Lighting and Camera Style Guide

Before diving into lighting and cinematography properly, I have compiled some ideas for our style, and some guidelines for myself to follow when lighting…

Aspect Ratio

The first key question was, what aspect ratio is Comfort Zone? The go-to is 1920×1080, but I envision something more cinematic, and also more high quality. 4K was off the charts due to realistic render time, so I started with 2K.

The standard DPI for 2K is 2038xX, corresponding to the 16:9 ratio, but I wanted to go as close as possible to cinema widescreen, i.e. 2.35:1. Upon researching this, I found out that the 2K DPI standard for cinemas is 2048×858, which equates to a slightly wider 2.39:1 aspect ratio.

Lenses

Rendering in Cycles, you’re a little limited by lens variety. You can add depth of field and change the focal length, but it lacks what I love about a real camera, which is the uniqueness of the glass. I think these choices are a vital part of cinematography, so I researched ways we could unlock these tools in our own digital space. The answer: Lens Sim.

The three of us split this add-on at my request as I believe this will be vital in making our film stand out, and feel as close to studio as possible. It really expands the control and customisation that Blender offers for cinematography, and gives a lot more to chew on for me as DOP.

Eye reflections

Another vital element was eye reflectors – which I am going to include in every shot.

I did this by creating a small, emissive cylinder which I think parented to the eye bones using Pose Mode.

Breakdown

Act One: Sunday Blues

These two shots are the shots that define our visual style. Everything rolls of of this moment. So, it has to feel right. The lighting, camera, and colour grade went through many iterations and changes. 

The first attempt was exciting – to see the city, to see Charli, to see the apartment. This was a quick(ish) three-point set up, with a key light, side light and eventually rim light. But I felt it was lacking emotion a bit. It felt more like a product shot, with the straight-on central framing. I asked myself, how can we feel closer to Charli? Not in proximity, but in framing and composition. 

I decided to slightly angle the shot about 30 degrees. Alongside this, I lit Charli with a smaller, custom rectangular area light on the top left of her head. This effectively separated Charli from the background, and played in to the painterly feel of our art style.

This became a key stylistic choice that followed through many of the lighting set ups. I also added in the eye reflectors I discussed earlier, which made a vast difference.

The back-shot of Charli overlooking the city was another hugely important piece, being the opening shot. It really brings the audience into our world, and sets the scene for the story. I started with blurring the city out, and Charli in focus, but I think this made it a little unclear and muddied. Flipping this, and having Charli be out of focus made the world feel bigger, and Charli smaller – which is exactly what I wanted. 

That being said, I still felt like there wasn’t a clear distinction between her and the background – a little like what I’d learned on the previous shot – so I brightened the warmer right-hand side light to outline her silhouette. This colour contrast was key, too, in establishing the apartment as her warm, easy, comfort zone, and the city beyond as something cold intimidating.

The remaining shots in this scene fell into place according to these first ones, as for continuity I needed to make sure I aligned them with the light positioning.

The Apartment

The lighting in the apartment was very different from the balcony – so much so I actually look at them as different scenes now (a little too late to change that due to all our file naming and schedule!). 

I wanted to bring in more of those warm hues that were hinted at in Scene 1. The goal here was to have this comfort zone almost drawing her into this false sense of security closing in from its corners. That comes full circle later with her sketchbook in the void (more on that soon). It allowed for those oranges, yellows and reds to act as a bit of a highly late, and silhouette her with as this overwhelmingly blue flood of city lights. I used volumetric lighting to give that directional, pointed god ray. I thought there was something fun about taking a god ray which are typically golden and associated with the sun, and making it a bold, electric blue. It also made for a cool gradient with the warmer lights in the left. 

This next frame was where I specifically learned the importance of the key light. I went really back and forth on the shot where she falls back onto her couch, but what sold it in the end was the key light on her face (which is arguably from her laptop, but also, emotional lighting > accurate lighting). It draws you to her, and her expression into that moment – which is highly considered and important. 

After this, she steps back into the blueness of the window. I keyframed a light here to reflect that flash, and subtly held it at a slightly cooler and more jarring level for the rest of the scene. 

Act Two: Mind’s Eye

Café

The café is similar to the apartment in atmosphere, and intentionally so, but the blue is omitted. We go all in on the orange/warm light here.

At first glance, these colours might suggest comfort, but here they are used to create a subtle sense of unease. I wanted the warmth to feel almost suffocating, turning what is usually inviting into something strangely clinical and even apocalyptic.

I also turned to Hjem in the uni for a realistic example, and it also made sense thematically with our short being a reference to our uni experience.

I used gobo lights to emulate the scattered, natural lighting from trees.

This visual choice reflects Charli’s emotional arc. The comfort that initially draws her in becomes her discomfort. To emphasise this, I leaned into slightly eerie lighting: whites that feel stark, oranges that feel artificial, and yellows that verge on being unsettling. The café becomes a space that blurs the line between safety and anxiety, reinforcing the idea that familiar, comfortable environments can become a source of anxiety, uncertainty and loneliness.

The Street

I wanted the shot to draw focus to the crossroads, a narrative nod to the fact that the film is about a major choice Charli has to make about moving forward.

To achieve this, I used a large, bright area light stretching along the road to elongate her shadow and clearly outline her silhouette. The light leaks you see on the ground aren’t gobos like the ones I used elsewhere, they’re actually transparent paintings made in Procreate, with a subtle ramp emission applied. The result is highly textured and really brought the scene to life compared to the initial setup.

I then applied a similar approach to the university view, bringing those eerie, sandy orange hues across the scene. It went through a few variations before I landed on something that felt both cinematic and visually in line with the crossroads shot. In the end, lighting the top of the university helped to better define the environment, and I added a thin area light across the tops of surrounding buildings to subtly bridge the two shots. My thinking is that the stark shadows are caused by distant, taller buildings blocking the low sun.

The above was an initial camera and lighting test for Charli on the street. I used a wide angle lens and shot from below to emphasise the city street and its scale in comparison to her. I framed it so that the bridge of the university creates a border around her and draws the eye. Unfortunately this shot was cut due to time, but I plan to add this in for the EOYS! I think it’ll be a good addition to spend a little more time with her here before the signs start attacking.

I still applied this lighting approach and colour script to the other shots in this scene though, making sure she still has that rim light behind her that we introduced in the wides.

For the fall scene, I parented a focus empty to Charli, using the same technique as the eye reflections, which allowed her to be in focus and the background to remain blurred the whole time.

Act Three: Revelation

The Void

The void scene was where I needed to be most abstract. It needs to feel like a dream. I looked at quite a bit of inspiration for this scene, including Frozen II, Ahsoka, Star Wars Rebels and Soul.

Working with Caity’s moving volume scatter cube, I built out an initial set-up as seen below, which I continued to develop. It began with more of a key light, but I focused on making it more dramatic and back-lit.

I keyframed lights signifcantly (both in terms of brightness and hue) to align with Caity’s keyframed volume cube.

I brought the thematic idea of the warm vs. cool to a head when Charli has to make a choice about the sketchbook. I spent a lot of time getting this balance right. I wanted to make it look almost like the glow of a buttercup. This symbol of hope, as it effectively asks her to let it go.

I wanted the ending feel to be distinctly different to the cafe, but still warm, reflecting a more confident sense of understanding in our character. I used a low sky dome, and aligned it with the daytime city I created earlier.