Using Lights
Thursday, November 18th, 2010A cameraman, or more specifically, a cinematographer, has the job of painting with lights, so one must know how to mimic certain situations and be able to manipulate the light to their liking, as well as the director’s. There are four things you need to consider when setting up lights: movement, placement and intensity. This is how they break down:
Movement: Movement of light can create lots of different moods. A party scene or dance club would require a lot of movement and color. If a lot of movement is required for a scene, the more prominent a light will become so it stands out more, otherwise it won’t be seen as well and it won’t portray the effect that is trying to be created. If less movement is needed, maybe the scene has something to do with a light flickering in a dingy basement or simply the sun is going down. It’s also easy to recreate paparazzi taking pictures by having a bunch of flashes go off all around the frame. A good way to discover new lighting movements is to play with it and see how it makes you feel-what moods it unveils.
Placement: Depending on where you place the light on a character, it creates different shadows on their faces and can create different moods and can change the way you look at someone. For instance, when you light someone from the bottom, it creates an evil look. Remember when you’d go camping and you’d scare your little sister by placing a flashlight under your chin, turning it on and making a scary face? Just like that. The more lights you use, the less shadow you will create, so using just one light will create more shadow and make a character look darker and more mysterious.
Light placement on characters also creates different moods because depending on where you shine the light on someone; different shadows will project onto their faces. The darker the light, the more equivocal someone will look. Lighting from below will make someone look more suspicious and placing light more on the face so you can see a character’s eyes better will make them look friendlier and more trustworthy. Protagonists are usually better lit and more visible while antagonists are darker lit to keep them in the shadows more and to portray a darker character whom is up to no good.
Intensity: As a Yiddish proverb once stated, “The eyes are the mirror of the soul.” Eyes also tell a lot about a character-if they’re lying, feel uncomfortable, sad or happy-you name it. You can also read subtext through eyes, meaning one can look into another’s eyes and tell what they’re really feeling as opposed to what they said they felt. This is one reason why mysterious characters or villains tend to be lit less because of their dark demeanor. Most of the time, villain’s eyes are not seen as well because they’re lying or the production does not want the subtext of the character to be read as well. Not seeing someone’s eyes also makes them less trustworthy.
Intensity can also be used to represent times of the day. Obviously it’s not going to be bright outside at 10PM, so you’ll need to use dimmer lights and add some color to them. A scene with a romantic dinner would use dimmer lights as opposed to a reenactment of a football game at night. Each scene calls for a realistic intensity of light and your job as a cameraman or cinematographer is to find that realistic balance. A good idea is to take note of the light around you in every day situations-see how intense the light is, where it’s coming from and what color it emits. This will help you create more realistic lighting situations in the movies you make.
Color: Playing with colored light is fun and challenging. A cameraman must know about the color wheel because if you white balance on a color, the camera will tint the frame with the opposite color. Sometimes cinematographers will want their film to be tinted a certain color for a theme they’re trying to convey, in which case knowing what color to white balance on is key. Different skin tones get lost with certain colors so it’s also good to know what pops out and what doesn’t pop. The color of the light also helps the audience distinguish between the times of day. Sunlight is always bluer and incandescent lights are always more orange in color. Color also makes people feel a certain way, so having a color scheme for characters in both wardrobe and lighting is very common.
Once you fully understand these concepts, putting them all together and creating a specific mood, time and place becomes easier and more fun as time goes on and you learn more. Each project presents more obstacles to overcome and packs more creativity into your head of never-ending learning. With each set comes new people and new ideas to share and learn. The cameraman is always learning and growing with each project.
The detailed occupation of the lighting camera person at Mark Cella‘s site.
categories: lighting,photography,filming,cameraman,tv shows
