Illuminating The “Voices Of The Children” With Rosco Silk^® LED Soft Lights

Director, Editor and Composer Anne Meißner recently produced a documentary webseries called “Voices of the Children.” According to Meißner, this series, which was illuminated by Rosco Silk LED soft lights, was created in order to “give children a voice and contribute to a society in which children’s views are given more attention and recognition in their communities and beyond.”

Anne Meißner, together with Cinematographer Cristian Faur, quickly gained the trust of their young protagonists by interviewing them in their familiar surroundings. This necessitated travel to cities and villages throughout the German state of Thuringia. The children, all socially engaged in different ways, shared their dreams, passions and their worries as they described what connects them with their city, with Thuringia, and ultimately with Europe and the world. The webseries shows that the need for love, peace and justice is universal and common to all children's voices.

Anne Meißner interviews Jolina, 11.

Meißner combined their stories with abundant light, poetic settings, warm and vivid colors from their surroundings, and a lot of depth of field to convey the children’s sense of hope and their positive perspectives. In line with this vision, Anne and Cristian illuminated each of their interviews with a Rosco Silk LED soft light to create a bright, enveloping ambience. The fixture’s soft, unobtrusive light output helped to make the children feel comfortable and relaxed during the interview sessions.

Cristian Faur sets up the Silk LED fixture to illuminate the interview with Simeon, 12.

Even though they were only traveling with one light fixture, Anne and Cristian still shot their interviews using a 3-point lighting set up (key light + fill light + back light). They chose the Rosco Silk fixture as their key light because of its powerful-yet-gentle light output and its high CRI. The fixture was used together with a SoftBox to further soften and finesse the look and to remove harsh shadows. They used a reflector to bounce fill light from the Silk into the shot, and they used existing light from a window or a practical lamp in the room for back light. The Silk’s on-board color temperature control enabled them to match the Silk to existing sources in the room.

Interview set up with Stella, 15.

Because they were traveling so much from location to location, and because they were oftentimes setting up their shoots inside people’s homes, Anne and Cristian appreciated the fixture’s intuitive control and easy handling. “It was very important to be able to set up everything very fast, which was not a problem with the very easy and intuitive Rosco Silk LED light,” Anne commented. “We were very happy with the light quality as well as its robustness – it is built like a tank. Very helpful when you work with children running around.”

Interview set up with Jaret, 11.

To learn more about the “Voices of the Children” webseries and watch the upcoming episodes, visit www.kinderstimmen-thueringen.de. If you'd like more more information about the LED soft light fixtures Anne and Cristian used to film the documentaries, please explore the Silk LED product page on our website.