EXPLORATION OF

Light

VISUAL PRODUCTION

TONE, ATMOSPHERE AND CONTEXT

Lighting should be used artistically, to create a defined atmosphere and to invoke a certain feeling or emotion. Before working with light, we need to understand how different lighting affects us personally.

Light directly affects our emotional response to a situation or environment.

The modern BBC One idents are an inconic example of showing one environment in different under different lighting conditions. (Day / Night etc)

We went through most of these tasks as a group in class. I have revisited some of them to add my notes here.

TASK 1

Consider and note your responses to the following images: think about the nature of the light (it's location and colour)

Image 1

Backlit

Bright and sunny
Creates silhouettes and catches the light on the waterdrops
The movement within the photo invokes a sense of joy, the warmth of the light reinforces this idea

Image 2

Also backlit, but a much more sombre photo

The water in this image is rain, typically used to imply a depression
White/blue light, is more muted, softer
Highlights catch the edges of their body
Similiar to just standing under a shower, letting the water run over you, deep in emotional turmoil or trying to clear your head

Image 3

This photo reminds me of learning about Caravaggio and the chiaroscuro photographical technique of light and dark.

Our subject is lit primarily by the window.
It paints a calming image
Deep in thought
Lots of contrast and highlights around the hair and face.

In shooting, choosing specific lighting is important to convey the correct emotional tone for the scene to the audience. Just like composition, lighitng can be used to guide the audience's vision and to invoke an emotional response. To find the tone you need to convey - look back into the story!

When trying to decide on how to light a scene, look at the nature of the scene. What is it about? Where is it set? What is the emotional journey that the characters and the audience should go on?

TASK 2 / THE BLACK HOLE

The Black Hole takes us on an emotional journey from the boring and mundane, to surprise, excitement and then greed.

We imagine what it would be like to have the power of the black hole. Some may be easily inticed into stealing something simple like a chocolate bar. But with great power comes great responsibility... In this instance, becoming too greedy leads to terrifyingly becoming stuck within the safe.

An interesting visual note is that the black hole on the paper becomes larger as the character becomes more greedy. A symbol of inflating yourself, and going further, doing worse things without a second thought.

TASK 3

How does the lighting in each shot from The Black Hole convey meaning?

Shot 1

It's very soft, boring, not particulay dramatic. It paints the idea of a mundane situation. Everything is a muted blue or grey - even the man doesn't particularly stand out.

Shot 2

A bit harsher, plenty of contrast between the top of the printer and the sides. It highlights button, the only element with a shine - the only exciting thing the man can do is press it.

CHEATING LIGHT

A room might not have the ideal lighting. Sometimes you need to fake the physical items in the room to help boost colour and contrast. Filiming at night, but there's no moon? Fake it.

Build upon natural light with physical lamps. Adjust the temperature and hue of the lamps to match the light you want to replicate. You can use lamps through a window to imply a bright Sun or inside to build upon lights already in the scene.

TASK 4

This tasks provides us with some scripts (from the previous year's creative writing module?) For each scene, we should identify:

the tone/atmosphere
the emotional journey/context

Use the identifications to find images on Google to represent kind of lighting that we envision in each scene.

Script 1: Scene 1, From 'Girl of Gold' by Cai Gausden

A Party Popper is let off with a snap and we find ourselves at a little girl's birthday party in the front garden of a house on a suburban street. Liz (10) is playing with the other kids, running around on a sugar high, while her mum speaks with another parent.

Immediately I imagine a bright summer's day. The atmosphere should be happy and joyous. Everything is lit by the intense sunlight from the sky. However, this might change as we read further into the context of the story.

Mum’s Friend:

She seems so happy considering…

Mum:

And that’s how she’ll stay.

Mum’s Friend:

You mean, you haven't told her?

It’s her Dad, Beth.

The mother is hiding something from her daughter. There's clearly a big secret that she wants to keep to herself, so as to not spoil her daughter's birthday. Are her parent's getting divorced?

These example photos might not be the best, but were all I could find. I envision the lighting being a bit more flat and intense, rather than warm and dreamy.

Could the lighting change as the atmosphere changes? Once the hidden secret is discussed maybe the Sun goes in a little?

Script 1: Scene 2, From 'Girl of Gold' by Cai Gausden

INT. GARDEN SHED, DAY

We're told where the scene is set, inside a shed. It's probably damp, old and dusty inside. Sunlight from the outside peering through a window and the cracks around the wood.

Liz:

Why don’t I have a brother?

Dad smiles as he turns to see Liz rapidly wave the film back and forth.

Dad:

…Because your Mum didn't want more kids. You alone

are special enough for us.

In contrast to the first scene, everything should be a bit darker and softer in terms of light. I imagine maybe a lamp on the shelf that provides a warm orange light inside. The conversation sounds quite personal so it isn't too bright.

The daughter has snapped a photo of her dad and the reveal of the photo having developed provides a nice break from quiet tone and provides us an oppotunity to brighten the scene. I'd like the sun to break from behind the clouds and spill into the shed through the window. Maybe some dust / fog creates a volumetric beam within the shed - it catches on the photo.

The journey from a dark and damp room to little moment of happiness shared between a girl and her father.

Quite dark, gloomy inside

The "you're special" and photo reveal brightens and warms the room up.

As it gets brighter outside, the Sun should be caught by the dust and mist inside the shed.

The shed itself is located in an area where not too much light reaches it. The interior is dark and has little natural light when the lamp is off.

DAY FOR NIGHT

Whilst not necessarily part of the lecture, shooting day for night is an interesting technique for replicating the look of night time, during the day. You can see an experiment of mine using this idea.

See: Day for Night

See next: Processes

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