Lighting options

      At this point I am pretty sure I will be shooting at least some portion of my film opening in the dark. I already decided I want the primary footage to go down in my neighborhood park but I just recently figured I would shoot in the dark to intensify the situation and make it more thrilling as there is an element of surprise in what exactly lies in the shadows of the shots. Also, I figured there is more options in terms of lighting choices that can go into creating the exact setting and mood I am looking for.

      I began to look online for resources that could give me an idea of lighting techniques to use and how exactly to go about using them and what impact they can have on the shots. I came across this amazing page where components such as light direction, light quality, light intensity, and others are discussed. The page even included two videos that talked about the difference between soft and hard light and how to create a black background respectively. The main takeaways I got from this page were as follows: The differences in effect between soft and hard light and how to make a hard light source produce soft light. The man in the video displayed the many ways you can soften light including reflecting off of certain surfaces. I will be sure to use this knowledge when lighting my night scenes at the park.