What Lies Behind the Magic of Movie Lighting? Uncover the Secrets of Cinematic Illumination

How much should an audience be able to see on the screen? Should the lighting be bright or dim? Natural or exaggerated? Should it dazzle or remain soft? Is it meant to enhance the actors or reveal every wrinkle and scar on their faces? To make a film successful, the audience must be able to "see."

Lighting as a Tool

To deem a film's cinematography as "good," a fundamental necessity is ensuring ample lighting on the actors to present them visibly, thereby enhancing and spotlighting their attributes. Beyond the actors, all crucial aspects of art direction must be readily perceivable, enabling the audience to absorb essential visual cues. This encompasses natural settings, crafted environments, props, attire, and myriad details that convey both the context and underlying themes of the story.

At times, the intricacies within art direction might not demand explicit attention from the audience. However, if a meticulously decorated room remains concealed within dim lighting, its purpose becomes questionable. Conversely, numerous films feature bright lighting yet lack distinctive charm. Additionally, some movies utilize digital shooting and "smooth-motion" effects, evoking a sensation akin to watching a live football game—crisp, unfeeling, and devoid of organic warmth.

In today's era, equipped with advanced cameras, lenses, and lighting advancements, encountering poorly shot films is uncommon. Even newcomers armed solely with a smartphone and a grasp of photography and lighting can craft visually captivating movies. However, despite these tools, numerous films still lack inspired cinematography. To steer clear of the pitfalls of such uninteresting cinema, it's crucial to understand the roots and origins of diverse lighting techniques.

1 Low-Key Lighting

Studies suggest that since the 1930s, cinematic visuals have become progressively darker. This trend can be traced back to the influence of German Expressionism, wartime newsreels, and photography during the Great Depression on American cinema. In 1941, "Citizen Kane" revolutionized the language of cinema. Director Orson Welles, along with production designer Perry Ferguson and cinematographer Gregg Toland, broke away from the glamorous and realistic traditions of the "Golden Age." They used deep shadows and narrow beams of light to portray this Shakespearean tale of self-importance, isolation, yearning, and loss. Film noir of the era further explored the use of dramatic, theatrical lighting to depict the inner turmoil of its characters in the post-war era of disillusionment.

Masters of cinematography control shadows as skillfully as great painters employ white space in their works. Gordon Willis, the cinematographer responsible for "The Godfather" trilogy, became known as the "Prince of Darkness" because of his penchant for shooting actors in shadows. In the iconic opening scene of "The Godfather," Don Corleone sits in a dimly lit study, while his daughter's wedding takes place in a sunlit garden, creating a stark contrast that symbolizes Corleone's divided inner world – one side engaged in the dirty business of crime, the other caring for his family.

Interestingly, "All the President's Men," also shot by Gordon Willis, juxtaposes the glaringly lit newsroom at "The Washington Post" with the pitch-black underground garage where the reporter Bob Woodward meets his informant. This stark contrast serves as a visual metaphor for a society mired in suspicion and paranoia.

Today, practitioners like Gordon Willis are a rarity, and low-key lighting has sometimes devolved into a cliché. Blockbuster films use it to feign depth and gravitas, while indie films employ it to save on costly lighting equipment. However, low-key lighting should adhere to the same standards: concealed visual information should draw the audience further into the narrative, rather than forcing them to dig for details. Regardless of how strongly shadows convey emotional effects, they should be balanced and mitigated with light occasionally to prevent the audience from struggling like they're swimming through muddy water.

2 Candlelight

In recent years, one of the best examples of using shadows is found in the horror film "The Witch." Directed by Robert Eggers, the film is the story of English colonialists living in North America in the 17th century. Except for one, all indoor scenes in the film were shot by cinematographer Jarin Blaschke in candlelight. He used amber-toned, subtle light to illuminate the characters' faces, leaving the background in profound darkness. The resulting scenes resemble oil paintings by Rembrandt.

The visuals in "The Witch" not only look good but also become increasingly eerie as the story unfolds, gripping both the characters and the audience in a terrifying atmosphere. The film's captivating visuals serve a psychological and visually soothing function.

3 Natural Lighting

Robert Eggers and Jarin Blaschke are following in the footsteps of filmmakers from the 1970s. Even with the most advanced camera equipment and lenses, they use "available light," which is natural light without the aid of bulbs. This gives their images a straightforward, sincere, and unembellished authenticity.

Filmmakers like Terrence Malick are particularly fond of using natural light to create beauty in their frames. They, along with their cinematographers, shoot during the "magic hour," which is just after the sun has set or is about to rise because the light during this time is warm, diffuse, and visually stunning. In Malick's "Days of Heaven," those poetic and picturesque visuals owe much to the magic-hour cinematography.

"The Revenant," an Oscar-winning film, effectively demonstrates the advantages of magic-hour lighting, with each frame appearing to have its light source. The production team masterfully captured the raw beauty of the western wilderness during the winter season. Not surprisingly, "The Revenant" cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is also Terrence Malick's "go-to" cinematographer. He has worked on several Malick films, including "The Tree of Life" and "Knight of Cups," most of which were shot using available light. Although Lubezki's handling of the "magic hour" lighting is undeniably skillful, the use of this technique is increasingly focused on aesthetic overindulgence and garnering publicity during the film's promotional phase, rather than serving the story.

4 Soft Lighting in Period Films

Lighting in period films is particularly expressive: besides Terrence Malick, films like Robert Altman's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon," set in the 18th century, were highly influential in the 1970s.

"McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is a classic due to the hazy, foggy beauty that director Robert Altman and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond created for this Western set in the Northwestern United States. This film's dreamlike aesthetics became a visual emblem of the entire 1970s, influencing directors like Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, and many others when they made films set in that era, all emulating the lush color palette and atmosphere.

"Barry Lyndon" is significant because most of the film's scenes were shot by Kubrick and cinematographer John Alcott in candlelight (with the assistance of specially designed lighting systems). The meticulous, painterly set of "Barry Lyndon" set the highest standard for period films and influenced the works of Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, and countless adaptations of Jane Austen's novels.

5 Breaking Traditional Lighting Rules

Soft contours and the cinematic quality of soft light have long been symbols of historical films. When filmmakers break this tradition, it's a bold move. Directors like John Sayles in "Matewan" and Kelly Reichardt in "Meek's Cutoff" eschewed the soft approach, opting for sharp and realistic tones and visual styles to depict historical narratives. This represents artistic innovation.

When shooting "Gosford Park," set in the Edwardian era, Robert Altman deliberately departed from the traditional clean, polished visual style of period films, presenting a more relaxed, disheveled look to remind the audience that they might miss important details if they don't pay attention.

While filming "War Horse," set against the backdrop of World War I, director Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski intentionally gave the film a "Gone with the Wind" feel, complete with a bright, stage-like quality. This decision was a breath of fresh air, designed to recreate the original fable-like feeling of the source material. Spielberg and Kaminski used "key lighting," a classic technique, to focus light directly on the actors, shrouding them in a dazzling, almost ethereal glow.

Similarly, Soderbergh's lighting techniques are highly adaptable. In mainstream blockbusters like "Erin Brockovich" and the "Ocean's Eleven" series, he chose conventional lighting methods that adhere to classic aesthetics. However, in relatively low-budget works, he adopted a more casual, less aesthetically demanding approach to lighting. Even in slightly more costly films like "The Informant" and "Contagion," he deviated from the confines of traditional lighting, hiding stars in backlit shadows or deliberately overexposing scenes using light streaming through windows or other sources.

Experienced filmmakers possess the ability to turn even apparent "mistakes" in lighting into assets that enhance a film's mood and atmosphere. These unexpected elements can contribute significantly to making the entire story more compelling and engaging for the audience.