As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I want to show contrast in time by using lighting. At the moment, I have a few ideas for what I could do, however, I'm not sure if they'll be noticeable enough or how I could even make it work. Therefore, I'm dedicating this blog post to my research on different lighting schemes and learning about how to make my own.
Lighting is extremely crucial to any film, as it tells it's own story. Which is why I want to make sure I get it just right, because if I don't, my opening might not look good. Lighting, as an article by Lite Panels entitled "Film Lighting: A Cinematic Guide W/ Free Lighting Plots" explains, guides the audiences' eyes to certain parts of a film and it helps bring out feelings as well as reactions from scenes by using visual elements and different techniques. It empowers characters by paralleling them and making their emotions feel more realistic for the audience. Often times, the director will decide what type of lighting techniques they want to include and then they'll have that plan be executed by the "gaffer," otherwise known as the head lighting technician. The gaffer, once they have the director's plans, find the correct equipment and figure out how to execute the director's vision and make it real. In my case, I will be both the director and the gaffer, which means I'll have to figure out how I want the lighting to look and how I'm planning on recreating my vision.
StudioBinder. (2022, October 24). Ultimate guide to cinematic lighting — Types of light & gear explained [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/r2nD_knsNrc
While looking through all the articles I was reading, I came across one technique that was continuously mentioned, the "three point lighting" set up. As I researched and read more about this technique, I found out that it is recognized as the "most basic setup," it uses three lighting positions, so that the director can directly choose who to highlight, also I learned that the three lighting positions they use include key light, fill light, and backlight. Premium Beat's article, "How to Create Specific Lighting Schemes For Film Making in 3D" goes more into detail about where each type of light is and in what scenario they would be useful for. It talks about 1 point lighting, that hides one side of your character completely, and 2 point lighting, which reverses the affects of the previous lighting technique by illuminating the scene.
As I was reading the articles, I was thinking about what lighting technique would work best for my opening. Some of the techniques I came across that could work for my opening include, high key and low key lighting, which I could use to create larger contrast during the transition in between cuts; soft lighting and motivated lighting, which might be harder to do; and naturalistic lighting, which relies heavily on natural elements. By using high key lighting, which is brighter and more optimistic, and then contrasting it to low key lighting, which is known for its darker color schemes and shadows, I can easily portray the differences in the main character's two life stages that will be shown, the character's younger years and the character when they're older. Even though it might be harder to pull off, by using soft lighting I am hoping to get a similar result to practical sources. However, I don't want to specifically use practical light as there's not many instances where I can discreetly incorporate those elements into my scene. Also, by using soft lighting, the actor for the younger version of the main character will be able to look younger, which will also help create that contrast between the two versions of the character.
Now having completed my research for lighting, I have a better idea of how I can use lighting, which used to be the part that scared me the most, to my advantage. I know where to position lights and what effect they will give off and express in the scene. I also know what kinds of lighting techniques I want to avoid in the future.
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