Post 12: Media Language Lighting 2 (Quality & Direction)

Quality and direction are also two aspects of lighting one should consider when filming. My group and I researched into the quality and direction of lighting and what to consider when producing a film as it can only benefit us when we come to actually produce our short film, because of this we also thought it wise to conduct our own experiments of quality and direction.

Fresnel light

Quality: Refers to the intensity of the illumination that the audience are viewing which can be separated into two areas, soft and hard. Soft is indirect or diffused - which blurs contours and textures, and softens the contrast between light and shade. Hard is direct light which creates large and bold shadows with obvious textures.

Kino Flo

The quality can be effected by the type of light chosen for example using a Fresnel light instead of a Kino light. A Fresnel light is a focusable spotlight used in film and television lighting, which can be adjusted via a knob on the back of the light from "spot" for a narrowly focused beam, to "flood" for a wider beam. Kino lights however provide a relatively compact and efficient way of providing soft lighting. Compared to the original motion picture lighting, incandescent lights and HMI lights, Kino Flo tubes produce less heat and fit into smaller spaces, two significant advantages that have made them popular with professionals.

Direction: Refers to where the light is coming from and what part of the frame it is effecting. Every light has a point where it is at its lowest and blends, and it also has its brightest moments where it creates a sort of spotlight. The direction of a light can come from anywhere possible; left, right, high, low and so on.

Madonna's Vogue video is a powerful example of showing how direction and quality of lighting can effect the object of importance. There are many techniques used throughout the video with lights shining from a range of different directions to create shadows or back lights or three point lighting. 
The photo to the left shows Madonna's face as the object of interest in this shot, this is done by there being a plain black background with her face being strongly illuminated in a film noir style. To the right is a photo of a woman picking things up in the middle of the frame, she is made the interest of the shot with a large back light producing a white background  which contrasts against the black shadow from the person's outfit. The last photograph shows a man sat in a chair with his fingers close to his face, there is a light source coming from the left hand side of the frame which produces an attached shadow on his face where his fingers are placed.

Above is the music video Vogue by Madonna