Since the educational boot camp in 2010, I have tried to find time in between projects to schedule another cinematography class. The first one was a phenomenal experience and we still keep in touch with many of those graduates. Watching people who were leery of using the Canon 5D on Day 1 grow in confidence and skill with shooting with it on Day 2 was inspirational to me.
The Power of Lighting Techniques and Camera Composition
This new tour is very different than the one four years ago. This time I will travel to 25 cities from September 14 to November 16 around the United States and Canada. But the big idea remains the same: building confidence with the tools that propel your career, and The Illumination Experience is that in a nutshell.
I have spent six months creating this curriculum based on questions and discussions from our blog. Lighting techniques and camera composition is the focus of this course tailored to open your mind in new ways. I have designed this experience to be immersive, interactive, and intimate using simple techniques to build confidence with any budget.
Many of you have expressed that you feel daunted by the task of lighting. Here is what you all can expect this fall:
The Illumination Experience Overview
The Illumination Experience Tour will teach you the essential fundamentals of cinematic lighting. The specific lighting principles and techniques that you learn will become powerful tools in your arsenal. They will help enhance and sustain a compelling story and build your effectiveness and confidence as an artist. The takeaway is being able to walk into any location or set and know how to light it with speed, accuracy, organization, and the highest level of artistry.
The tour gives you access to two different learning opportunities. The 11-hour Illumination Workshop will cover lighting theory with live demonstrations in a highly interactive format that will give you full access to my “Lighting Playbook.” In 9 of the 25 cities, a follow-up day of detailed hands-on instruction with camera composition, lens choice, and lighting nuances will take place at the Experience Master Class where you will do the lighting yourself with me as your lighting guide.
Day 1:
THE ILLUMINATION WORKSHOP
At the Illumination Workshop, I will teach you how to design, develop, enhance, and implement the storytelling process with lighting and camera. You will learn how to determine which qualities of light to implement for any scene by utilizing script analysis, storyboard preparation, lighting schematics, and shot lists. Using live demonstrations, I will show you how to manipulate the quantity and quality of light, how to diffuse, how to use color, how to create depth and separation, and how to block scenes in a way to deliver the greatest emotional impact. I will show you exactly how I light using a three step-process of DISCOVERY, CREATION, and EXECUTION.
Discovery
In the DISCOVERY phase, I will teach you how to decide the optimal light placement for your scene. You will learn how to determine the direction of light by using a light study — the core of the learning experience, and the technique I use to determine the quality, quantity, color, and height of the key light.
Key Light
The KEY LIGHT is the first stroke on your canvas. Its placement is the most important decision you will make. It dictates how you will block the scene, determines where the camera should go and is the basis for all other lighting decisions made. Once you have placed the KEY LIGHT, you modify and enhance your mood of the scene with the choices you make about your BACK and FILL lights.
Backlight
The BACKLIGHT creates and enhances separation and depth. I will teach you how to use Rim and Edge lighting to make a specific emotional statement: For example, do you use a soft and creamy backlight to deliver an intimate statement, or a hard backlight to deliver stark separation for a more decisive feeling?
Fill Light
The FILL LIGHT is the light of character emotion. It is the icing on the lighting cake. It gives the audience eyes into the soul of the actor. I will teach you how to adjust the quality and quantity of fill light to fine-tune the emotional impact of the scene as well as how to match the fill to the characteristics of the environment in which the scene is shot.
Creation
The CREATION phase is where I will show you how to match the theory with reality. What is each character’s camera emotion and how does that determine the lighting emotion? Where should the light come from when you walk into a room? What is the motivation for the light? Is it stylized? Is it real? How is it supposed to feel and look? What is the mood and tone? Using script reading, reference books, and other sources of motivation and inspiration, I will show you how to draw a light schematic. Using the director’s vision, the mood and tone of the script, and the principle of “beautiful reality” as the basis for our decisions.
Execution
The EXECUTION phase is where it all comes together on set. Using actual scenes from films I have shot, we will execute the plan using lighting schematics drawn in the DISCOVERY and CREATION phases. Setting the scene with the keyframe image, we’ll light the set together, delivering soft, semi-soft, or hard light from the proper direction. I will show you which types of lights and lighting modifiers to choose to adjust. Then, the quality and quantity of light to match the findings of our light study. We’ll also explore lens choice and camera placement. Then, how to apply specialized techniques to the scene, and make the proper visual adjustments for both high-end sensors and DSLR cameras.
Day 2
This is where the rubber meets the road, baby!!! We will get in the trenches together and really understand the subtle lighting and lens choices I make. This is the difference between something looking good and something looking spectacular as well as being emotionally connected.
Hands-on and immersive are an understatement. You will be put in the proverbial fire, under time restraints to be able to deliver your vision. All of the attendees become your co-collaborators in pulling off the impossible. That is what we do every day. We are like magicians, coming in and taking what would look ordinary if you just plopped a camera down and turn it into something that looks and feels and transports you to a place that is extraordinary.
Our mission is to get you ready for all different lighting conditions with techniques and tools to increase your scope, depth, and lighting dimension. Lighting scenes that are set today, and then turned to late afternoon golden hour. Assisting you with taking a white-walled set and lighting it for night with contrast and color, and then immediately transforming the same set to a day-lit scene.
These are the requirements that I am asked to do on a daily basis as a cinematographer. Now, I will pass them on to you. Personally!!!
Looking for a City near YOU?
Schedule 1-on-1 Video Call with Shane Hurlbut, ASC
Looking for mentorship in the film industry? Schedule a 1-on-1 meeting with Shane Hurlbut, ASC today! This is where you can get expert advice from an industry professional on your career or a particular project.
About Filmmakers Academy Cinematographer Mentor Shane Hurlbut, ASC
Director of photography Shane Hurlbut, ASC works at the forefront of cinema. He’s a storyteller, innovator, and discerning collaborator, who brings more than three decades of experience to his art. He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, the International Cinematographers Guild/Local 600, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hurlbut frequently joins forces with great directors: McG’s Netflix Rim of the World and The Babysitter, plus Warner Bros. We Are Marshall and Terminator: Salvation; Scott Waugh’s Need for Speed and Act of Valor; and Gabriele Muccino’s There Is No Place Like Home and Fathers and Daughters. His additional film credits include Semi-Pro; The Greatest Game Ever Played; Into the Blue; Mr 3000; Drumline; 11:14, which earned Hurlbut a DVDX nomination; and The Skulls. Notably, his television credits include the first season of AMC’s Into the Badlands.
Filmmakers Academy Premium Lighting Courses
By Shane Hurlbut, ASC
Director of photography Shane Hurlbut, ASC works at the forefront of cinema as a storyteller, innovator and discerning collaborator, who brings more than three decades of experience to his art. He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers, the International Cinematographers Guild/Local 600, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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