The significance of lighting in filmmaking and its impact on storytelling cannot be denied. It helps to support the genres films belong to and is often the biggest influencer of mood and tone in important scenes.
If you’re committed to crafting the perfect scene, you need to understand the art of lighting in filmmaking. Join us as we explore the world of film lighting, and how it is used to make the most iconic movies memorable.
The Power of Lighting in Storytelling
Masterful film set lighting shapes the narrative and sets the mood, and is one of the most often cited aspects of cinematography in iconic films. And sometimes, it is not so much the light, but the absence of light, that helps to tell the story.
In the opening scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, viewers see a close-up of a face, the eyes encircled in darkness. The darkness behind the seated figure further conveys the dark tone associated with the criminal underground in this award-winning mobster movie.
Three-Point Lighting: The Essential Setup
Lighting in film can be broken down into three points – key light, fill light, and backlight.
The key light is the main light cast on the subject of the shot or scene. As the name implies, the fill light fills in the shadows created by the brighter key light. And backlight helps to distinguish the subject of the shot or scene from the background.
This foundational technique is used to great effect by filmmakers worldwide. They cleverly manipulate any or all of these three points to create different moods. Viewers respond to this whether watching movies online on a small screen, or at the cinema on a big screen.
Natural vs. Artificial Lighting: Choosing the Right Source
One of the top tips for budget-friendly marketing for your product-based business is to create your own video content. The emphasis is on storytelling, without special effects. Natural lighting is put to good use to save on lighting equipment.
There are both pros and cons to natural lighting. The secret is to know whether natural or artificial light is best for your particular project and to use it effectively.
Natural lighting isn’t used for superhero futuristic sci-fi action movies. The degree of colour control and lighting is essential to create the right effect, and it is not easily achieved in natural light. It is also difficult to maintain ideal camera settings in natural light conditions.,
That said, natural light gives a scene a high degree of realism. The sun is also a free light source!
Colour Temperature and Light Positioning
While the presence or absence of light, and the positioning of that light sets the scene, so too does colour temperature. This is the underlying hue of the film, the warmth or coolness that evokes the desired reaction in the audience.
Those with careers behind the camera understand how colour temperature affects viewers. They use warm tones to suggest intimacy, happiness, or comfort, and cool tones to imply underlying tension or the subject’s detachment from their surroundings.
Creating Mood with Shadows and Silhouettes
Crafting an entrepreneurial story relies heavily on digital data. Indeed, people respond to visuals considerably faster than text. This is why advertising relies so heavily, sometimes almost exclusively, on images and video content. But it’s important to set the right mood to sway consumers.
In film, it’s crucial to set the right mood to captivate an audience. This is achieved through the clever use of silhouettes and shadows to add depth and drama.
It is particularly noteworthy in old black-and-white horror movies. Their chill factor was achieved not through special effects or colour temperature but through silhouettes created by the adept use of light and shadow. The iconic 1922 horror film Nosferatu is a good example of this.
Lighting for Different Genres
Light techniques differ between genres. Sci-fi, crime, horror, drama, and romance movies all have different themes, with lighting carefully chosen to set the right mood.
Genre-specific lighting setups include low-key cool colours with harsh shadows for thrillers, high-contrast cool colours with bold shadows for action movies, and soft warm lighting for drama and romance tales.
In Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, low-key artificial lighting is used to great effect. It sets a dystopian mood throughout the film, perfectly suited to the storyline.
Here’s another excellent example. Children of Men, a grim sci-fi drama, looks more like a documentary than a film at times. This is partly due to it being filmed mostly with handheld cameras in natural light. Very little traditional film lighting was used, giving the film a real-world action feel.
Practical Lighting Tips for Low-Budget Filmmakers
- Maximize your available resources to achieve professional results. If natural lighting is an option that fits your genre and the mood you are trying to create, go for it! Use natural light for wide shots whenever possible — it’s free.
- Use low-energy (and cheap to run) LED lights for background lighting. Never as your primary lighting though; their poor colour rendering makes them unsuitable for that. Halogen floodlights are better as key lighting. They deliver good colour rendering and high light output at a low cost.
- Hire professional lighting equipment for those scenes where natural light just won’t do. It’s a lot cheaper than buying the equipment and is typically insured. That will help you to shoot more complex scenes even if you’re on a tight budget.