VIDEO SCHOOL / LESSON

BEHIND THE SCENE

Making a video can be a one person production but the more elaborate your ideas get, the more likely you'll need a crew to execute your vision. Below is a list to give you an idea of how all the work is divided up on a basic crew. Keep in mind that this focuses mostly on the on-set personnel, and even still it doesn't include every single crew member. What you'll find below are some of the most common folks you'll find on a set. The amount of people you need to help make your film vary widely from a simple duo to many hundreds of crew members. A Producer is a key coordinator for the production. They are involved in many if not all aspects of the production from start to finish. They often have a hand in the production process, creative, financial, and administrative. An Executive Producer is usually the main investor of the project. The Production Manager works alongside the executive producer and helps to prepare the budget, oversees the preparation of the production team, and various day to day production decisions. The Director is in control of all creative aspects of the film. They are the primary person responsible for the storytelling, creative decisions and acting of the film. The 1st Assistant Director is in charge of basically running the set. As an assistant to the director, they organize the crew, prepare shooting schedules and organize the entire flow of all production activity. The 2nd Assistant Director distributes documents such as scripts and call sheets to the cast and crew. They also

help supervise the set with the 1st AD. The Script Supervisor's job is to keep track of what has been shot in accordance with the script including what changes has been made and how to prevent any continuity errors going forward. The person who makes the chief lighting, framing, and composition decisions is the Cinematographer, often referred to as the Director Of Photography (or DP). The director will often tell the DP what they want the shot to look like and then they will work their magic, making sure everything looks great to help achieve the director's vision. On smaller sets, the DP will often double as the camera operator. The Camera Operator is the person in charge of working the camera to capture the scenes. The 1st Assistant Camera is often the focus puller. Their job is to make sure the shot is always in focus. On smaller productions, the camera operator will also handle this job. The 2nd assistant camera is the person who writes all of the shot information on the slate and holds it in front of the camera before each shot. The slate (or clapboard) is the device you write all of the shot information (shot number, take number, etc) as well as the clapper to help sync sound. It's the Production sound mixer's job to make sure the sound is being properly recorded and mixed on set. They will hold the sound mixer and listen with a pair of headphones to monitor the sound. A Boom Operator is the person that holds the boom microphone near the action. On smaller sets, the production sound mixer can also take on this roll. The Key Grip is in charge of supervising camera cranes, dollies, platforms and all on set equipment on a set.

The Gaffer is responsible for the design and execution of the lighting plan on set. They work closely with the DP to make sure everything is lit correctly. Also referred at as the Chief Lighting Technician. The Special Effects Supervisor is in charge of the creative and technical issues of visual effects on a project. They take care of anything that will break, explode, burn, collapse, etc. and work with the director on blocking the actors' so they don't get in harm's way. The Production Designer is responsible for creating the visual appearance of the film. Working closely with the DP and Director they are in charge of the look of all settings, costumes, character makeup, and more. Also known as the Creative Director. The Art Director develops, coordinates, and oversees the overall design of the production and is responsible for everything you see on screen. On a smaller crew, this is also the Set Designer. The Props Master is in charge of finding and managing all the props that appear on screen. The Props Builder's job is to construct all custom props that are needed for production. Also referred to as Propsmaker The Make-up Artist / Hairdresser is the person that dresses and maintains the cast's hair and makeup throughout the shoot. It's the Costumer Designer / Supervisor's job to design, obtain, assemble, and maintain the costumes for a production.

Storyboarding Storyboards are tiny drawings that show each scene of your film creating a blueprint for your movie. They can help you keep your budget down by knowing exactly what you need to shoot and help translate to your vision to the rest of your crew. In the following video you will see some of the basic tips and rules for storyboarding. You'll learn ways to draw motion, number your boards, and how to frame your actors. You dont need any fancy art degree or high end computer to be a storyboarder. All you need is a pencil, piece of paper, and your imagination. There all kinds of storyboards, from simple stick figures to fully colored drawings cut to music. The important thing is that they both make a clear and concise plan for what you need to shoot or animate. Here are some more video examples of different styles of storyboards: Now lets start with the basics: The size of your boards can vary, depending on what you are shooting. If you know that your video is going to be in a wide screen format draw your board according to that size. The boards I drew below are pretty loose but it gets across what the shot will be like but is vague enough for interpretation. Its important when drawing your boards to number each scene. Its a good idea to number your shots so you dont get confused later. When a shot is one motion that requires multiple boards, create a secondary numbering system. For example if your first shot requires three boards of motion label them 1a, 1b, and 1c.

Ex. 1

Make sure you draw your actors in frame and have a clear and consistent background. Feel free to draw outside of your frame as well if you are feeling constricted. Look at the example below, you'll notice that the scene extends outside the frame of the storyboard. This is a good way to not make your image feel cluttered and help loosen up your drawing. Ex. 2

When showing a camera movement there are a number of different ways to draw motion.

Ex 1. Arrows- these are a very standard way to communicate which way you want your camera to move. Just follow the arrow!

Ex 2. Motion Lines- motion lines are little more subtle but can emphasize velocity towards an object.

Ex 3. Multiple Frames- this can be a great way to present a slow creeping zoom, or a fast paced one depending on what you are going for.

You can even try combining all three methods to create your own way of showing motion.

Behind the Glass Part 1: An Introduction to Lenses

A camera without a lens is like macaroni without cheese, a ship without sails, Simon without Garfunkel... you get the point. Your lens is an important, multitasking gadget, allowing you full control over a variety of aspects to your shot. Aperture, focus, and focal length are all dictated by this handy device. But don't take our word for it! Camera guru, Vincent LaForet is here with Blake to show us the basics on what lenses do and how to pick one that is best for your project. Check out the video below!Aperture The aperture is the diameter of the lens opening. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film or image sensor. The aperture also performs a critical function for focus. As the aperture decreases in size, the background and foreground gain sharpness. This zone of sharpness is called the depth of field.Aperture is expressed as F-stop and will be indicated on your camera in abbreviations that look like this: F2.8 or f/2.8. The "F" stands for the focal length of your lens, and the number indicates the diameter of the iris opening. (For a more in-depth explanation, head over to this lesson!) Focus Ring Located around the barrel of your lens, this helps you focus the image. Some lenses will also have an auto focus switch, which means that your lens can do the focusing for you on those days that your eyes are feeling a little tired. Prime or Fixed Lens vs Zoom Lens A prime lens has a fixed focal length, whereas a zoom lens has a handy ring that allows you to switch to different lens equivalents within the single lens. But don't knock prime lenses entirely! They may be less versatile than a zoom, but they often have superior optical quality, are lighter weight, smaller bulk and cheaper.

Pro tip... No matter what kind of lens you're using, always try to zoom by foot (aka- walk yourself closer) to get near to the subject. This will always provide superior quality as opposed to trying to zoom in with the lens. A Lens for Every Occasion! Various lenses are suited for specific applications. Lets have a look at some common lenses and what they do. 16mm- An ultra wide lens, this bad boy distorts heavily, emphasizing objects in the foreground by making them look a lot larger than the background. Dynamic, but use with caution! 28mm- Standard for documentary and photojournalism to shoot cowboy shots, otherwise known as medium shots. 35mm- Another standard for documentary filming, also tight enough to shoot portraits. 50mm- Standard for cinema/video, it approximates the human eye's typical focal length. 85mm- A popular portrait, or "beauty" lens. Capable of making everyone look lovely! 200mm- The top of the scale for most people, this is a telephoto lens. Their inherent shallow depth of field makes them useful in eliminating unwanted foreground and background objects by simply throwing them out of focus. Great for sports photography! Now that we've had a friendly overview, let's take a closer look at the wonders of focal length and what that means for your video.

Behind the Glass Part 2: Focal Length

Focal length is an important aspect to keep in mind when you're deciding which lens to use to shoot your video. Different focal lengths will affect how your subjects appear in the shot and can even sway a viewer's opinion of your subjects. Watch the video to see how! When you use different lenses, you'll notice that even if you don't move the camera, the subjects in that image get larger or smaller. The longer the lens, the more compressed your image gets meaning things in the background will appear much larger than if you were using a wide-angle lens.

Wide angle lens - 16mm emphasizes the foreground and de-emphasizes the background. Be careful of image distortion while using this lens. Standard lens - 50mm shows the foreground and background subjects as just about the same sizes. Telephoto lens - 200mm has very little depth of field and highly compresses your image.

Shooting a dialoge scen can be tricky if you don't know which lens to use. To get a natural feel in your dialoge scenes, it's best to stick to mid-range lenses that don't distort or compress your subjects too much.

A 11mm lens is very wide and will distort the edges of your shot. Parts of your subjects will appear exaggerated and might look cartoony. A 200mm lens will make your subjects appear very close isolate them in the shot. A 50mm lens shows gives your subjects room so they can be easily placed in their scene. A 50 mm lens also won't distort your subjects, so they'll stay natural looking.

Pro tip... If you want to make someone look really good, use a longer focal length. The longer the lens, the more subtle someone's facial features become and that makes for a flattering portrait. In conclusion, not every lens is equal, but each of them can help you tell a story visually if you know how to use them. Still hungering for more lens know-how? In the final episode, Vincent and Blake teach you all about depth of field.

Behind the Glass Part 3: Depth of Field

Depth of Field refers to the part of the image that is in focus. A deep DOF allows both the foreground and background to appear in focus, while a shallow DOF will only allow focus on a single area or subject. F-stop Describes the size of the aperture opening. The lower the f-stop number, the bigger the aperture and the more light is able to reach the image sensor. A low f-stop (large aperture) results in a shallow DOF. A high f-stop (smaller aperture) gives a deep DOF. To dive into this further, take a look at our lesson on f-stop and aperture here. Shallow vs. Deep Shallow depth of field means that a subject is in focus but objects in front and behind it appear out of focus. Less DOF is often desired when shooting portrait, close-up and macro shots. Deep depth of field means that all or most of the picture is in focus from front to back. It is often used for capturing subjects in the distance. This is also preferable for documentary work, as you don't know how the subject will move and it is easier to pull focus.

Tripod Tricks
The world of video production can be a pricey place. Luckily, there are tons of quick tips and tricks that can help you create professional looking shots for practically nothing! This lesson focuses on the secrets a plain old tripod holds deep within those magical extending legs that can help take your videos to the next level. Tripod as dolly slider- If you retract one of the legs on a tripod you can use the remaining two legs as pivot points to smoothly move your camera back and forth. This effect can help add motion to a static shot, suspense to a bland scene, or to help emphasize an object. Just remember to carefully pitch your camera forward and back as you lean the the camera. This will help keep your shot level while still giving you that smooth slider effect we all love. Tripod as crane- Just like the dolly slider trick you again retract one leg and lean the camera on the remaining two. Since you're trying to emulate a crane shot though, you'll want to lean the camera far forward, almost to the ground and back. This effect can be exaggerated by extending the tripod to its maximum height. These types of shots are great for revealing moments in a scene or inversely moving from high to low to help emphasize a character or object. Tripod as steadicam- The weight of your tripod can actually help smooth out your shots. Just open up the legs

and grip the tripod from below the camera mount. The extra weight displacement should help keep small shakes to a minimum. This technique takes some practice to get right but with a nice smooth shot your video will look better. If you are unsatisfied with your footage, feel free to add some image stabilization during post. We used Final Cut Pro's 'Smoothcam' filter!

Rubber band for pans- If you take an everyday rubber band and place it on the handle of your tripod you can smooth out your panning shots. The extra tension provided by the rubber band will help make your pan shots smooth instead of jumpy. Just make sure to grip the camera firmly with your other hand as you lead the movement by pulling on the rubber band carefully. Remember that all tripods are different. Some of you might own a top of the line model while others might be stuck with your family's old handy-cam tripod. Make do with what you have and keep in mind that making videos is about being creative and solving problems, it's half the fun! Learning to shoot video isn't an easy task and these different tricks took us a few times to get just right so practice before using them on a serious video project. Give them a shot though and who knows, maybe you'll come up with your own tripod tricks.

5 Summer Vacation Video Tips

Here in the States, summer is still in full swing, and everyone knows that the warm months go hand-in-hand with prime vacation season. As video lovers, it's only natural to want to preserve those holiday memories to share with our pals and family members back home, but let's face it, sometimes our vacay recaps can turn into a bit of a snoozefest. 1. Let the location speak for itself! Show, don't tell. Think of the setting as one of the subjects of your video. You can still be the star, but let the scene have it's camera time, too. 2. Show us your friends. Video allows for candid moments. Try to capture your fellow travelers being themselves as opposed to herding them in front of notable landmarks and forcing them to say "Cheese!" (Though a little cheesiness never hurt anyone, see the Pro Tip below!) Take a look at Escape by Scott Foley for a good example of this. 3. Think in shots.

It's easy to get carried away and film everything you see, but this can make editing a bit of a headache. Have the final video in mind when you're shooting, and be selective. Try to shoot clips that vary in length. It's hard to edit down really long clips. 4. Document the "moments" you want to remember. Sometimes little things like a bottle of beer sweating in the sun can bring back the strongest memories. Try to notice the little things and give those moments some time in your video. If you watch a performance, there's no need to document the whole thing, just show a moment from it, and that's all you need. Think of your video as a highlight reel! 5. If you're having fun, chances are it's going to be fun to watch! If you're having a blast on your vacation, taking some video while you're in the midst of your happiness will preserve that time for the future! Sometimes it doesn't hurt to let one of your trusted travel companions to take some video of you, too. Pro tip... A fun alternative to those classic group vacation shots is what we call a 'fauxtograph', where you tell your subjects you are taking a picture but it's actually a video. Get everyone set up and then see how long you can get them to sit still. Trust us, it's a hoot!

POV (Point of View)

Point of View (POV) is a shooting technique that shows the perspective of a scene literally from a character or objects position in the setting. That's just a technical way of saying that it enables you to experience a scene first hand, by putting you in someone else's shoes. Let's dig into some examples to get a sense of what POV is and why it's used. Point of View (POV) is a shooting technique that shows the perspective of a scene literally from a character or objects position in the setting. That's just a technical way of saying that it enables you to experience a scene first hand, by putting you in someone else's shoes. Let's dig into some examples to get a sense of what POV is and

why it's used. First off, we'll start with a classic example, the music video for the Cinnamon Chasers, Luv Deluxe by director Saman Keshavarz. (Fun fact: This video was shortlisted in the 2010 Vimeo Festival and Awards!) Cinnamon Chasers, Luv Deluxe is shot entirely from the perspective of the protagonist. To do this, a custom made DSLR rig was attached to the main actor's head. Pretty crazy right? This gives you access to all of the action, emotion, movement, and overall insane drama from the main character's POV. In a sense, it limits your overall knowledge of the story, since you're only seeing one side of it, but it also helps you empathize with that character's experience. Again, these types of shots are used to help the audience step into the story and see it from a character's eyes. If you're trying to build your character's story, it can be a useful technique. Now let's look at some other applications. In recent years, we've seen a visual explosion from the action sports community with the use of helmet mounted POV cameras. It's now possible to experience everything from skydiving to race car driving from the athlete's POV, or this hypnotizing perspective from a surfer. Awesome, right? It's hard not to get caught up in the moment when you watch from this unique perspective, as we get to ride along with the biker, wrapped up in the action of every jump and landing. It's important to note that POV doesn't strictly apply to the perspective from a person's head. You can have a POV shot from a foot, shoulder, etc. It doesn't even have to be a person! Any object with a camera attached to it will give a POV shot. Here's a great example of object based POV by Chuck Patterson, who attached a camera to a paddle and was able to record sharks circling his surf board off the coast of southern California-Chuck is providing us with

the paddles' POV and because of that, we're able to peer into the water and get an eyeful of those huge and (hopefully) friendly shark visitors. Just to illustrate object based POV a bit more, here's a still image of a mailbox interior's POV-Not only can POV provide a unique perspective, it's also a great way to increase your shot variety, which generally helps to keep your audience engaged. POV is a powerful technique used often by many video creators, both amateur and professional alike, and it's absolutely worth exploring with your own filming.

Glossary of Common Video Terms

Here is a list of terms that are helpful to know when you're making or editing videos. Memorize them, there will be a quiz at the end of the list. After Affects is a software primarily used for creating motion graphics and visual effects. For more information, check out our lesson Getting Started with Adobe After Effects.

Aperture is the size of the opening within your lens that allows light onto the image sensor. Aperture is measured by f-number or f-stops. Aspect Ratio is the relationship between the width and the height of your video dimensions expressed as a fraction. The most common aspect ratios for video are 4:3, 16:9 and 1.85:1. Check out the diagram below for an approximation of those ratios.

Boom microphones are long, highly directional microphones. They are normally attached to boom poles to capture dialogue in a scene. They also can be mounted directly on cameras to capture long distance sound. For more information, check out our lesson on Capturing Good Sound

Close up is a shot composition where the frame is filled almost entirely with the subject's face. For more information, check out our lesson on Varying Your Shot Composition. Color Correction is when an editor digitally manipulates colors in post-production. For more information, check out our lesson An Introduction to Color Correction. Compression as it relates to video refers to reducing the amount of data in a video file. While it can take time to compress a video, it will upload faster, and also download quicker for anyone you choose to share the original file with. We strongly recommend you compress the videos you upload to Vimeo. You'll be able to upload more videos that way! Check out our recommended compression settings here. Cut-in also known as insert shots, typically show objects or props that a character is manipulating. For more information, check out our lesson on Varying Your Shot Composition.

Depth of Field (DOF) refers to the part of your image that is in focus. A deep DOF will show nearly everything in the frame sharply in focus. If you have a shallow DOF, a

narrow range within your video image will be in focus. A shallow depth of field allows for greater emphasis to be placed on your main subject.

Diegetic sound refers to the sound that is present and/or captured during the recording of the video. For more information, check out our lesson on Capturing Good Sound.

Digital Zoom is a method of giving an appearance of zooming without an actual optical lens change. This is accomplished by cropping the image to a centered area while maintaining the same aspect ratio. A Dolly is a piece of film equipment that runs on a track to create smooth camera movements. For more information, check out our lesson Do-It-Yourself Dolly and Shoulder Rig.

DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) This is a type of camera that uses a mirror to reflect the light coming through the

lens onto the viewfinder. When you press the shutter button on the camera, this mirror swings out of the way to allow light to reach the image sensor. For more information, check out our lesson on DSLR Mechanics.

Export refers to the process of assembling your edited video project into a single file that can then be played back on its own, shared, or uploaded. Exposure is the amount of time light is allowed to hit the sensor. The longer your exposure, the more light will get in and the brighter your image will be. Fade is the dissolve transition between a normal image and a black screen. When you dissolve from an image to black, its a fade out. When you dissolve from black to an image its called a fade in. Focal length is the distance from the lens to the image focus point inside the camera. A high focal length makes distance objects appear magnified while a low focal length give a wide view of the scenery facing the lens. Foley is the art of reproducing and creating sounds for film. For more information, check out our lesson on Foley Artistry.

A Follow Focus is a control mechanism that allows you to easily make changes on the focus ring of your camera lens. For more information, check out our lesson on Do-ItYourself Follow Focus. F-stop is a term used to describe the size of the aperture opening. The lower the F-stop number, the bigger the aperture. If the aperture is low, more light is able reach the image sensor. F-stop settings are normally displayed with a forward slash. Common f-stops are: f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, and f/22. A low f-stop number (large aperture) results in a shallow depth of field and a high f-stop (smaller aperture) gives a deep depth of field. For more information, check out our lesson on F-stops and Aperture.

Frame Rate is the rate at which a shutter opens and closes, or a sensor captures video during one second. The higher the shutter speed, the jerkier the motion will appear because the individual frames are sharper. Slower shutter speeds blur the motion which smooths the frames together. Typical frame rates are 24, 25, and 29.97, 30 and 50 and 60. Hot shoe is a mounting point at the top of some cameras that allow you to attach a flash unit, microphones or other accessories. Image Sensor is what your digital camera uses to convert an optical image into an electric signal that your camera interprets to produce the image you see. For more information, check out our lesson on Image Sensors. Importing refers to the process of transferring videos from your camera onto your computer or into a piece of editing software.

I.S.O is a camera setting in the digital cameras that changes how sensitive the sensor is to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor is to light, allowing you to shoot video in low light conditions. Low ISOs are used to shoot video in daylight and bright light conditions and provide more detail in the image. Here is a list of terms that are helpful to know when you're making or editing videos. Memorize them, there will be a quiz at the end of the list.

Varying Your Shot Composition

A fundamental part of visual storytelling is variety. If your entire video consists of one single shot, it's going to be hard to keep the audience engaged for the duration of the story. That's why in most videos and movies there are a variety of shots or compositions that are used to enhance the storytelling. Keeping in mind the tips from our lesson Framing and Composition, check out the most common types of these shots below. To help illustrate these various shots, we have taken still images from two recent Vimeo HQ videos, Vimeo Man and Texas Intern. Let's dive into these examples!

EWS - Extremely Wide Shot (or Establishing) Establishing shots are shown towards the beginning or end of a scene, to set the stage and show the full environment. Here we show the exterior of Vimeo HQ, so the audience knows where the story is about to take place.

WS - Wide Shot Wide shots show the whole subject and their surrounding environment. In this shot, we show Matt at his desk, but also leave it enough room in the shot so that we can see that others are present.

MS - Mid Shot The Mid Shot gets closer to the main subject, showing more detailed gestures and body language. Here is Matt coming upon Vimeo Man in disbelief.

MCU - Medium Close Up Medium Close Ups are just a touch closer than Mid Shots, but give greater detail, in this case it's emphasizing Matt and his obsession with all things Vimeo.

CU - Close Up Close Ups fill the frame almost entirely with the subject's face. This emphasizes a character's facial expressions and helps the audience understand their reactions. Here is a close up shot of the Texan, blowing smoke from his pistol while squinting his eyes.

ECU - Extreme Close Up Extreme Close Ups are super close to the subject, usually detailing just one part of their face, like the eyes or mouth. In this case, it's Vimeo Man's flashy glasses.

Cut-In Cut-Ins, also known as insert shots, typically show objects or props that a character is manipulating. For example in the shot above we see the Texan's pistol as he is firing it.

Two-Shot Two-Shots show two subjects in the frame and their spatial relation to one another. Usually both are positioned to fill up roughly the same amount of space within the frame. Two shots are often used during dialogue scenes like in the shot above where Andrea is explaining Vimeo to Matt.

OTS - Over The Shoulder Shot Over The Shoulder shots are also used in dialogue scenes to show conversations between two people but with an emphasis on a particular character's perspective. Here we see Dan and the Texan discussing modes of transportation. All of these common shot types emphasize different elements of your video. Whether it's the setting, a facial expression, or an object in an insert shot, they all help to tell the story by focusing the viewers attention. It's up to you as a video maker to tell your story in a series of shots, so think of what you want to convey and emphasize that with your shot selection. You'll find that a good dose of shot variety helps keep your audience engaged and watching, and that's a good thing!

3-Point Lighting
Three-Point Lighting is the basic lighting setup to use when you want to get great looking shots of people you're filming. It seems self-explanitory -- you want to light the subject so you can easily see them, but using a 3-point lighting set up will make your subject look awesome and you'll be instantly renowned as a professional. Three-point lighting is exactly what it sounds like. You light your subject from three different sources in order to control the shadows and balance the contrast. Three Light Sources:

Key: This is the main light source. It shines directly on the subject, usually from the front-right or frontleft. It provides the overall look and feel of the shot. Fill: The fill provides balance to the key by filling in the rest of the subjects face with a softer light. It comes in from the front-side opposite the key light. Back: The back light creates a nice rim of light around the back the subject, separating them from the background. It can also be called a "hairlight" or "rim-light".

For extra credit... A light source can be something other than an actual light with a bulb. Try using a large window for a key, or use a large piece of white cardboard to bounce for a fill. Use what's available!

How to Setup 3-Point Lighting:

1. Start in the dark. Begin with all of your lights off,

and as little other ambient light as possible. This will help you differentiate between the three lights that you will be adding. 2. Add your key light. Your key light is the brightest light in the scene and creates the overall feel of the shot. Adjust its brightness to your liking. It's recommended to angle the key light about 30 degrees the right or the left of the subject. Another good tip is to have the key light nice and high, to reduce shadows on the face. 3. Add your fill light. The fill light should be on the opposite side of the key, but still in the front. A good tip is to not make the key and fill symmetrical. The fill should be at face-level of the subject, and should fill in the remaining shadows. The intensity of the fill light should be about half of the key light. 4. Add your back light. And finally, the back light will separate your subject from the background. It can be placed anywhere behind the subject, but make sure to not get it in the shot! You'll want to angle it down from pretty high, so as to achieve a nice outline on the edge of the subject. 5. For extra credit... Colored gels can be placed over your lights to change the tone of your shots with color. They are available in all sorts of colors and add some fun to your scene.