Film & TV Language: Lighting

 1) Still image analysis

Photo 1:

Low-key lighting - creating a mysterious and intimidating impression.

Top-lighting - highlights the woman's features glamorising her, but with the effect of the smoke's lighting gives a serious, threatening aura. 


 E:\My docs\My Pictures\Film Stills\Annex%20-%20Dietrich,%20Marlene%20(Shanghai%20Express)_03.jpg    

Top-lighting - there are shadows on her face making her look quite glamorous.

Low-key lighting - this creates mystery around the femme fatale, making it feel sort of secretive.


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High-key lighting - lights him up giving him a sense of power and masculinity. 

Under-lighting - shadows on his chiseled features creates a sense of intimidation around him.

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Top-lighting - illuminates his face, which highlights his serious facial expressions. 

Lowkey-lighting - creates a contrast with his illuminated face which a sense of power.

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High-key lighting - makes the photo more natural, to suit the candid image, also creating a secretive scandalous look with the shadows casted. 

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High-key lighting - with shadows being casted through the blinds making it look more natural, intimate and romantic. 

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Back-lighting -  creating a silhouette making the characters even look other-wordly and frightening, also creating an enigma code. 

E:\My docs\My Pictures\Film Stills\chienandolou1_cmyk.jpg 

Low-key lighting -  creates mystery and evokes a sense of fear, and concern around the character. 

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Top-lighting - highlighting the woman's apparent pious, and religious character, the light might symbolise her enlightenment as she turns to God. 

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Lowkey-lighting - creates sense of mystery, with the darkness concealing everything like a secret. 

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High-key lighting -  illuminating the couple highlighting their intimacy and love, creating a warm ambiance.

Front lighting - creates lighting making it feel real and raw, and even more warm.

2) Film noir research 

The genre became quite big in the 1940's, in American Cinema, and was influenced by German Expressionism.
The films often explore crime and the darker aspects of the behaviours of humans.
Themes and things prominent in film noir are antiheroes, femme fatales and betrayal.
The settings are usually urban cities, where is lots of activity.
In terms of lighting they utilise a lot of low-key lighting which gives it it's look, and back-lighting which is used to create mystery around the femme fatale. Moreover. the use chiarascuro is important as it creates contrasts between black and white, adding the the crisp monochromatic colour scheme. 



3) Film noir YouTube clip analysis

Double Indemnity (1944) - Opening Scene

How does this clip's lighting fit the film noir genre? 



Low-key Lighting -  There is a continuous use of low-key lighting which helps to create a sense of mystery, and helps to carry darker themes like betrayal, and moral ambiguity which this film presents. Moreover, this helps to fit the film noir genre because it helps to further emphasise important film noir themes. 

Directional Lighting - This highlights parts that the audience, perhaps the characters face revealing their expressions/features, or costumes, or props, which give them their sense of character.

Chiaroscuro -  This contrast of dark and light is emphasises expressions, and adds to the infamous black and white colour scheme, encapsulating how film noir should visually be presented. 

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