Our Coming Publications

Our next book to be released will be Lighting followed by Operating the Camera. Release dates will be announced in our Production Diary.

You are now familiar with what the lens can do for you, so now it's time to look at how to light your subject and how to use your camera.

Lighting

This book is divided into the following six sections:

Section 1: The Lighting Inventory
Section 2: Three Point Lighting
Section 3: The Lighting Location Recce
Section 4: Lighting the Set
Section 5: Working with Daylight
Section 6: Reviewing Exposure

Section 1 takes you through the different types of lights you can use to light your set. It discusses the safe use of stands and cables, using electricity safely and how to work out how many lights you can safely use on a set. You are also introduced to reflectors, diffusers and cutters.

Section 2 deals with the much used lighting setup known as 3 point lighting. You are shown the traditional way to light a person to ensure they don't look dull and flat and then the process is gone through step by step using a still life subject where Ian is able to take more time explaining the process. The importance of having a brief and considering the depth of field you want is also discussed.

Section 3 Ian takes you through a lighting recce on a location where a moody low key lighting setup is required for a shot. He explains how you have to visualise the lighting you want for the setup and uses a run down sheet to discuss the various requirements.

Section 4 introduces you to the actual lighting of the set. You see how the lighting that was decided upon during the recce for various areas of the room is actually realised. You see how the practicals are used and what other lighting is necessary to create the moody mysterious look. Finally you see a rehearsal of the shot.

Section 5 takes you outside where Ian demonstrates a number of ways that you can work with the very changeable lighting conditions that you encounter when working with daylight.

Section 6 is a review of exposure. For easy reference Ian pulls together all the information on exposure mentioned in both The Lens and Its Image and Lighting giving you a practical guide to help you when calculating exposure under various conditions.

Operating the Camera

This book is divided into the following five sections:

Section 1: The Camera Department Inventory
Section 2: The Camera Menus and Controls
Section 3: The Clapper Board and Time Code
Section 4: Setting Up and the Camera Movements
Section 5: Camera Operations

Section 1 takes you through the correct use of the equipment you will need to get started with your productions, for example, tripods and camera heads, hand hold brackets, pipe dollies and a host of other multi functional accessories. It also give you an outline introduction to things like bazookas, western track dollies, jib arms and limpet mounts.

Section 2 looks into camera menus. This is very informative and gives you advice on how to use them wisely. Both white balance and black balance are explained with plenty of demonstrations in the movie clips. Ian discusses the pros and cons of auto and manual controls and looks at exposure and gain.

Section 3 explains the correct use of the clapper board and how important it is to both the camera crew and in post production. Once again there are a lot of demonstrations on how it should be used. Timecode is also discussed both for older style cameras and the typical high definition pro cameras in use at the present time.

Section 4 demonstrates how to set up the camera rig and the camera movements. There are lots of tips on how to make sure you end up with great visuals. You learn about pans, tilts and tracking shots using a pipe dolly. It also explains the importance of a work station and how to set one up.

Section 5 deals with camera operations and focus pulling and gives you a good understanding of what is involved. It offers you a number of production exercises to use in order to establish the basic disciplines and master the basic skills involved, starting with designing your shot. You learn about checking the limits and the working relationship between the camera operator and the focus puller. There are a lot of demonstrations which show both focus pulling and camera operation procedures and advice is given on hiring lenses and filters.

Every focus puller needs a tool kit to do the job correctly and this is covered at some length.