Lighting
A cameraman, or more specifically, a cinematographer, has the job of painting with lights, so one must know how to mimic certain situations and be able to manipulate the light to their liking, as well as the director’s. There are four things you need to consider when setting up lights: movement, placement and intensity. This is how they break down:
Movement: When light moves, it can mean a number of things. A character could be approaching a scene, a light could be “going out” which could create a creepy basement interrogation scene, or it could be something along the lines of a dance party or perhaps a rave of some kind. Maybe flashes are needed to mimic paparazzi taking pictures, in which case a lot of movement is needed as that could consist of a bunch of consecutive flashes from all over the frame.
Placement: “Where is the light coming from and why?” Asking yourself why the light is coming from a certain direction is important because it helps you understand the source better. What makes it shaped that way? Where are the shadows in relation to where the light is coming from? Being attentive to real-life lighting situations is very important to a cinematographer because that way they can mimic the light better and not make it look so fake or forced through the lens. Placing lights where they should be in real life and then making them brighter is the best way to go in my opinion-that way it looks natural. If you want a practical light to look like it’s actually lighting someone, it must be intensified in order to show up on camera. For instance, a little desk lamp will not make anyone show up on camera, but intensifying it will.
Light placement on characters also creates different moods because depending on where you shine the light on someone; different shadows will project onto their faces. The darker the light, the more equivocal someone will look. Lighting from below will make someone look more suspicious and placing light more on the face so you can see a character’s eyes better will make them look friendlier and more trustworthy. Protagonists are usually better lit and more visible while antagonists are darker lit to keep them in the shadows more and to portray a darker character whom is up to no good.
Intensity: As a Yiddish proverb once stated, “The eyes are the mirror of the soul.” Eyes also tell a lot about a character-if they’re lying, feel uncomfortable, sad or happy-you name it. You can also read subtext through eyes, meaning one can look into another’s eyes and tell what they’re really feeling as opposed to what they said they felt. This is one reason why mysterious characters or villains tend to be lit less because of their dark demeanor. Most of the time, villain’s eyes are not seen as well because they’re lying or the production does not want the subtext of the character to be read as well. Not seeing someone’s eyes also makes them less trustworthy.
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: Light color is fun to play with but can also be challenging because it can change the way a character’s skin tone looks and can mess with the white balance on your camera. A cameraman must know how to properly white balance a camera to every color temperature without losing an actor’s proper skin tone. Light color can also determine the time of day, as daylight is bluer and indoor lights tend to be more orange or “tungsten,” as we call it in the film industry. Color can also be used to portray sunsets, sunrises and can be used for schemes throughout the film. Perhaps a character’s light tends to have more of a certain color in it every time they appear on the screen because color also represents how we feel about people and can evoke certain feelings.
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.
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