How lighting affects the mood of films
We always talk about the good stories, pretty shots and sets, groundbreaking acting and direction, and moving soundtrack when we catch a great film. Yet, one similarly significant element often remains unspoken during discussions and critics for all our cinema and movie streaming visits; a role that allows us to be able to see what is happening on screen in the first place — lighting.
The idea that many people have in regards to the use of lighting in the film is how it is only a form of technicality simply used to make a shot visible. However, if you have watched more than a couple of films, you would realize that every frame of a scene looks different even with repeating camera angles, actors or settings. Well, that is a difference that relies largely on, as you guessed it, the element of lighting. Ultimately, it is a useful tool not only wielded for constructing prettier-looking scenes but more importantly, a variable that is also maneuvered to create the mood in a film.
Commonly recognized as cinematic lighting, here are 7 ways lighting affects the mood of all our favorite films!
- Three-Point Lighting
This is the most standard form of lighting used in films to not only ensure whatever caught on camera is visible, but also to bring focus to the subjects or a specific part of the frame. Commonly, the three-point lighting set up is used to ensure the scene to be less dramatic-looking by balancing the shadows and highlights caused. As its name suggests, it is formed by light sources placed at three different points: the key light, the back light and the fill light.
In the simplest way, the key light is the primary and brightest source of light, determining the mood of the shot. The back light is often placed behind the subject, separating that from the background. The fill light is then the supplementary light that lightens shadows created by the key light, while bringing out the details in the background without being distracting.
When controlled differently, each point of light can create different kinds of moods to both the looks and the story, and is ultimately what makes this set-up the starting base for many other creative lighting techniques.
2. Harsh Light
A type of lighting set up that is created by blasting and concentrating smaller sources of key light onto the subject while reducing the fill around it, the harsh light is a technique and creative choice that results in more contrast in the shot than a normal three-point set up would. With examples from most of the scenes in Fight Club, or any shots in a film noir, it can be seen that such forms of lighting draw attention to a specific part of the frame by creating dark shadows around it, forming suspense and dramatic effects along the way.
A counterpart to the harsh light is the technique of low-key lighting. Done by placing the light source under the subject, this set-up produces similar dark tones and shadows with the shots in films. Seen best with characters like the Joker from the Batman trilogy and Pennywise from the movie “It”, this lighting is popularised for setting up suspicious or antagonistic characters from the scary and ominous effects created.
3. Soft Light
Conversely, the soft light is formed by larger and more distant sources of key lights to illuminate the subject, resulting in a brighter shot with little to no shadows created. Adding on with a generous amount of fill lights used and a focus on the entire frame rather than a specific spot, this technique is used best to portray hopeful and amiable settings, like those at the beginning of “The Hobbit” and in the entirety of the film “Her”.
Along with the soft lighting set-up, comes the application of high-key lighting. As its name suggests, this set-up is formed by well, heightening the key light above the subject. This results in a relatively identical effect of the soft light, and in turn portraying characters as favorable looking, and even at times, angelic and youthful with lesser shadows around them. Think the heaven scene in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and the shots in most romantic comedies, the use of high-key lighting widely portrays characters at peace or at the very least, nearing it.
4. Practicals
While most lighting set-ups in filmmaking are formed using studio lights, props that produce illumination, like lamps or even candles can be equally as useful to shaping looks and moods in films. Such forms of light sources are commonly known as practicals. Largely used in films like “Birdman” and “Buried”, practicals are extremely useful when shooting its wider and moving shots, since these objects that were already part of the set design could blatantly be included in the frame.
Moreover, practicals are also effective in creating logic within a constructed shot, as we are able to see where the light source is coming from. Whether it is a shot going darker because we see a character switching off the lamp, or a scene getting illuminated because a candle is being lit, practicals make a scene much more believable and even interactive, where the items that belong behind the camera come to be in plain sight instead.
5. Ambient Lighting
Widely recognized as natural or location lighting, ambient lighting is the closest to a “no-filter” in filmmaking. Relying largely or even at times, entirely, on the natural or provided lights in the location itself, such forms of light sources tend to tell more stories of the environment and the setting rather than the subject itself. It is a recognized choice that is made most popular in the film “The Revenant”, where a softer light during daytime scenes might suggest that the day is near ending, while harsher tones indicate periods of noon. Ambient lighting helps portray realism within a film while making it feel like we are following a character around rather than just simply watching them.
6. Cold Lighting
Now, we enter the territory of colour; after all, the manipulation of lighting to create different moods does not stop solely at its position and intensities.
One of the two main types of colours in lighting techniques, cold lighting is indicative of a “lower” temperature of colour, or one that takes on colour tones of blue, green or grey. You would very likely have come across such uses of lighting with films like “Paranormal Activity” and “The Matrix”. A creative choice that many a time looks unsaturated, it usually conveys a void of life in its frames. Regularly used in science fiction, horror and war-filled films, the cold lighting is greatly used to portray loneliness, dullness and quite obviously, coldness in both its settings and characters.
7. Warm Lighting
On the other hand, a complete parallel of cold lighting is the use of warm lighting. A colour scheme that is most similar to a fireplace, such forms of lighting technique often take on the tones of orange, yellow, or red. As a result, our frequent associations of warmth to comfort and coziness also reflects on the looks constructed. Best seen in films like “In The Mood For Love” and the French classic, “Amelie”, sentiments similar to nostalgia, hope, and happiness are, in turn, communicated. Commonly also seen in youth dramas, coming-of-age recounts and romantic tellings, the warm lighting is most widely used to tell stories of the better times.
Conclusion
Not all variables have to be seen to be important, as we can clearly learn from the different effects and moods created by the lighting in filmmaking. Every position, colour and intensity of the lights used can shape a completely varying look, as it can tell an entirely different story.
Now that you have learnt the basics of how lighting can affect the moods of all films, it is not too late to start noticing all these set-ups and differences in all your favourite movies, and just perhaps, even try them out yourselves!
