Digital Commons at Penn State

The students are required to turn in a proposal for the product they are intending to sell, within the first 5 weeks of class. Once this is approved they draft a paper that is written for the buyer of their product. From this paper, the script for their video is created and shooting takes place during the last month of class, making their video the capstone project for the class.

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Faculty Case Study Interview

Student Video: Squat

The project is a video-based movement analysis of a physical motion (i.e. soccer kick, baseball throw). Students choose a 10-second motion to analyze (e.g. throw a baseball or step off a staire), video tape the motion, and then put it into a format that they can share with classmates in a presentation.

Three point lighting is a classic Hollywood lighting setup that you can use for many different scenarios. The lighting setup consists of a key, fill and back light.

They Key Light is the primary light in this setup and is usually the largest brightest light. This light will give most of the detail to our image but as you can see some of the details on the left side of the face are indistinguishable.
The Fill Light is just as it’s name implies, it fills in the details left out by the key light. This light also defines the contrast to our image, a dimmer fill light will add contrast to the picture.
Here is the Key + Fill Lights this is almost what our final image should look like, however as you can see the left side of her face seems to almost disappear into the dark. This is where we add a Back Light or Rimmer.

This tutorial will showcase all of the studio’s lights. (Warning: Never touch the bulbs or try to change a bulb in the Lights.)

Lowel Omni Lite

This light is 500 watts and has a pivoting accessory arm.

On the front of the light four barn doors can be found, these barn doors are used to limit or expand the amount of light coming off of the light. The barn doors are also helpful for keeping light out of the Camera’s lens.

The omni can be turned on and off using the switch located on the power cable.

The Lowel Rifa Lite

Lighting for a Greenscreen can be tricky and it is important that you have a very even light on the screen behind your subject. If you do not have an even amount of light on the screen it will make it much more difficult to key out the green color.

Block out any unwanted light.

Lower the green screen.

Next, light the green screen separately from your subject. It is important to create a soft even light over the entire screen. Use at least 2 lights and try to avoid hotspots by diffusing the light with an umbrella or filter.

Once the screen is lit, place your subject at least 4 – 5 feet away from the screen. The further away the better. This way it will be easier to light your subject without casting shadows onto the screen or having your subjects light hit the screen.

This tutorial will discuss the lighting accessories included in the lighting kit at each Digital Commons Studio. (Warning: Lights WILL get extremely Hot, even when cool DO NOT touch the bulbs.)

Gels

Gels are placed in front of lights to give that light a certain type of effect.
The white one is used to diffuse or soften a light. (Note: Softening a light is a great way to hide blemishes on a persons skin or to make their skin look softer and smoother)
The blue gel is used to change the color tempature of the light to mimic sources such as the sun.

To use the gels simply attach a gel to a gel frame using the clips on the side of the frame and then use the tab located on the back of the frame to insert into the lights accessories port.

Umbrella

This tutorial will walk you through the steps to setup a 3 point lighting scheme.

1) First you want to setup your Key Light, the key light will be your primary and brightest light. Usually you will place the key light to the left of the camera facing your subject.

2) Now your ready for a Fill Light, this will go on the other side of the Camera from your Key Light facing the subject. (Tip: A quick way to adjust how much fill light you have is to move the light closer to get bright or further away to get dimmer.)

Digital Commons Orientation

Duration: 40 Minutes

Equipment Safety

• How to handle the lights including heat warnings and not touching the lamps (Use Sand bags to prevent lights from falling over)
• Camera Lens Cover
• Tripod Quick Release (Click or Lock into place and test before letting go)

Equipment Overview

• Camera uses and limitations
• 3 point lighting setup (we can set this up prior to the training and just show them how it works)
• Function of the Podcasting microphones
• Functions of the Editing Systems

Time Management

• Pre-Production
• Production
• Post-Production