Film language- LIGHTING

Lighting helps to convey mood and atmosphere in a scene. It can also be used to guide the audience’s attention to a particular object, person or gesture. Lighting can also be used to cast shadows and build tension and suspense.

Back lighting: Light source is behind the person. If little or no light is used silhouettes are created. This causes the edges of the subject to glow, while the other areas remain darker. The back light is sometimes called hair or shoulder light, because when lighting an actor or an actress, backlighting will cause the edges of his or her hair to glow if he or she has fuzzy hair. This gives an angelic halo type effect around the head. This is often used in order to show that the actor or actress so lit is "good" or "pure". Backlighting helps to provide separation between the subject and its background.

In this image the backlighting makes the actor's hair look fuzzy, bright and white, making him look good and pure as the back lighting helps separate him from the background.
Key lighting: The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject. The key light is not a rigid requirement; omitting the key light can result in a silhouette effect. Many key lights may be placed in a scene to illuminate a moving subject at opportune moments. A key light positioned low appears to distort the actor's features, since most natural or ambient light is normally overhead. A dramatic effect used in horror or comedy cinematography is a key light illuminating the face from below. A high key light will result in more prominent cheek bones and long nose shadows

In this image of the film "Watchmen" the low key lighting makes the shot look tense and mysterious as the audience do not know who the dark figure is this making him look evil.

Filler lighting: Fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene and provide some illumination for the areas of the image that is in shadow. A common lighting setup places the fill light on the lens axis, roughly perpendicular to the key light.


Star lighting: Bright lighting which focuses all around the person which who is well known to the audience in other theatre, soaps and films. By using this lighting on the person it draws an audience to a film with their photogenic appearance, inspirational acting, or some other quality.

Camera lighting: Lens flare is the light scattered in lens systems through generally unwanted image formation mechanisms, such as internal reflection and scattering from material inhomogeneities in the lens. A lens flare is often deliberately used to invoke a sense of drama. A lens flare is also useful when added to an artificial or modified image composition because it adds a sense of realism, implying that the image is an un-edited original photograph of a "real life" scene, for both of these reasons (implying realism and/or drama).

Angles of lighting:

Under lighting- is when the main source of light comes from below the subject. This tends to have a distorting effect on the character or object that is being lit and is often used in horror films. 

In this image it shows a close up of a man as the under lighting makes the man look dark and his facial expressions mysterious also as there is hardly any surroundings in the image it makes the audience focus on him.

Top lighting- is when the main source of lighting comes from above, highlighting the features of a character – it can be used to create a glamorous look in a star.

In this image the top lighting is used to show the creature/monster's features of his body and face so that the audience feels drawn to the creature by the use of the top lighting.

Types of lighting:

Low-key – lighting is created by the use of back lights. This will produce a sharp contrast of light and dark areas on the screen and cause deep shadows to form. This effect is known as chiaroscuro.

In this image it shows the character looking down as the low-lighting makes him look dark and mysterious as the audience hardly see his face.

High-key –this is when filler lights is used. The term means lighting that appears more natural and realistic to our eyes. It can be used to describe on brightly lit sets such as a recreated sunny day in the park, or to describe a more subtly-lit night time scene. Although shadows will be produced the contrast is a lot softer.

In this image it shows a person is shown close up while the high-key lighting making her stand out and also works on making her look attractive and pure as she as the lighting makes her look white. The high-key lighting hardly leaves any shadows on the characters face but brings out the make up used on her making it her lip stick for example look bright and classy.

Film Noir is the term given by French film critics to a group of American films released in the late 1940s and 50s. The plots were often based on detective novels set in big cities with dark alleyways, wet pavements and sleazy bars. The films were termed ‘noir’ because of the dark look of the films. The lighting was low key with strong areas of contrast between light and dark. Actors’ faces were sometimes lit this way to cast a dark shadow over one side, suggesting a darker side to the character.

In this scene below from the film ‘Se7en’ we as an audience are shown four types of lighting being natural, low-key, under-lighting and back lighting. The natural lighting is shown at the start of the scene as an introduction to a normal narrative but once the scene turns that much darker and serious we see props such as large shot guns which are used when the scene moves into a dark room apartment which is of low-key lighting this creates a mysterious uneasy effect also making the scene seem tense. The back lighting used is mainly on the characters wearing suits while the men dressed in all black leading the front are all low-keyed making them seem dangerous and serious, the audience then assumes that the characters are police due to the actions they take in storming a apartment. The back lighting used on the two men wearing suits makes them look pure and good another factor of showing that these men are good men who represent the law. Lastly the under-lighting is used when one of the police offices exam a body as he believes the person is dead he is then shocked when the person breathes; the under-lighting used on his face allows us to see his surprised facial expressions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7J02CRoYUk