Power to the Students

Last evening, I spent some time at the Powerhouse Theatre giving a filmmaking workshop to an energetic group of middle school acting students. We talked about some of the types of shots you do when making a movie and how lighting can improve the quality and feel of your image. Here’s a test we did in the class to show the difference between filming with available light and lighting the actor.

Even though the new cinema cameras have truly incredible low light shooting capabilities, the trade-offs for not lighting at all are muddy, grainy images, and very unflattering shadows and highlights. Sometimes this shooting style can be appropriate for the story, however when possible, I like to use lights to give my images a cleaner look that’s easier to expose to.

Overall, it was a fun night and a great chance to share some of my passion for filmmaking with Oxford’s talented kids. For more inforamation on upcoming events and classes at the Powerhouse click here.

-Matthew