From the course: Creating a Short Film: 07 Cinematography

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Avoiding "sourcey" light

Avoiding "sourcey" light

- One of the problems with lighting that I don't ever hear talked about very often is that of "sourcey" lights. Sourcey is an adjective we use to describe lighting that is coming from an obvious source. This tends to happen when lights are either too bright, or too close to the subject. I wasn't careful enough about this in the sixth scene. And this light on the left is way too sourcey. I meant for it to be a fill but it's too strong and too close to our actress here. It's obvious that there's a huge light source right next to her. Especially in the context of this scene, in this world, that feels artificial. Here's a rare example of where you can see sourcey light in a bigger production. In The Talented Mr. Ripley there's a scene on a stagecoach. We see from Matt Damon's face that there's no light source coming from the left side of the frame. But, when we cut to the over the shoulder reverse, they apparently pass by a strong light source just outside of frame. Probably the lamp post…

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