Pre-Production - Alice Opening Scene Lighting Test - (28/02/17)

Today we had a lighting test for the opening scene of 'Alice'. Within the creation process of the script and story, I always had my mind set on opening within a bar setting. I envisioned dingy and blurred lights behind the character of Alice as the entire scene is held in one uninterrupted shot. From this we began looking for locations from the earliest stages of pre-production, as we searched for a bar that could meet our needs. In doing so I had a vague idea that I couldn't necessarily imagine pulling off, but I thought it was worth a shot. I decided we should attempt to make use of our very own art cafe within the university. The cafe has a makeshift bar for student nights etc, which we attempted to make look like an actual bar area. Infront of the bar is a few long tables which students sit at during lunch hour. I found that if we only use the end of one of the tables, we could show the bar behind the subject of Alice (who is sitting alone at the table). Myself and the cinematographer have attempted to replicate a particular shot from the film 'Shame' through lighting and lens perspective. We decided it would be better to get the shot on a zoom lens, so that we could keep the lights and bar in the background safely out of focus enough to connote what the location is. 

Below is an image from the start of the shoot. We took this image of a subject sitting in the same place the character of Alice will. This shot is with the fill light only, and was taken before it was dark outside. Evidently this shot is lit in all the areas we wanted to avoid. The large windows in the art cafe let in a lot of light, which is evident from how lit the background and foreground are in this shot. 

Here we can draw comparisons between the above and below images. The image above was taken around 5PM before the sun set and it got dark. The below image was taken around 6:30PM when it was dark outside. The difference is staggering in terms of visual flair and depth. The below image was achieved through the use of a two point lighting system. The right hand side of the subjects face is lit using a fill light in the back right of the room, which was also covered with a red gel and scrim. This enabled the subject to have a slight red light over their face, and it also kept one side of their face shadowed. This in turn allowed the subject to achieve a deeper symbolic meaning which I wanted to achieve within the scene. As the audience when a characters face is half lit, we assume they are hiding something from us, or that they have a darker side to what we are seeing. The key light within the scene was placed in front of the subject, also to his right. What I am seeing now is that by using a two point lighting system on the same side of a shot, the right hand side of the character is lit a lot more than the left. The left hand side of the subject is unrefined, and it is blending heavily into the background of the shot. To fix this I may consider implementing a side light into a three point lighting system. I will be looking to place this to the far left on line with the key light, to fill in the unrefined area to the left of the subject. Hopefully this will bring out the subjects shoulder and overall frame, without adding too much light to the scene or the left hand side of their face.

The lighting system used in the scene through the use of redheads is only half of how we achieved this shot. In discussion with my cinematographer, I wanted to achieve a sleazy and dim ambience. I believe we have done this through the background of the shot. A few weeks ago my cinematographer shared with me his plans to buy external light sources that could be used within the scene. These lighting sources would in no way light the scene like a redhead would, but they will provide attention to detail and subtle visual flair. As seen in the background of this shot, we used lanterns and tea-lights to bring the bar slightly into focus, but also out of focus enough for the main attention of the shot to be on the subject in the foreground. By shooting on a zoom lens we were able to compress the image, bringing the bar in the background closer to the subject but also keeping it in soft focus. I strongly believe the depth we have created within this shot is achieved through these lights on top of the bar. Without them, as seen in the above image which is taken without them, the shot appears to be empty and lacking style.