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Lighting objectives and methods
CHAPTER
Lighting objectives and methods
5
Let’s put hardware aside for the moment and discuss the bigger question of what we want to accomplish with lighting and how we go about it. What considerations do the director of photography and gaffer assess when making lighting decisions? To begin this discussion, we’ll first look at the larger objectives of lighting. With these objectives in mind, we’ll look at lighting strategy—how we arrive at the direction, color, and quality of the light for a given scene, and how we light actors’ faces. To implement our lighting strategy, we’ll also need to understand the technical tasks integral to working in a photographic media, including taking and interpreting light meter readings, using and controlling contrast, and considering the various factors that affect the working lighting level for a scene.
OBJECTIVES What do we think about as we face an unlit set, before we select and place the particular lights we will use? Take a moment to consider the overall objectives of lighting. The classic textbooks1 of theatrical lighting design describe four objectives of lighting: visibility, naturalism, composition, and mood. Although the implementation of these concepts is a little different when we are lighting a close-up of an actor’s face than when we are lighting a stage, the same objectives apply to our work in motion picture and television lighting. These broad objectives form the basis for lighting decisions as we look at specific issues and techniques later in this chapter.
Visibility (or selective visibility) A film without sound is a silent movie. A film without light is radio. Obviously, you must have light to expose the film. Exposure and contrast are two essential elements of selective visibility in cinematography. Much of the artistry of cinematography is in the control of lightness and darkness throughout the film’s latitude, selectively exposing objects and characters to appear bright and glowing, slightly shaded, darkly shaded, barely visible, or completely lost in darkness, as desired. Equally important is the direction of light. What angle of light shall we use to reveal the face? How much of the face do we wish to reveal? We’ll talk a great deal more about exposure and lighting angles later in this chapter. 1
Stanley McCandless, considered the father of modern lighting design, first proposed many lighting concepts that are still relevant today. His book, A Method of Lighting the Stage (1932) discusses the four functions of lighting: visibility, locale, composition, and mood. He also proposed the stage could be broken down into multiple lighting areas, and light could be manipulated in terms of intensity, color, distribution, and control (which will come into play in Chapter 6 of this book). The “four objectives of lighting” also appear in Richard Pilbrow’s classic lighting textbook, Stage Lighting (Studio Vista, 1970).
Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook, 4e. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-240-81075-1.00005-2 © 2010 Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
91
Lighting objectives and methods
5
Let’s put hardware aside for the moment and discuss the bigger question of what we want to accomplish with lighting and how we go about it. What considerations do the director of photography and gaffer assess when making lighting decisions? To begin this discussion, we’ll first look at the larger objectives of lighting. With these objectives in mind, we’ll look at lighting strategy—how we arrive at the direction, color, and quality of the light for a given scene, and how we light actors’ faces. To implement our lighting strategy, we’ll also need to understand the technical tasks integral to working in a photographic media, including taking and interpreting light meter readings, using and controlling contrast, and considering the various factors that affect the working lighting level for a scene.
OBJECTIVES What do we think about as we face an unlit set, before we select and place the particular lights we will use? Take a moment to consider the overall objectives of lighting. The classic textbooks1 of theatrical lighting design describe four objectives of lighting: visibility, naturalism, composition, and mood. Although the implementation of these concepts is a little different when we are lighting a close-up of an actor’s face than when we are lighting a stage, the same objectives apply to our work in motion picture and television lighting. These broad objectives form the basis for lighting decisions as we look at specific issues and techniques later in this chapter.
Visibility (or selective visibility) A film without sound is a silent movie. A film without light is radio. Obviously, you must have light to expose the film. Exposure and contrast are two essential elements of selective visibility in cinematography. Much of the artistry of cinematography is in the control of lightness and darkness throughout the film’s latitude, selectively exposing objects and characters to appear bright and glowing, slightly shaded, darkly shaded, barely visible, or completely lost in darkness, as desired. Equally important is the direction of light. What angle of light shall we use to reveal the face? How much of the face do we wish to reveal? We’ll talk a great deal more about exposure and lighting angles later in this chapter. 1
Stanley McCandless, considered the father of modern lighting design, first proposed many lighting concepts that are still relevant today. His book, A Method of Lighting the Stage (1932) discusses the four functions of lighting: visibility, locale, composition, and mood. He also proposed the stage could be broken down into multiple lighting areas, and light could be manipulated in terms of intensity, color, distribution, and control (which will come into play in Chapter 6 of this book). The “four objectives of lighting” also appear in Richard Pilbrow’s classic lighting textbook, Stage Lighting (Studio Vista, 1970).
Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook, 4e. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-240-81075-1.00005-2 © 2010 Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
91