Film Lighting

According to cinematic theory, images with intense shadows, high contrast and darkness are associated with feelings
of danger, suspense, depression and evil. Images with bright lights, less contrast and shiny looks trigger emotions of
joy, enlightenment and honesty. Natural, raw realistic lighting give the feeling of reality and truth.

These Lighting approaches are used to enhance the experience of a film by adding dimension to its plot, characters,
theme, style and mood. Bettetini said that “one could say that the technical ability and the expressive effectiveness
of a director’s or of a cameraman’s work is revealed above all in the lighting”

Lighting History

Though the camera was first developed to function similar to the human eye, the images it produces are two-
dimensional as opposed to the three-dimensional images we perceive.

Lighting has been essential in setting the mood for story telling since the beginning. Fire was associated with heat
and protection as it provided light when people would gather around it at night to tell stories and communicate. It
would be the only source for visual focus. As theater performances required more light than fire could produce, they
relied on exterior day light. In 1781, the French chemist Laviosier used mirrors on oil lanterns to control and direct
artificial lighting. This was used with limitations. Later, gas lanterns allowed for more widespread indoor shows.
Eventually the limelight was invented and introduced to theaters for its efficiency. Interior lighting started being
used widely after 1912, with the White Flame Carbon Arcs. Due to their loud and dangerous nature, tungsten lights,
which were invented around the same time, gained popularity. These were sensitive to all light wavelengths, which
was useful for panchromatic film stock that was invented in 1927.

Digital technology has evolved over time, yet movie genres and lighting styles have developed into standard
cinematic theories. Light and colour are vital elements in visual story telling. The theorized lighting styles and movie
genres have remained associated with each other through the years.

Lighting Styles

High Key Lighting

High Key lighting produces a bright, flat wash of illumination. It is widely used in comedies, which were the
first genre of movies to be made. It allows the viewers to clearly see the entire the entire visual space. There
are minimal shadows, leaving a sense of safety and positivity. This lighting style usually sets the scene in
affluent environments, where there is no suspicious element, and everything is visible, even at night.
Low Key Lighting
Low Key lighting is associated with Dark Films, or Film Noir, as coined by French critics in 1946. It uses high
contrast, dark shadows and dimly lit sets to imply suspense, evil or misery. This lighting style is associated
with mysterious, dangerous and depressing visuals such as wet down city streets, Femme Fatales, prevailing
shadows, and characters walking out of darkness with dramatically half lit faces. Darkness and suspense are
the predominant emotions.
Available Lighting
Available lighting is used to make the story believable to audiences. It is associated with rawness, real life
and gritty quality, to make even fictional stories more relatable. It is used for documentaries, reality
television, and Mumblecore, which refers to low-budget independent films.

Cognitive Approach

Cognitive approach refers to the analysis of a film on the audience’s emotional response. Our life experiences help
us interpret and relate to what we view on screen. Film makers try to recreate visuals that draw on the audience’s
emotional memories to enhance the experience and communicate the information more effectively. Light is largely
responsible for how we view objects, characters and places. Associating shadows with dangers and brightness with
positivity is a method of interpretation that has developed through evolutionary survival.

Genres

Lighting Styles are closely tied to genres; Low Key Lighting and Film Noir, High Key Lighting and Comedy, Available
Light and Mumblecore or Documentaries. The lighting styles are now used in movies of different genres and style,
sometime in combination with each other as well. They are specifically defined terms, though the genres may be
subjective. The genre is associated with lighting, regardless of the plot of the film.

Architecture and Film Lighting

In communication, lighting is regarded as a structural feature. In psychology, it is studied with its effects in the fields
of architecture, urban planning, video games and advertisements.

Architectural Lighting is the closest to Film Lighting. They have a similar history, and hence follow the same
vocabulary and the same theory for applied lighting. Both start with two primal sources of light, fire and daylight.
Architecture adapted building design to align itself with the Sun’s path, and similarly one of the first studios, the
Black Maria, was built with a retractable roof to help manipulate natural light.

Artificial lighting led to the ability to light spaces differently and explore the effects of these different styles. It
allowed for artistic design in both Film and Architecture, as both had their roots in Theatre and its lighting
development. Stage lighting attempts to create dramatic illusions, whereas architectural lighting typically concerns
itself with rendering real structures visible. Stage lighting played a vital role in the development of architectural
lighting, in fact, several lighting designers took their cues from stage lighting.

Architecture and Film use perceptual psychology to see spaces in a certain way. Lighting design is usually done with
its psychological implications in mind. Some examples of this are:

i. Usage of bright lights to focus attention.

ii. Usage of a well-lit path to attract people to use it.
iii. Visibility of edges between vertical and horizontal surfaces to aid orientation
iv. Preference of well-lit walls or surfaces

Where architects attempt to use light to stimulate human mood and behavior, cinematographers use it to persuade
a viewer’s perception. Light is used to focus attention based on the way it illuminates the object, and shadows are
used to limit the view. Each scene in a movie can be considered a new architectural space, using the lighting alone to
manipulate the usage and atmosphere.

Psychological Lighting Theory

The High Key, Low Key and Available Light were developed from the primal development of the human psych.
Though psychologists use different terminology from cinematographers, correlations can be made between the
understanding of light in both fields. This is based on the assumption that if architectural lighting has an effect on
human behavior, then it has a similar effect on the viewers of a film.

Studies by several psychologists are concerned with the impact of lighting on a person’s behavior and emotions.
“Every action of light has, in its influence, physical as well as psychic components”, writes Felix Deutch. On testing
two different classrooms under different lighting conditions in 2013, the results stated that class room lighting does
affect concentration of students
Lighting and Facial Recognition

A study, Effects of Lighting on the Perception of Facial Surfaces, by Hill and Bruce in 1996, tested the effect of
lighting on the recognition and likability of an object. They used techniques as in film lighting, though it was done
using different terminology. Results showed that overhead lighting showed more accuracy and likability. This
supports the statement that filmmakers use under lighting to put audiences at unease in mysteries and thrillers.
They also found that “when matching faces, changes in lighting direction pose difficulties”