The
design of lighting in cinema remains one of the most important elements of a
shot .
In
early cinema, natural lighting was crucial for the clarity of images . In early
cinema, the sun, as the strongest source of light, was a natural key light with
any surrounding reflective surfaces acting as fill and back lights.
By
the late 1910s and 1920s, most lighting had become artificial, and the function
of lighting had moved from simply lending light to a scene to using lighting to
add emotional nuance and depth to characters and space.
The
cinematographer or lighting director would control the amount of light that
enters any scene, and, through the manipulation of light and shadows, how we
understand the cinematic world.
The three-point system forms the basis of most film lighting. This system is composed of three lights:
1.
the key light,
2.
the fill light and the
3.
back light.
The
key light provides the main source of illumination, while the softer fill light
‘fills’ out the shadows cast by the key light on faces and the
background.
Today,
you can still see directors on exterior shoots using the natural light of the
sun to define characters and reflectors as fillers to bounce light back unto
surfaces.
A
back light completes the triad of lights by subtly defining character outlines
and separating the actor from the background to achieve a three-dimensional
look.
Early
filmmakers would often deliberately place the back light behind their stars
with the intent of creating a ‘HALO EFFECT’ around their head to emphasize
their virtue.
Lighting
as an ELEMENT OF MISE-EN-SCÈNE is rigidly controlled by the lighting director
to imply meaning. Through varying different levels of key, fill and back
lighting the specific world of a film.
Lighting
is important for PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT. Through its presence it can reveal
something about a character, and thereby deepen the meaning in a story.
Conversely the absence of light and presence of shadows can also tell us more
about the inner state of characters and the tone of a film than words or
actions alone can always disclose.
Lighting
can produce A DIVERSITY OF CONTRASTING meanings. For instance, it can aid in
enhancing realism in a scene, but it can alternatively be used to create
subjective spaces that expose the mental workings of characters. It can make a
character appear angelic .
Soft
lighting, typically some type of diffused lighting, is often used for BEAUTY
SHOTS or TO SOFTEN THE APPEARANCE OF THE ACTOR.
Soft
light hides wrinkles and other undesirable marks on the body in order to create
a FETISHIZED IMAGE OF BEAUTY, CONTRAST IN THE IMAGE. ,INNOCENCE OR
VULNERABILITY.
According
to Richard Dyer, glow remains key to idealized representations of white women,
especially in black & white cinema.
THE
KEY LIGHT, as THE STRONGEST SOURCE OF ILLUMINATION, is also a hard light.
HARD
LIGHTING CAN BE DEFINED AS LIGHTING THAT CASTS SHARP AND DEFINED SHADOWS, IN
OTHER WORDS, AS LIGHTING THAT SHOWS THE SILHOUETTES
AND (IM) PERFECTIONS OF THE BODY.
A
SPOTLIGHT, the unfiltered light of a harsh sun or single uncovered bulb in a
small dark room can all be sources of hard lighting. The hard lighting is creating
a dramatic CHIAROSCURO EFFECT that highlights her fairness against the
blackness of clothing and background.
The beauty of the image transcends the action of the narrative, and the DELIBERATE USE OF LIGHT fosters the audience’s involvement in the screen.
Lighting can be HIGH KEY OR LOW KEY, emanate
from different sources and directions, and, influence the look and feel of a
scene through its color.
In
contrast to high key lighting, low key lighting is characterized by ITS DARKER,
SHADOWY LOOK.
Low
key lighting is most often used in the genres of horror, thrillers, and film
noir to stylistically depict dark social conditions and experiences.
For example, in the crime film, The Godfather
(1972), Francis Ford Coppola uses low key lighting as a means to create
character.
The
particular use of LOW-KEY LIGHTING here has the double effect of shading or hooding.
THE LOW KEY LIGHTING aids in the expression of our entry into an enigmatic (mysterious)world.
A
different approach to lighting darker skin tones to highlight not only the
beautiful diversity of skin tones across ethnicities but also to light clearly
for character mood and film genre.
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