In Filming, What is a Gel Used For?
The use of gels in filmmaking is something that many aspiring filmmakers question at first. Wondering what they are for and why. In fact, it’s very common for a new filmmaker to ask, “In filming, what is a gel used for?” This is because there are actually several different creative uses for gels in production. As filmmakers evolve and grow in their careers. They often find new opportunities to incorporate gels into their everyday filmmaking and production processes.
What is a Gel?
Colored gels represent transparent sheets of polyester. That are available in a wide variety of hues and can be used for many different purposes on the set. These color gels might appear similar to a piece of vinyl or transparent sheets.
While gels are used to alter the tone of light and produce a different color temperature. Filmmakers often find seemingly infinite uses for these useful colored strips as their creativity, and their filmmaking skills, evolve.
Types of Gels Used in Filming
We told you that gels can be used to achieve many different desired looks and that their uses are nearly endless. That’s because there are several types of gels and so many colors.
Gels that are used in filming will fall within one of three categories of use including:
- Diffusion gels – Use these to soften light.
- Artistic gels – Use these to to create a desired effect or look such as a party, nightclub, or emergency scene.
- Color temperature adjustment gels – Use these to adjust the light temperature. Such as when fluorescent lights appear too “orange” or when outside light is quickly feeling overly “blue”
These different types of gels used for filmmaking have the power to transform your space into the desired scene that your characters will be filmed within.
Popular Gel Uses in Filming
As we dive further into answering your original question, “in filming, what is a gel used for?” It’s important to focus some attention on the countless ways in which these gels can be used.
Some of the most popular uses of color gels on the set include recreating:
- Sunsets – using a ½ CTO gel atop a straw gel to create the Golden hour hue.
- Moonlight – using a steel blue gel, or if it’s a super bright moonlight you desire, try a silver gel.
- Fire – using two full CTO gels to produce the appropriate color temperature and then incorporating a dimmer as well as a cookie to produce the desired action of the flickering flames.
In Summary
Gels are also used to create party scenes, specifically the use of red color gels to heighten the level of romance within a scene or blue hues to signify blacklights.
And the tones that are to be most expected as a result. Color gels may even be used to recreate the appearance of a streetlight, a passing car, or an ambulance arriving on scene.
In filming, what is a gel used for? The answers are as endless as the imagination and creativity of those working the film set as many of the most talented lighting artists have endless ideas when it comes to the looks they create on a set.