Lighting

Lighting

There are multiple forms of lighting used within films to help create different effects such as shadowing, silhouettes and no shadows at all. A standard light set up looks like this:

The different terminology and use of lighting are:

• Back lighting: This helps to counteract the key light and create silhouettes.
• Key lighting: This is the biggest most influential use of light, it has the biggest impact.
• Filler lighting: This helps to soften harsh shadows that the key and back lights create.
• Under-lighting: This is where the light source come from below the subject creating eerie shadows and a sinister look. (typical in thrillers)
•  Top lighting: This lighting is placed above the subject and create a glamorous look highlighting features
• Low key lighitng: Uses key and black lighting producing a sharp contrast known as the chiaroscuro effect.
• High key lighting: Here more fillers are used and the lighting appears more realistic. This is the most common form.
• Film noir: This is a form of lighting where there is constant use of low-key lighting creating a dark and sinister feel. It creates a sharp look and contrast.

Here are a few famous examples of these types of lighting (mainly film noir):

Noseferatu(1922):

This film is a Hitchcock movie based on the tale of Drakula. It has always been noted that Hitchock explains his movies visually rather than through dialouge. This is a film noir movie which has an eerie feel to it due to the intensity of shadowing. Low key lighitng here would have been used. The reason why this scene of the movie is so great is that rather than seeing 'Drakula' and his actual hand grasp the womens heart we see the shdow of him. His eerie shadowed hand creeps over her body, we can see that his fingers are long and twisted through the shadows. This creates a sense of fear and thrill. Low key lighting is often used in thrillers.

Suspicion:

In this scene Hitcock again uses light and shadows greatly. There is no dialouge in this scene but the thrill and plot is explained all through the lighting. Notice how the husbands face is black as he appears at the top of the stairs. The fact that we can not see his expression or even his characteristics suggest suspicion and that maybe he is not as much of a 'loving husband' as he makes out to be. Wihtin in this famous scene also note that the glass of milk stands out as clear as it possibly could when being carried up the dark stairs. Hitchcock actually placed a light in the cup of milk so that it would stand out that obviously. It helps to create a chiaroscuro effect and highlights that the milk is of importance. is it poisioned? creating enigma codes. This would have been done through low key lighthing and a back light.

The big combo:

The Film Big Combo is another Alfred Hitchock movie which too is a film noir movie. These images are shots taken from the famous scene whereby the man on the run is finally caught. I have included this in this post as the lighting uses a chiaroscuro effect and is done very well. The 'airport' scene is in fact filmed in the car park of the studio. The mist helped to cover this up and sound effects of planes added to the effectivness of passing the car park off as an airport. The lighting also helped to do this. The light helps too add an eerie effect and uses low-key lighting.