3rd Outing: Reflector Testing

One thing that was new during this attempt at filming was the use of a light reflector which we had never used before, We attempted to use it to add light to our subjects face while filming, to create a highlight effect which when edited would make a high contrast image. It took us a few attempts to get used to using the reflector since it was a new technique to us, we decided to assign the task of operating the reflector to one of our group. The use of the reflector seemed to help our shots, as during the time the weather was very overcast so there was limited natural light and the reflector helped amplify that, we found that it created a nice highlight effect on our subjects facial features when filming a close up shot, this made it look of a higher quality shot than without the use of the reflector.

These are just a few shots of our group using the reflector during filming, we hadn't used it before so we needed to attempt each shot a few times as well as adjusting its position before we began filming. It proved to be quite useful in improving the look of our shots and brings up the possibility of it creating a high contrast image during editing, which would fit with the style of New Wave.

New Wave
The use of a reflector during a film shoot is considered a new wave technique as it is a low budget form of lighting that can be provided without cost, the reflector makes use of natural light that can enhance or diffuse the lighting within a shot. The reflector is small and highly portable and can be easily manipulated to create different light conditions in both exterior and interior light. Another way the reflector is a New Wave technique is that a reflector can be homemade from simple materials as a way to light a scene for almost no cost and still create high quality lighting effects.



Reflector Tracking Shot Test from Lewis Mercer on Vimeo.

This footage shows the reflector in use, we used the gold side of side of the reflector to diffuse the natural light of the surroundings to create a soft light effect on the subject during the shot, as well as this we also used a wide aperture of f/2.6 to ensure the subject in the foreground is in focus and it absorbed enough light to show the effects of the reflector since it was an overcast day when we performed this shot.