Blog Post #6: Inspiring Lighting Styles

The photographer/cinematographer's job, or art, is capturing light. Lighting can be used to create emphasis, spark emotion, and create entire moods for scenes that would otherwise leave the audience indifferent. The way an image is lit can express the inner emotions of a character and without light, there would be no character to be seen at all. So lighting is very important in filmmaking and photography.

Color palette can have a great affect on the tone of a scene. Such as bright blue light, like the sun, makes a scene feel very open and joyous. On the other hand, an interrogation scene in a dark room with high contrast and minimal color makes the audience focus on specific items in frame and creates a trapped, ominous feel.

Framing and composition with lighting are very important for the believability of a scene. For example, having a high light to resemble ceiling lights in a room. Using lights that resemble lights that would realistically be in the scene make the set feel more real and the actors' performance more believable for the audience.

Lighting can make or break a story, with continuity being important or the choice for a scene to break continuity being an important change in the story.

Here are several photos of lighting styles I find particularly inspiring, a few with a caption of the reason why.

1. Into the Wild. This silhouette shot with minimal color emphasizes the character's connection with his environment and especially the flying birds.

2. The Runaways.

3. The Doors. The variety of lighting in this movie is incredible. Each conveys Jim Morrison's journey through drugs and stardom, seeing many sides of the human experience.

4. Game of Thrones. This is a very sensual, intimate scene. This lighting illuminates the characters and creates a feeling of comfort and calmness. This scene is a break from many of the other intense, bloody battle scenes. The lighting reflects this.

5. Taking Woodstock. This scene is very colorful and lit with very white/blue lighting, making it feel like it is all coming from the sun (and perhaps it is) which makes the scene feel realistic. Also, it allows for variety of color which since this is an acid tripping scene, that's important.

6. The Social Network. The blue light is practical because of their location, however it also creates a feeling of falseness which in this scene is the middle of the main character's entrance into the world of high class people and fake friendships.