Film Language: Lighting

Low-key lighting: dark, dramatic shadow

The lighting that seems to be used is low-key lighting we can see this because the lighting creates a lot of darkness whilst casting a dramatic shadow. What the casting of shadow does is it causes the audience to perceive the character as much more mysterious thus acting more suspiciously towards her. This sort of lighting is typically usually a key convention of the horror and film-noir genre.

Top and back lighting

We, as an audience, are aware that top lighting is being used as the lighting helps to accentuate the features of the character and makes her appear more glamorous. This is a key feature of all femme fatale characters which helps to create the more beautiful and stunning appearance of the female character. There is also back lighting begin used as it creates a sort of solitude on her face. By casting a shadow over her face, without ignoring her facial features and expression, adds to the element of mystery and suspicion which works in synergy with the low-key style of lighting also used.

This overall creates all the feature of a femme fetale which is iconic of the film-noir genre.

Low key lighting:

The lighting used appears to be low-key lighting due to the fact that the contrast between the dark and lit sides seems to be extremely strong. The only thing lightened is the females face and her fingers. The low-key lighting used helps to add a strong focus on the face of the female character – it shows us that the facial expression and appearance of the character is much more important than her surroundings. Moreover the deep black surroundings adds an aura of power to the female as she sort of demands all the attention yet keeping the idea of a sort of shadow being cast over her suggesting she may be secretive and isn’t to be trusted - she almost seems dangerous because of this which is a key feature of the femme fatales of the genre.

Top lighting and a bit of back lighting:

The top-lighting lights only her face which gives her more of a realistic appearance but also which draws attention to her expression and her beauty. This almost creates an idea of the light shining upon her which gives it a religious perspective. However this is strongly contrasted with the back and low-key lighting as well as the prop of a cigarette in her hand. This contrast may have been used to create the idea that this woman isn’t what she seems which strengthens the idea that the director doesn’t want us to fully trust this woman and constantly remain suspicious towards her. The backlighting is used to create the solitude that surrounds her, the darkness that surrounds this gentle appearing character. 

High-key lighting:

There is a realistic effect to the picture, we can see most the face however only a small shadow is created around his eyes and neck. The filler lights help to show all the clothes and the face suggesting the whole overall appearance of this character in meant to influence the audiences’ opinion on the character. The opinion we get of him due to his clothing is that he is powerful which works in synergy with the prop of the crown and the serious facial expression.

Top/under lighting:

The use of the top light helps to create a shadow under the eyes of the character which causes the audience to act more suspiciously towards the character, due to the fact that the eyes, which usually create an idea of the intentions of the character. Because his eyes are shaded it suggests to the audience that the character is almost shady and shouldn’t be trusted thus causing the audience to remain suspicious towards the character. More over the expression paired alongside the shadows and the under lighting creates a rather harsh image reflecting a rather harsh character – this may even cause the audience to view him as the antagonist.

Low-key lighting:

The audience understands the fact that there is low-key lighting being used due to the fact that there is a strong contrast of shadow of the clothes the character is wearing and the lighting on his face. The contrast made help to focus on certain areas of the character showing us what parts are far more important. By directing the audience’s attention to certain objects and aspects but always from things like the coat almost says to the audience this is a dark character but had a strong stance (expression) and isn’t too forgiving (the gun)

Top and back lighting:

A lot of spot lights are used to focus on particular aspects of the character like the prop of the fun, the face and the sign with the name of the area, the rain is also lit up in a way to make it stand out. The back lighting gives him a sudden edge and power in his stance working in synergy with the low angel shot used which typically creates the idea of power.

Low-lighting:

The difference between the brightly lit face of the character and the shadow it casts is highly pronounced. The strong shadow creates the sense of strong danger and the brightly lit expression creates the idea of brightly lit fear.

Under lighting:

The shadow being cast on the wall is elongated due to the fact that the light is shining from behind. This elongated effect of the shadow helps to add the idea that danger is taking place and creates the sense of prolonged fear. The sense of fear is increases due to the synergy with the length of the shadow and the strong expression of the character. The positioning of the female close to the wall and the body language also highlight this idea of danger and fear. 

High-lighting:

The lighting used is extremely realistic which adds to the intimacy of the image.

Top and back lighting:

The top lighting helps to elongate the features of the two characters which make them seem more glamorous as well as highlighting their expressions creating a stronger feel of intimacy. The back lighting used helps to shadow out the rest of the surroundings showing the importance of the kiss to the two characters.

Low-key lighting:

There is a strong difference between the shadows and the bright lights behind the four figures thus creating a more mysterious feel to these 4 characters as well as suggesting that the audience may infer that these four characters may be contrasts of each other suggesting their strong personalities. The strong shadows help to give the whole situation and occurrence as sense of mystery and intrigue.

Back lighting:

The back lighting helps to create the strong solitudes of the characters and extremely elongated shadows that almost reach out to the camera. This just reinforces the reasoning for the choice of low-key lighting. They both work together to create the overall effect of intrigue, importance and an almost eerie atmosphere. 

Low-key lighting:

We as an audience can see the sudden contrast of shadow that is placed light next to the brightly lit face of the character. The contrast helps to draw attention to the character and her fearful and shocked expression as well as the position she is standing in.  From this we can infer that the character is fearful of something that we cannot see yet working as an enigma code as we wonder what could be the cause of the character’s extreme fear.

Back lighting (more to the side)

This helps to create the shadow on the wall adding to the overall dark and dangerous feel of the situation, the darkness works in synergy with her grave expression to provide the audience with a connection with the character as they can see how scary the situation may feel.

High-key lighting:

The lighting gives the character a realistic look but still casts a shadow without there being too much contrast. This is probably because the character may be meant to be religious in some aspect and a sudden dark shadow would give off the opposite meaning. This causes the audience to perceive the character in a more positive light.

Top lighting:

The lighting helps to highlight the features of the character in a more flattering manner, this also may reflect ‘the light from above’ which works with the effect of the high-key lighting and works in synergy with the touching hands (that are also brightly lit like face of the character) to create the idea of religion and a more ‘enlightening’ character.

Low-key lighting:

This helps to add to a very eerie scene but making the darkness almost stand out in bold and focus on the mask and the prop of the knife. The dark lighting paired with the low angle shot of the character creates the idea that this character may be the antagonist of the movie. This dark lighting also reflects to the audience that the scene is taking place at night which helps to add to the fearing of fear and suspense. This lighting is iconic for the horror genre.

Under/back lighting:

The under lighting used helps to create a distorted effect that makes the character appear more powerful and scary - this is another iconic feature of the horror genre. The back lighting helps to give a shadow and powerful solitude which makes the character seem more deadly.

High-key lighting:

This creates a realistic feel to the scene and makes both characters equally attractive by their own means. The importance of each character is spread out between to the two conveying to the audience this is an important scene for both character. This lighting, however, cleverly creates more focus on the characters so the audience almost miss the prop of the gun which gives a sudden shock to the audience creating a sudden panic and perceiving it as an enigma code making the audience question its presence.

Top lighting (Back lighting for the male):

The top lighting makes both characters seem glamorous as well as adding focus on the eyes of both the characters and how they are locked together. The soft back lighting behind the male character suggests he may be a bit dangerous which works in synergy with the prop of the gun in his hand, making us slightly cautious towards him and questioning of his motives.