Researching Cinematic Lighting

Today my teacher showed us a video linked here on cinematic lighting and gave us tips on how to use lighting in our projects.

1. Shoot from the shadow side: 

Shooting from the shadow side helps to add depth and dimension to the frame and draws attention to the subject's features, highlighting their expressions and emotions. It also emphasizes texture and detail of objects. 

2. Lighting Direction:

Lighting direction is a crucial aspect of cinematography that affects the mood, appearance, and storytelling of a scene. Here are the main types of lighting direction:

• Front Lighting: It creates even illumination, minimizing shadows and flattening out the features. Often used in beauty shots or for dreamy romantic scenes. 

• Side Lighting: Light comes from the side of the subject. Creates strong shadows on one side, emphasizing texture and contours. Adds depth and drama, often used in portrait photography and to convey conflict or tension

• Top Lighting: Casts shadows downward, often highlighting the upper features while creating deep shadows in the eye sockets and under the nose. Used to create a mysterious or ominous effect, often seen in horror or thriller films.

• Bottom Lighting: Casts unnatural shadows, often distorting facial features. creates a spooky or unsettling effect also commonly used in horror and thriller genres.

• Rembrandt lighting: Named after a painter who used it in his portraits. It is the most commonly used lighting in film because of its natural effect. The light is placed at a 45-degree angle creating a small triangle of light on the shadow side of the face. This makes the scene dramatic and striking. Adding depth, emphasizing features, and sets a specific mood, making scenes more engaging and realistic. 

3. Depth:

Depth is created by putting contrast between the characters and background using two complementing colors to create separation between the subject and background. We can create the same effect by making the background darker than the subject.

4. Motivated Lighting:

Motivated lighting is essentially used to fool the audience by putting a light source in the scene that makes the audience believe that the light is coming from it but in reality, there in another light source behind the scenes that can be placed strategically.  Using motivated lighting adds realism to a film and gives creative control to the director.

5. Background Lighting:

Background lighting can bring out details in the set or environment, making the scene more visually rich and interesting. It also makes the scene look more three-dimensional and visually interesting by creating a certain mood according to the scene's narrative.

6. Time of the day:

Filming during the golden hour, shortly after sunrise or before sunset, offers soft, diffused light with warm tones, reducing harsh shadows and creating a natural glow. This atmospheric light creates a magical, cinematic effect, making it ideal for capturing emotionally resonant moments.

7. Catch Light:

Catch light, also known as eye light, refers to the small reflection of a light source in a person's eyes. It is used in filmmaking and photography to bring life and sparkle to the eyes. It is often used to connotate life and death. Catch lighting isn't used on characters that are dead or characters that went through a traumatic event to make them appear lifeless. It can be used to communicate narrative and helps to draw attention to the subject's eyes, adding depth and emotion to their expression. 

8. Texture:

Texture can be added to a scene using fake fog, textured lighting, smoke, dust etc. By emphasizing the texture of objects, filmmakers create a more immersive experience, allowing the audience to feel more connected to the world of the film. It helps convey the atmosphere and mood, enhancing the storytelling and emotional impact of the scene.

For my research i also used the article linked here. and my class notes: