What is Upstage Lighting? | Advanced Commercial Filmmaking 101

Want to create a cinematic commercial for any product? We're sharing a few tips on using upstage lighting techniques and utilizing natural sunlight. Use these lighting tips to add depth and contrast to any product commercial that you want to shoot.

Cinematographer Chetco Timmins shares his approach to creating the perfectly framed and lit holiday candle ad. He covers the basics of upstage lighting, and also shows us how to use a far-side key on human subjects and inanimate subjects alike. He walks us through 4 different lighting setups within the same location to demonstrate his go-to practices for filming a commercial. See how negative fill and creative light placement work together to pop the subject out from the background. Whether you call it a far-side key, reverse key, a 3/4 lighting setup, or upstage lighting, you can learn to utilize this simple concept on any project to create separation and visual interest.

We also discuss working with natural light in mind, and adjusting shot order according to when you have the best control of sunlight in order to get the best exterior shot. With these tips in mind, you will be able to use the sun as your primary light source without having a washed-out, overexposed image. No diffusion necessary! Also, see how Chetco uses blue light hour, and bokeh to his advantage for the final product shot.

Find out what other creative tips and happy accidents are revealed throughout the episode and let us know what you think of the final result at the end!

Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
0:32 - What is Upstage Lighting?
1:21 - Concept/Planning
2:12 - First Setup
2:49 - Hero Shot
6:01 - Outdoor Setup
7:15 - Final Setup
9:13 - Breakdown/Final Result
9:47 - Outro

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Summary:
Aputure's YouTube channel provides free high quality cinematography, lighting, and filmmaking educational content to help you take your film projects to the next level.

[gabrielcamargo]

I have no words to express how this content help's me. Thanks a lot !!!

[krisantoinette]

Love when you guys do these, they’re so helpful and it really connects the dots and answers a ton of questions.

[ddannh]

I like overhead lighting like many of you i see below, but i also just picked up the lantern diffuser and I love the way that light spreads as well.

[zachariahschrueder]

ive been watching this channel for a solid hour or 2 now. LOVE IT! keep up the great work

[melanienolley]

This lighting was nice for a candle spot.

[LianHammerDumas]

Always love soft light on a product with minimal but effective reflections. I also try using a contrasting color of the light depending on the product. Thanks for this!

[lauddp]

Top down lighting is another excellent option for product commercials. Nice soft overhead light source, a bounce and a neg is a good formula :)

[creatingaphotographer]

Firing a really directional light through glass objects to create shimmer for some depth between the foreground and the subject, to sprinkle in some personality. With the conventional lighting setups in the commercial vocab it's easy to just look like everything else, you need to make it your own.

[drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks for this, I love all the tutorials

[rowliv]

If we could have more planned Happy accidents😉 .

Incorporation of natural light in the scenes is always a bonus.

[LangstoniusRex]

THE. SUN. MOVES.
*i died*
I dont know how many times i have to explain that to people...

[AmanGupta-dimd]

Top lighting with added motion to the light is a great technique for product commercials 🙌

[claraschonthaler]

At 4:41 you say that you shouldn't direct the light directly at the subject in order to make it stand out from the background, but then the second example shows a bright subject and a dark subject. How is this look achieved then? With a light bounced at the subject? If so, how do you control it so well that the background doesn't get lit as well?

[killer]

Choosing and sticking to a contrast ratio!

[createtolive]

I love overhead lighting probably because im overly dramatic lol but it just gives such a captivating feel to the shots

[louisvanzyl]

I love chiaroscuro style of light to bring some mood and something different to a shot.

[nextlevelcraig]

6:54 Tape a Polar Pro Filter to the lens. #Thuglife 😂

[thejuankurtis]

Thanks for another helpful video!
Comment Question Answer: Using RGB lights to match the product colors; accenting those colors in the background.

[andyk]

My favorite for food commercials was to use a white plexiglass table, lit from underneath.

[orcsong]

Love these videos. So informative. Let’s check our lower third spelling though😉