Work Of The Lighting Camera Person
Nov 15th, 2010 Posted in entertainment | no comment »The biggest job a cinematographer has on set is directing how the lights look in the frame. He knows everything about the lights and what they represent. The cinematographer is the master of lighting. Working closely with the director and gaffer of the production, the cinematographer creates a happy balance of lighting in the frame to produce a realistic picture. There are four key concepts a cinematographer utilizes when setting up lights: movement, placement, intensity and color. This is how I describe each:
Movement: “Why is the light moving?” “How much is it moving?” These are two questions a cameraman or cinematographer must ask himself. If there is no movement, fine-the scene is still. Movement causes curiosity, chaos and directs the eye to a certain place in the frame. If not trying to recreate a scene that requires lights to flicker, turn on and off at a certain rate or move back and forth as if searching for something, movement of light is not required-it just helps to make a more believable situation if necessary. Some examples of scenes that use light movement would be in a scene where the lights are going out or flickering or something like an interrogation scene. Movement could also be used to portray a lightning or a massive earthquake where everything is falling down and the power is going out. Also, any sort of club or party scene would use not only moving lights but colored lights as well.
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.
Using more lights makes things brighter and creates a happier mood. Therefore, villains normally are lit less and heroes are lit more to portray the darker and the lighter moods. Heroes will not be lit from underneath as much as they will from the front, back and side, using more lights. Their faces will be better lit so you can see their eyes better.
Intensity: Light intensity can make things look different and hide objects and even wrinkles in shadows. I once had an actress ask me to turn the light down a little because she thought she looked better in the lower lighting-and she was right-it took away some of her wrinkles and made her look a little younger and thinner. It was after this encounter that this lesson stuck with me. Just like black clothes give you the illusion of looking thinner, less light also makes you look thinner and younger. If you notice, in films you will see that antagonists are shown in darker lighting because shadowy figures represent someone evil or unapproachable to people. Protagonists are better lit and you can see more of their face because someone who’s eyes you can fully see seems more trustworthy and approachable.
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: The color of the light also creates mood and helps the audience understand time of day and whether the character(s) are inside or outside. Inside light tends to be more orange or tungsten, and outside light tends to be bluer.
When all these concepts are learned and mastered, they come together to create a masterpiece and can be used and manipulated in every project you shoot to invent a different, unique look. With all these concepts and a touch of your personal creativity, the possibilities of painting with light are endless!
Up and down life of the TV show lighting camera person at Mark Cella’s site.
