Part One: the ‘lights’ bit
Considerable work goes on behind the scenes to film a ‘Remarkable Lives’ production and capture a client’s life story on film. If we’re filming in your home, rather than at our Dorset studio, the first task is properly packing our lengthy list of equipment that’s needed wherever we go. Domestic lights, or even daylight on a sunny day, are fine for home movies; but less effective for the glossy cinematic look you’ll enjoy for your special autobiography film. Properly lighting the scene is the first essential for the Hollywood treatment you’ll receive from a ‘Remarkable Lives’ television experience.
On movie sets you might expect an array of lights powered by a massive generator, through cables that would not be out of place powering the National Grid. Rest assured that our power needs at your house are more modest than that! The company is, of course, fully insured but nobody wants to start popping your fuses! One of two of our lights may need to plug into a wall socket, but we’ve invested in LED lighting that’s portable, powered by our own batteries, and pays due regard to the need for energy conservation. This modern lighting equipment also has the significant advantage of staying cool: a factor that really matters to clients when we ask you to sit in their glow to be interviewed for an hour or more.
The photographers, amateur or professional, amongst you may already appreciate the lighting setup used for your life-story production. For the rest of us, it’s worth a brief explanation of what lights may be clustered around you on set. In front of you, raised above your eyeline, and slightly to one side, will be the ‘Keylight’ – powerful, but enclosed within a ‘softbox’ to lessen the harshness of its glare and flatter everybody’s skin tones a little. It assists in defining the shape your facial structure. We adjust its intensity and placement to bring out the best in our clients.
Opposite that, you may find a white or silver reflector screen, or a ‘fill’ light, either of which bounces a lesser light source to fill in shadows. Yet another light behind your head helps outline you against the background, and we may position yet another light to illuminate the backdrop cloth. As a final flourish, there may be even more incidental lights to shape the background of the set in as interesting a way as possible. It takes even our experienced crew a few minutes to light you perfectly:
Then you’ll hear the cliché call, “Lights... Cameras… Action…” and your TV documentary production is underway.
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