Research into Lighting

Aim of lighting...

The aim of lighting is to enhance the mood, atmosphere and drama. It helps illuminate the story, suggest depth, direct attention and reveal characters. It suggests the time of day, and reflects how a character is feeling.

Types of Lighting...

1. High key Lighting- It is a type of lighting that it commonly used in film. television and photography that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done, partly for technology reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios. However now the high key lighting is there to suggest an upbeat mood.

 2. low Key Lighting- is a type of lighting that is used in film, television and photography. It is a  necessary element in creating film. low key lighting make the most of dark tones and shadows to create images with drama and atmosphere. Unlike high key lighting which requires plenty of  natural or artificialn lighting, low key lighting hardly requires any.

 3. Ambient Lighting- This refers to the natural looking light in a scene of a film. It is the lighting surrounding the subject. It is mostly artificial lighting however it is not as extreme as high key      lighting or low key lighting. It also known as the lighting that belongs to the scene. Not exactly the same as natural lighting however.

4. Back Lighting- Back light separate subjects from background, saints from sinners and one pro from another. the angle is toward the lens from above or behind the subject or above, behind and slightly to the side of it, high enough to cut lens flare. It is used a lot in films that have a lot of 'on edge' contrast.

Other types of lighting include...

1. Rim- this is similar to back lighting however it is placed directly behind the subject and is quite strong.
2. Chiaroscuro- Means there is a high contrast between light and dark in the picture.
3. Color Distortion- Gels not only correct the color of light sources relative to one other or the film, they can also be used to distort light for dramatic or artistic purposes.

Three point lighting...

The three point lighting is made up of three different positions of lighting.

1) The Key Lighting- This is the main light, it is usually the strongest and has the most influential look on the scene. it is placed at the side of the camera so that the side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.

2) Fill Lighting- This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key lighting. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. 

3) Back Lighting- The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than projecting direct light, its purpose it to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subjects outlines.