Film Lighting: Strategy and Techniques

The Cinematic Arts Filmcraft Workshop Series

The Cinematic Arts Filmcraft Workshop Series is designed to give students the opportunity to develop hard skills in practical areas of filmmaking. It includes topics in cinematography, editing, post-production, and sound. It is aimed at filmmakers looking to advance their practice, as well as those interested in a first look at the techniques and technology of film.

The Fall 2020 Filmcraft Workshops are streamed from the Cinematic Arts Film Studio. Please join us Thursdays in September and October for live demonstrations, discussion, and Q&A.

Camera Systems and Camera Operation

In this workshop we will light a handful of scenes and sets, and in so doing introduce the goals and workflow of cinematic lighting.  By understanding the simple qualities of light as they occur in the world and as they can be constructed for film, we begin to navigate the infinite possibilities offered by modern lighting tools.  It is a subject worthy of a lifetime of study and practice, but one which still yields valuable secrets with a few hours of exploration.

This is a companion to the Film Lighting – Fixtures and Gripping workshop, in which students learn the use of the specific tools employed, but neither is a prerequisite for the other.

The following elements will be covered in this workshop:

• Lighting recipes and methodologies
• Motivation and style
• Judgement and speed

About the Instructor

Steve Milligan is a professional cinematographer. Over the last fifteen years he has worked in long and short form documentary, narrative features, commercials, music videos, and projection design. He has been a lecturing fellow in the Duke Arts of the Moving Image program since 2015.

About the Location

This workshop will be streamed live via Zoom from the Cinematic Arts Film Studio. See link at top of page.