Between films I set up a problem and shoot until I understand it. Each one below states what it was testing and what it got wrong. Nothing goes on this page unless it was testing something.

Study 01 : Separating an actor from the room

One kitchen, one practical, no space behind the subject. The goal was three to four stops between background and face. Didn't get it. Light fell on the whole room instead of the actor, and the fix turned out to be negative fill and controlling spill, not more fixtures.

Study 02 : Three contrast passes, two 20W lights

The same shot three ways, extreme contrast down to low con, to find which one the script actually wanted. The simple setup held up. I judged exposure on false colour alone; a meter reading would have confirmed the separation instead of me guessing at it.