Lighting is crucial to the effect that a shot can have and is imperative to the outcome of the final product. From research I have taken, I have deducted the effects that lighting can have, its desired effects, when it is done correctly and incorrectly and how to always get the lighting right in every shot.
I have used a shot from a Western as an example, because Westerns would always utilise close-up shots, particularly during standoffs or shootouts which were commonplace in most westerns, designed to add suspense and push a scene forward, spurring on viewers to ask the questions,”what will happen next?” “who will shoot first?” among other questions raised by high-tension film scenes.
Close-ups are great to analyse for use of lighting which will become more apparent once we look at a dimly lit close-up shot later on. For now however, focusing on the lighting in the above close-up, we can see that the sun is shining on Clint Eastwood’s face and this is apparent because you can see the reflection of the sunlight beaming off of the oilier parts of Clint Eastwood’s face, like the nose and upper cheeks where most of us have more natural oils secreted from our skin and what they can indicate is lighting and where it is being focused. Clint Eastwood is also squinting slightly, which is another indicator that he is facing the sunshine.
With all that being said, it explains to us the importance of using natural lighting to your advantage, which also tends to be where some (but not all) cameras perform better. Natural light from the sun is excellent for lighting a shot and with the right white-balance on a camera, it can create a very good-looking shot, such as the above shot. To summarise, when interviewing someone, regardless of whether they are in a close-up shot, most of the time it will make more sense to have the camera facing away from the sun and thus the subject of interest facing towards it, to create a well-lit shot if that is of course your intention.
The above shot is taken from ‘The Front Line’, a Korean film which focuses on the ceasefire of the Korean War in 1953. The film, as the description suggests, has a dark and sobering atmosphere, with not much to smile about through the entire run-time, when the anguish of war is the main topic of the film.
One will notice, that the above shot is dark and gloomy which adds an intensity to the shot, with implications of things being hidden, secrets being kept and light being far away with light of course, being associated with hope and peace, with the darkness being more associated with the gloomy, grizzly and hopeless situation that the people of Korea were faced with during the Korean War.
A lack of light creates a moody and more cumbersome atmosphere, one which suggests that the media product, which is in this case a film, is one of a darker and more serious topic, as oppose to the previous image of Clint Eastwood in the Western film shown above.
The light in this particular shot appears to be artificial and this would suggest that it is night-time, which also has connotations of mystery and the unknown as well as darkness with its pessimistic and on occasion bleak connotations.
Halloween would be an excellent example of a day where the night has significantly more impact than the day. For example, in the daytime, all is clear and visible, nothing is left to ponder, the lights are not illuminated as there are no dark spaces to remedy with luminescent and colourful lighting. Halloween has significantly more impact as an occasion at night, when the atmosphere is more mysterious. It is colder, darker and there is more in the unknown and more to fear that you cannot see or predict. Almost all films which depict Halloween, take place during night-time, due to the mystery of the night and the fear that can accompany mystery.
To conclude, lighting has a profound effect on a media product and can serve as an indicator of mood, theme and even setting. Lighting must be utilised well in a media product, as interviews must be well-lit almost all of the time, horror films must be dark and gloomy, as well as other films with darker themes and light-hearted and bright films such as comedy films, should be brightly lit with saturated colours, to convey jovial messages and themes. It is for these reasons, that lighting can go hand-in-hand with genre.
Romano G Media 