Three point lighting

The key light sits to one side in front of the speaker and does the main modelling of the face. The fill light comes from the other side, weaker, softening the shadow so half the face is not black. The back light sits behind the person and catches the edge of the hair and shoulders, lifting them off the wall. Setting it up takes fifteen to thirty minutes, and the operator rebuilds it at every new location. It is not complicated, it is discipline.

Why even a layman sees it: an interview shot by a window with no lighting looks like a video call, the same person in three point lighting looks like a documentary. In corporate video that is the difference between a recording and a production, and it costs one case of kit and half an hour. A basic set of three lights costs about one shoot day, so for regular filming it pays for itself quickly.

How to prepare: we need a room where daylight can be controlled, because the sun moves over two hours and the colour of the image shifts with it. A bit of space behind the speaker helps too, a metre and a half at least, so the background can fall out of focus. And power, which sounds obvious until the nearest socket in a factory hall is twenty metres away. All three are settled with one email to the building manager.

When it is not used: on a production line during work, where you cannot light and you work with what is there. Likewise on reportage at an event, where building lights would take longer than the event itself. And sometimes raw light is the point, for instance in a video meant to look like an employee filmed it on a phone.

We always run the first lighting test on a person, not on a chair. A face reflects light differently from a seat back, and the difference is obvious on the recording. Try it today: look at your last corporate video and notice whether the speaker has a bright edge along their shoulders, or merges into the wall.