Second Seminar - Lighting Element

This seminar session focused on the use of lighting and how important it is in cinematography and film. We started with a brief introduction of different lights we would come across and what their functions, advantages and disadvantages were which would help us decide where and when to use them on a set.

Properties of Light
Firstly we were told about how lighting is classified according to their colour temperature in units of Kelvin (K). The sun is about 5000 degrees K and a tungsten light (normal household light-bulb) is about 3200 degrees K. These measurements are used to determine what types of light and intensity of light will be used within a scene depending on its surroundings (exterior or interior) to help get the desired colour. Lights can also be classified by how much electricity they consume, e.g a 1000 Watt spotlight = 1k tungsten spot, and this helps you know where to position lights on a set using the Inverse Square Law - double the distance = 4x less intensity.

Types of Lights/bulbs

• Common Tungsten bulbs - 2900 K
• Tungsten-Halogen bulbs - <3200 K
• HMI (Halogen- Metal- Iodide) bulbs - 5600-6000 K
• Spot lights - Vary in colour temperature
• Inky - 250 Watts
• Baby - 500-1000 Watts
• Junior/Deuce/2kW - 2000 Watts
• 5k - 5000 Watts
• Tenner/10k - 10,000 Watts

•  Flood lights
• Isolated lights

 Lights Filming Qualities
The qualities of light on a film set can be spread into 6 categories.

1. Intensity - Hard/soft.
2. Direction - The position the light is coming from onto the subject (see list below).
3. Quality - Harsh/flattering.
4. Colour Tone - Warm/cool.
5. Spread - Spotted/isolated/flood.
6. Duration - Constant/flickering.

Functions and Positions of Light On Set

• Key Light - Main light that gives a subject definition, form and shape and tends to determine the exposure of the shot
• Fill - Used to balance the effect of the key light and fill in the shadows it causes whilst reducing the contrast.
• Backlight - Place behind the subject and is used to separate it from the background to add more dimension to the framing. Very similar to a Rim.
• Kickers - Placed to the side of the subject in order to produce a 'kick' on the flesh tone.
• Eyelight - Often found on the camera, it lifts exposure in and around the subjects eyes to highlight them.
• Practical Lights - These are lights that can be seen in shot and are used for decoration as well as sources of light that show its direction within the scene and are usually kickers or backlights.

Changing Qualities of Light
To get the desired quality of light in a scene, you have to control all the different factors that could affect it. In a studio this is very straight forward as you only have the lights you set up as the variable and this is a list of how you change each quality and what effect it will give you.

• To change the intensity of light, you can use ND filters, a dimmer or move the light source away/closer to the subject (use the inverse square law)
• To change the direction of light, simply move the stand left/right or up/down.
• To change the quality of light, you can diffuse it with diffusion materials called gels which can cause softer shadows as well as decreased intensity.
• To change the colour tone of light, you can use filters again for example CTB (colour tone blue), or CTO (colour temperature orange).
• To change the spread of light, use the barn doors on most lights as well as the focus of the light.
• To change the duration of light, you can use a flag (panel used to block out light), a cutter to show the light in intervals or a net which controls the amount of light in certain areas.

Reflection on the Seminar/Scene Analysis
This seminar has caused me to consciously think about the effect that light has in all films and television I watch, and what light can connote by being used in specific ways.
A specific scene that comes to mind when thinking about use of lighting is the interrogation scene in The Dark Night (2008).

This scene starts out with The Joker being illuminated by a single Practical lamp which is positioned to the side of him on a table. The light itself is likely a modified common tungsten bulb as it is very quite dim, but with the use of a reflector, which is also in shot (the metal table) it gives the light source a focus point on the bottom right of his face (the bottom left of the screen).

This connotes themes of evil and fear as you can only see half of his face and not his hair which does the same effect that a low-angle shot would have as being imposing, mysterious and unnerving as you don't know what his surroundings are and as you can't see the rest of his body, you question what is he wearing, holding, is he standing or sitting etc. This is also due to there being no backlight or key light in the frame so the subject is almost blended with their surroundings, which is unsettles the audience because of the mystery surrounding him.

As the scene progresses and close ups are used, the light is enhanced/changed to produce a more harsh kicker effect which really outlines the details of the subjects face and casts a harder attached shadow on the other half of it. This connotes violence, power and codes of enigma in the way it is lit as well as the way it is framed (with his face on the left of the screen and not centred) due to how the details are much clearer which makes the audience feel more wrapped up in the narrative as if they were in the room interrogating him as well and when this is mixed with the dialogue, we see how irrational and psychotic the character really is.
I will take the conventions used here into consideration when planning how to use the lighting element within our brief and how to use only one or two lights to create a desired connotation and not just using the conventional 3-point light technique.