Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

158 FUNDAMENTALS
In addition to the light fittings already mentioned, there is one
which is neither one type nor the other. It resembles a micro-
phone boom arm, but in place of the microphone is a lamp which
can be swivelled and tilted by means of a control on the rear end
of the arm. It can be used to follow action or for unexpected addi-
tions to the lighting. This is known as a boomlight.
Light Application The subject of light control, i.e., techniques
of lighting, is entirely too long to be capable of adequate presentation
in a single chapter; in fact, a whole book is required. How-
ever, there are certain basic rules which are applicable to every
situation. With a sound grasp of these, the reader can build on
them for any situation which he may encounter.
The producer uses light in much the same way that an artist
does, except that the producer has a greater stake in its proper use,
for while the artist uses the play of light and shade of light to ac-
centuate and bring life to his canvas, the television or film pro-
ducer uses light as his medium, and unless he has light there is
no picture! So in effect he is painting with light. This is so true
that a highly experienced cameraman in Hollywood was moved to
write a book with just that title (Alton, John; Painting With Light.
New York, The Macmillan Co., 1949) and all readers, advanced
or beginner, are advised to read it if they are interested in a com-
prehensive story of lighting.
To shoot a scene, there must be enough light to cause a
chemical change to occur in the emulsion of the film. That is
usually quite easy to arrange by simply switching on four or five
flood or fill lights. True, it will produce a representation of the
scene on the film, but it will not be a picture. To the naked eye
of the observer in the studio it might appear to be adequate, but
when seen on television or film, it lacks detail, depth, contrast, and
sparkle; in other words, it is flat. What went wrong?
The answer to this is in the first sentence; there was enough
light to cause a chemical change to occur in the emulsion, but it
was uncontrolled. The "four or five" floods or fill lights did their