Reviewer: Sophia E.

For an intermediate viewer, this DVD (as well as the entire set) is well organized and presents in a very clear way the principles and effects of lighting. Not only is Bill a good DP but a good teacher as well. Many examples are used and good description of lighting plans and tools are included with every example. If you're looking to know how to look at light and how to improve the outcome of your own productions, watch these!

Reviewer: Blake T.

This video is dated and gives 3-point lighting scenarios. If the rental cost was $5 it may be worth watching.

Reviewer: Paul S.

I watched all four videos in the series this past week.

Here’s what I liked.

The DVDs presented a lot of different scenarios and then explained them (for the most part) step by step. Well-drawn diagrams of each setup are also included, which helps the learning process. The author clearly knows his craft and selected a great variety of scenarios from which to learn. And I did learn a fair amount. Not just about where to put lights or silks for different situations but also things like putting lamps in shots on dimmers so they don’t dominate the shot or how to get a good saturated color image in the background.

Here’s what I didn’t like.

The series appears to have been shot in the 1980’s, which is distracting. At least one scene includes a guy with hair parted down the middle and a mullet.

Because the video is dated, the viewer may be left not knowing if lighting techniques are any different with the current digital video technology.

The voice-over guy “announces” instead of “communicates”. That’s what voice-over people did back then, and while it sounds good, it’s hard to follow what he’s saying. Even though I’m very interested in the subject, my mind kept wandering off, and I had to keep rewinding sections to see what I’d missed. This was by far the worst thing about the series, and by the fourth DVD, it was almost insufferable.

The author of the DVDs appeared in sound bites on a regular basis, and he communicated well. It’s a shame he didn’t narrate the whole thing.

The series makes use of a ton of lighting equipment – some of which is very expensive and the viewer will never have access too. In a way, it’s good to know what different kinds of lights can do. But on the other hand, most of the examples will never be replicated by the viewer. Unfortunately, the DVD did not give other lower-budget options. It just said things such as, “Holshevnikoff chooses (whatever kind of) light,” without ever saying what other light may have worked in that situation.

All of the setups deal with when you have time to light properly. There’s not much there for those who work in TV news under crazy time constraints and who just want to know how to light a scene decently as quickly as possible.

Finally, I don’t think Holshevnikoff ever once mentioned an umbrella – something present in so many lighting kits. I think he should have at least mentioned its pros and cons or even lit one or two scenes while using one. Could this be because his sponsors wanted to push far more expensive lighting setups instead? It makes you wonder.

Here’s a quick rundown on all four videos.

#1 – Very basic information mostly about 3-point lighting. Good stuff for beginners, but others won’t learn much, if anything.

#2 – Goes way beyond 3-point lighting. Some good stuff here both in indoor and outdoor lighting setups. He uses all sorts and sizes of silks, soft boxes, you name it. Virtually every scene uses different equipment (this is true of all the videos except #1).

#3 – Explains gels, how to use them, and when not to use them (such as keeping a lamp on in a room for a warmer feel). He also goes a little into filters, matte boxes, etc. May be worth watching if you don’t know this stuff already.

#4 – Talks about lighting backgrounds both when focusing on the room and when focusing on a person, such as during an interview (in fact, every DVD in this series deals with interviews at least some of the time). Also just barely touches on lighting fixed objects.

For me, the DVDs were worth renting despite their shortcomings. They average 50 minutes in length, so they cover a lot of material. If you can tolerate all the distractions and don’t mind hitting rewind often, you’ll probably come away with a better understanding of the lighting process. In fact, I’d like to watch parts of the last three DVDs again. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will. The narration is just too bad to sit through a second time.