Lighting

Hello Cambridge welcome to week number four of my portfolio project. Today I'm going to be talking about the mise-en-scene element lighting. The lighting in film making refers to the direction, source, or color of light in the scene. Lighting is such an important factor in film making because it allows the audience to see the characters, and create mood and atmosphere, lighting also establishes the time and location of a scene. 

            The most frequently used lighting in sport comedy films is high key lighting. High key lighting is a very bright light that produces little to no shadows. This type of lighting is often used in comedies and sitcoms because it creates a cheerful and upbeat tone. High key lighting was originally used for technological reasons, since early film and television had not done well with high contrast radios. High key lighting requires most, if not all, of the lights in a movies setup to create a bright and evenly lit scene.

                                                            Key Lighting

        Key lighting is apart of the three point lighting group, which includes the key light, the fill light, and the back light. Out of the three the key light is the first and most important light used in a lighting setup. The key light's purpose is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject in a scene. Since the key light isn't straight on from the subject in a film it must be put above eye level and facing down in order to not create shadows. Some comedic films have placed the key light to where it's illuminating from below because it creates more dramatic effect. Using the key light results in a high contrast scene, however a fill light is able to help decrease contrasts and add more detail.

                                                                     Natural Lighting

          Natural lighting in a film is exactly what it sounds like, it uses the natural light from either the Son, or the Moon. This type of lighting is utilized to create a sense of realism and authenticity to a film. Natural lighting is difficult because you can't control how it's going to look, or when it's going to run out. The best thing to do with natural light is to plan ahead of time because the light source could start to dim. I chose to research this type of lighting because it's the lighting that I will mainly be using since my film opening will be outside. I really like how this lighting looks when it's sunrise or sunset, so I will try to add some clips of that into my opening, to create a sense elegance and peace.