Lighting

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.

  Key Light; is usually the brightest light and the most influential

           

Back light; helps to counteract the effect of the key light, making the character/object look more rounded.

Filler light; helps to soften the harsh shadows that the other lights create. There may be more than one filler light. this would be usefull in a thriller film to make the scene look darker.

Angles of lighting

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

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

Back lighting; is when the light sources behind the subject. If little or no light is used, silhouettes are created

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.

High-Key; Lighting means that more filler lights are use. The term means lighting that appears more natural and realistic to our eyes. It can be used to describe lighting on brightly lit sets such as a reacted 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.

Drag Me To Hell 

 In this scene they mainly use filler light and under lighting to show the appearance on the old lady. this light is used here to show that they are in a dark environment, It also gets the audience in the mood of the bad things happening.