POST PRODUCTION: Lighting
Whilst planning and writing our script and initial treatment, I have been looking at the way set design impacts film, and what techniques we can use to enhance our own final outcome.
Whilst we are limited by our budget and locations, one way that we can influence our audience and control the types of atmospheres we reflect, is through lighting. Our film relies on expressing the perception of our main character, as his moods polarize between positive and negative. It will be imperative that we take advantage of high-key lighting and low-key lighting.
High-key lighting
High-key lighting is used to communicate a lack of danger to the viewer. It is commonly used in musicals and comedies. When high-key lighting is used there are very rarely any dark spots within the frame and the viewer is made to feel at ease as everything is visible. High-key lighting will be perfect for our initial kitchen scene, during which our protagonist is feeling at his most manic, happy and safe. We can amplify this further by using bright colours such as reds oranges and yellows.
Low-key Lighting
Whilst we are limited by our budget and locations, one way that we can influence our audience and control the types of atmospheres we reflect, is through lighting. Our film relies on expressing the perception of our main character, as his moods polarize between positive and negative. It will be imperative that we take advantage of high-key lighting and low-key lighting.
High-key lighting
High-key lighting is used to communicate a lack of danger to the viewer. It is commonly used in musicals and comedies. When high-key lighting is used there are very rarely any dark spots within the frame and the viewer is made to feel at ease as everything is visible. High-key lighting will be perfect for our initial kitchen scene, during which our protagonist is feeling at his most manic, happy and safe. We can amplify this further by using bright colours such as reds oranges and yellows.
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| Grease (1978), An example of High-key lighting to create a happy, safe scene. |
We explored low-key lighting in depth during our photography module, specifically to create moody, serious portrait photography. The dark spots in low-key frame make the viewer feel uneasy, the viewers eye is drawn to the dark spots in the frame. This is heightened by the spots with high contrast, high contrast is used within graphic design to denote areas of an image that are of higher importance, as the viewers eye generally reads the sharpest available shapes first. This kind of lighting will be very important in creating our final scenes, in which Jack is struggling with a sort of panic attack. We can use low-key lighting to express a sense of urgency, danger and fear. The below example also uses a cold colour scheme to express the discomfort that the characters may be feeling, we can use cold colours, (blues and greens) in our final scenes paired with low key lighting to communicate the extreme feelings of our protagonist. this will work particularly well to contrast with our high-key, warm toned, opening scene to show the polarized moods of our protagonist, without it being explicitly mentioned in dialogue.
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| An example of low-key lighting in "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) |
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