and perception (p. 45)
• The eye and the camera (p. 45)
• The camera always lies! (p. 45)
• The effect of the frame (p. 46)
• The critical eye (p. 46)
• The eye (p. 47)
• Brightness adaptation (p. 48)
• Color adaptation (p. 49)
• Constancy phenomena (p. 51)
• Color assessment (p. 53)
• Color and depth (p. 55)
• Color and detail (p. 55)
• Color and distance (p. 56)
• Color attraction (p. 56)
• Color harmony (p. 57)
• Color memory (p. 57)
• Color associations (p. 58)
• 4 The principles of lighting (p. 59)
• Perception and selection (p. 59)
• The way ahead (p. 59)
• Light quality (p. 60)
• Hard light (p. 60)
• Texture (p. 61)
• Soft light (p. 61)
• Light direction (p. 63)
• The lighting angle is important (p. 63)
• Classifying direction (p. 63)
• From the camera's viewpoint (p. 64)
• Frontal lighting (p. 66)
• Angling the lamp (p. 67)
• Side light and edge lighting (p. 69)
• Back light (p. 69)
• Lamp height (p. 72)
• Basic lighting principles (p. 73)
• Lighting a flat surface (p. 73)
• Three-point lighting (p. 73)
• The key light (p. 75)
• Fill light (filler) (p. 76)
• Diffuse lighting (p. 79)
• Back light (p. 80)
• Lighting balance (p. 81)
• Summarizing (p. 81)
• Shadows (p. 82)
• Shadow density (p. 83)
• Lighting opportunities (p. 86)
• What is the aim? (p. 87)
• Assessing the subject (p. 87)
• Directing attention (p. 88)
• Lighting and composition (p. 88)
• Visual continuity (p. 90)
• Technical limitations (p. 91)
• Lamp functions (p. 91)
• Distorting reality (p. 94)
• Lighting common materials (p. 95)
• 5 Lighting people (p. 96)
• 'Bad' lighting (p. 96)
• Styles of portraiture (p. 97)
• The 'ideal' portrait (p. 98)
• Lighting faces (p. 99)
• Begin by lighting yourself (p. 99)
• Lighting zones (p. 101)
• Classifying light directions (p. 102)
• The basic effects of lamp positions (p. 103)
• Fill light in portraiture (p. 113)
• Back light (p. 114)
• The realities of portraiture (p. 119)
• Portraiture dynamics (p. 119)
• Types of portraiture (p. 120)
• Corrective lighting (p. 120)
• Pitfalls in portrait lighting (p. 122)
• General maxims (p. 127)
• Lighting groups (p. 127)
• Two people (p. 128)
• Three people (p. 128)
• Panel group (p. 130)
• Large groups (p. 130)
• Lighting action (p. 131)
• The problem of movement (p. 131)
• 6 The production process (p. 140)
• The hybrid arts (p. 140)
• Shooting conditions (p. 140)
• Basic film mechanics (p. 142)
• The Lighting Cameraman (p. 142)
• Preliminary planning (p. 143)
• Lighting methods (p. 144)
• Shooting methods (p. 144)
• Retakes (p. 145)
• Discontinuous shooting (p. 145)
• Checking results (p. 146)
• Continuity problems (p. 146)
• Restrictions and opportunities (p. 147)
• Basic television mechanics (p. 147)
• The background of television production (p. 147)
• The Lighting Director (p. 148)
• Production planning (p. 149)
• What is going to happen? (p. 149)
• The realities of planning (p. 151)
• Planning approaches (p. 151)
• Regular planning (p. 152)
• Production planning meeting (p. 155)
• Lighting preliminaries (p. 156)
• Pre-rehearsal/outside rehearsal (p. 158)
• Check out the facilities (p. 159)
• Cogitation! (p. 160)
• Lighting approaches (p. 162)
• Systematic lighting (p. 163)
• The 'look and light' method (p. 163)
• The 'plot and light' method (p. 171)
• Drawing the lighting plot (p. 174)
• Lighting people (p. 175)
• Lighting the setting (p. 178)
• Summing up (p. 180)
• Rigging the lighting fixtures (p. 180)
• Setting lighting fixtures (p. 184)
• Methods of adjustment (p. 184)
• Building up the lighting treatment (p. 184)
• Setting the lamps (p. 184)
• Checking lamp coverage (p. 186)
• Checking the lighting treatment (p. 187)
• Lighting measurements (p. 188)
• Working conditions (p. 189)
• Working problems (p. 190)
• Camera rehearsal (p. 191)
• The nature of camera rehearsal (p. 191)
• Rehearsal methods (p. 192)
• Lighting the rehearsal (p. 194)
• Teamwork (p. 196)
• The lighting control board (p. 197)
• The dynamics of rehearsal (p. 198)
• Lighting balance (p. 200)
• Lighting quandaries (p. 203)
• 7 Lighting on location (p. 212)
• Natural light (p. 212)
• Exterior shooting (p. 217)
• Night exteriors (p. 219)
• Location interiors (p. 221)
• Public events (p. 225)
• Insufficient light (p. 227)
• Equipment (p. 228)
• Installations (p. 228)
• Frugal lighting (p. 230)
• Shooting without lights - in lit surroundings (p. 230)
• Camera lights (p. 231)
• Hand-held lamps (p. 231)
• Single stand lamp (p. 232)
• Using two lamps (p. 233)
• Using three lamps (p. 233)
• Lighting density (p. 233)
• 8 Atmospheric lighting (p. 236)
• The intangibility of lighting (p. 236)
• The gulf between (p. 237)
• Lighting styles (p. 238)
• Pictorial style (p. 238)
• Pictorial effect (p. 239)
• Tonal distribution (p. 240)
• Pictorial quality (p. 240)
• Pictorial treatment (p. 240)
• 'Natural' lighting (p. 244)
• Influential lighting (p. 247)
• Shadows (p. 249)
• Atmospheric treatment (p. 252)
• Darkness (p. 259)
• Moonlight (p. 261)
• Dawn and sunset (p. 265)
• Sunlight (p. 266)
• Multi-directional lighting (p. 267)
• Changing light in interiors (p. 267)
• Lighting changes (p. 272)
• Atmospheric changes (p. 272)
• Decorative lighting (p. 279)
• Animated lighting (p. 282)
• 9 Light sources (p. 283)
• A variety of luminants (p. 283)
• Regular tungsten lamps (p. 283)
• Overrun lamps (p. 286)
• Internal reflector lamps (p. 287)
• Tungsten-halogen lamps/quartz lights/quartz-iodine lamps (p. 287)
• Carbon arcs (p. 289)
• Metal halide lighting (p. 290)
• Fluorescent lamps (p. 293)
• 10 Lighting equipment (p. 295)
• Assessing equipment (p. 295)
• Basic reflector design (p. 296)
• Basic lens design (p. 298)
• Light fixtures/luminaires (p. 298)
• Adjusting fixtures (p. 299)
• Soft-light sources (p. 300)
• Open-fronted soft-light fixtures (p. 301)
• Hard-light sources (p. 305)
• Internal reflector fixtures (p. 306)
• Lensless spotlight (p. 307)
• Fresnel spotlight (p. 308)
• Dual-purpose fixtures (p. 309)
• Special-purpose spotlights (p. 311)
• Reflector units (p. 315)
• Reflective materials (p. 315)
• Limitations (p. 316)
• Supporting the reflector (p. 316)
• Reflector board surfaces (p. 317)
• The camera-light (p. 317)
• Forms of camera-light (p. 317)
• Flexibility (p. 318)
• Limitations (p. 318)
• Lamp supports (p. 319)
• Floor lamps (ground lamps) (p. 320)
• Lighting stands (p. 320)
• Boom light (p. 322)
• Auxiliary supports (p. 322)
• Support pole (p. 323)
• Suspension systems (p. 323)
• Basic supports (p. 326)
• Lighting accessories (p. 327)
• Accessory supports (p. 333)
• Diffusers (p. 334)
• Light control (p. 336)
• Basic light control (p. 336)
• Why do we need light control? (p. 337)
• Control requirements (p. 338)
• Dimmers (p. 338)
• Power supplies (p. 340)
• Cabling on location (p. 340)
• Cabling in the studio (p. 341)
• Patching systems (p. 341)
• Lighting control systems (p. 344)
• The patching sheet (p. 348)
• The cue sheet (p. 349)
• 11 Color temperature (p. 351)
• Identifying color (p. 351)
• Principles (p. 351)
• Light sources (p. 353)
• System standards (p. 354)
• Consistent color temperature (p. 355)
• Measuring color temperature (p. 356)
• Mired units (p. 357)
• Mixed color temperatures (p. 358)
• 12 Filters (p. 360)
• Filter media (p. 360)
• Dichroic filters (p. 361)
• Filter applications (p. 361)
• Diffusers (p. 366)
• Using filters (p. 366)
• Filters in practice (p. 367)
• Colored light (p. 367)
• 13 Picture control (p. 369)
• Tonal limits (p. 369)
• Tonal response (p. 369)
• Tonal contrasts (p. 370)
• Lens control (p. 371)
• The lens aperture (p. 371)
• The importance of depth of field (p. 371)
• Selecting the depth of field (p. 372)
• Exposure (p. 374)
• What is exposure? (p. 374)
• Adjusting exposure (p. 375)
• Auto-iris (p. 376)
• Consistent exposure (p. 376)
• Measuring correct exposure (p. 377)
• Calculated light levels (p. 378)
• Light levels (p. 378)
• Sensitivity (p. 380)
• Picture contol in film (p. 381)
• From negative to print (p. 382)
• Film in television (p. 383)
• Picture control in television (p. 384)
• The television system (p. 384)
• Assessing exposure visually (p. 386)
• Video control (p. 387)
• Approaches to video control (p. 387)
• Video control adjustments (p. 388)
• Video control techniques (p. 390)
• Corrective control (p. 392)
• Color and picture control (p. 394)
• 14 Scenery (p. 399)
• The role of scenery (p. 399)
• The role of lighting (p. 400)
• Basic scenic units (p. 401)
• Practicality (p. 403)
• Set features (p. 407)
• Structure (p. 410)
• Camera viewpoints (p. 410)
• Walls (p. 411)
• Flat heights (p. 411)
• Windows (p. 412)
• Backings (p. 416)
• The cyclorama (p. 417)
• Scrim/scenic gauze (p. 419)
• Studio floors (p. 420)
• Foliage (p. 422)
• Practical lamps (p. 422)
• 15 Visual effects (p. 427)
• Light effects (p. 427)
• Firelight (p. 427)
• Shafts of light (p. 428)
• Passing lights (p. 428)
• Swinging boomlight (p. 429)
• Strobe lights (p. 430)
• Lasers (p. 430)
• Car headlights (p. 430)
• Practical lamps (p. 430)
• Lightning (p. 431)
• Projected patterns (p. 431)
• Flashing signs (p. 433)
• Image distortion (p. 433)
• Water ripple (p. 435)
• Rain, mist. fog, smoke (p. 435)
• Photographic backgrounds (p. 437)
• Photographic backdrop (p. 437)
• Rear projection/back projection (p. 438)
• Front projection (p. 439)
• Reflex projection (p. 439)
• Electronic picture insertion (p. 440)
• Keyed insertion (p. 440)
• External key/chroma key (p. 441)
• Traveling matte in film (p. 442)
• Scrims/scenic gauzes (p. 443)
• Semi-silvered mirrors (p. 444)
• Pepper's ghost (p. 444)
• Follow spot (p. 445)
• Moving light sources (p. 446)
• 16 Safety! (p. 447)
• Load (p. 447)
• Fuses (p. 447)
• Live equipment (p. 447)
• Phases (p. 448)
• Grounding/earthing (p. 448)
• Connections (p. 449)
• Hot surfaces (p. 449)
• Heavy weights (p. 449)
• Cables (p. 450)
• Safety bonds (p. 451)
• Step-ladders/lighting ladders (p. 451)
• Scenery (p. 452)
• Lighting stands (p. 453)
• Handling lamps (p. 453)
• Protective mesh (p. 453)
• Water (p. 453)
• Lamp inspection (p. 454)
• Appendix
• Conversion table (footcandles and lux) (p. 455)
• Typical light intensities (p. 455)
• Standard light units (p. 456)
• Conversion table (linear units) (p. 457)
• Neutral-density filters (p. 457)
• Formulae (p. 457)
• Power consumption (p. 457)
• Cables and power connections (p. 458)
• Further reading (p. 460)
• Index (p. 462)

Author notes provided by Syndetics