My progress over the past few months has been incredible, and I’ve learned so much more than I ever imagined myself being able to do. I owe this huge advancement to the course’s thorough structure, the vast wealth of resources available to us, and our leaders’ genuine desire for our professional success. However, I’ve still got quite a long ways to go before my work meets industry standards.
Some of my pitfalls in the past have been understanding controls on more complex rigs, as well as accounting for body weight and having a better eye for realistic posing. I hope to get a lot better in my technical skills as I proceed in the course.
Tentatively, I’d like to consider lighting and camera work as my specialism. I spend a very long time setting up my lights and cameras and it’s always one of the most fun parts of my project.
These are the two most recent projects that I’ve touched. I spent quite a while setting up the lights on both. In the tailed ball scene, I worked hard to give the light a natural, daytime effect, dappling yellow through the leaves of the trees (which I had carefully placed), while never completely obscuring the animal in darkness, and making sure to project its shadow on the rocks for observation of the silhouette. I spend a long time playing with the water, trying to find a balance in depth and reflectivity. On my performance animation, I spend almost two days on the lights (not to mention collecting a tasteful amount of debris and scene elements). My idea had many aims: frame Janine (which I did with four surrounding area lights illuminating only her, specifically a stronger backlight for an eerie feel), highlight the blood on the stairs (which also serves to frame her), cast the rest of the house into sharp-shadowed darkness (drawing the eye to Janine and the stairs), and create an eerie reflection on the floor. I chose a bright red velvet shirt and heels to associate her with the blood on the stairs as well as give her an untrustworthy aura. I also used a camera technique I hadn’t tried before, panning around quickly to the rest of the characters on the opposite side of the room. This was intended to both cut the tension as well as add to the fast-paced nature of the scene.
-I digress, I’m very interested in lighting and cinematography. I know I have to learn basically everything in order to even begin understanding it technically, so hopefully I’m not put off by what this work actually entails.