Research into lighting

Lighting is an extremely important part of the film making process, in that it not only makes the film look more professional by exposing an image, it also can be used to create atmosphere. When considering lighting we need to look at the effect the director is trying to create and look at the meanings certain lightings create.

Three Point Lighting
Three Point lighting is the most basic lighting setup. As the name suggests, there are three lights involved, the Key Light, the Fill Light, and the Backlight. The Key Light is aimed at the object, or individual, and is the brightest of the three lights. The Fill Light is a softer light, which is usually placed opposite the Key Light. The Fill light is used to cut down on the amount of shadows created by the Key Light. Finally the Backlight is placed behind the object or individual, and its purpose is to separate the subject from the background. Basically, it creates a sense of depth.


Fill Light
Fill light may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic rage of the recording media and also to reflect the same amount of detail in which can usually be seen by the eye in average lighting. If we use normality as the baseline, the amount of fill light used can make shadows seem lighter, darker or normal. The use of more or less fill light will cause the audience to react in different ways, because of both environmental and moods clues given by the tone of the shadows. The positioning of the fill can affect the overall appearance of the lighting.

High Key Lighting
When a director of photography uses a high level of fill lighting, it is referred to as high key lighting. The effect of this is that it makes the scene look brighter than real life. This kind of lighting is usually used in musicals as it shows a sense of liveliness, or it may emphasise intensity of a situation in dramas.


Low Key Lighting
Low Key lighting is basically the opposite of high key lighting, as it is used to create more shadows. Due to the extra shadows this lighting has become a convention of horror films.






Backlighting
Backlighting is when the object or individual is lit from behind. The light, natural or artificial, and the  viewer face each other, and the object or individual is in between. A glowing effect is created around the edges of the subject.
 It can create a sort of halo effect.

Four Point Lighting
Four point lighting is exactly the same as three point lighting, just with the addition of the Background light. The light does as the name suggests, therefore lighting up the background area. This adds distance between the background and subject. The use of a background light adds a sense of depth.




Top Lighting
Top lighting is the use of a light above the subject, and it highlights the subject.





Under Lighting
This is just the opposite of top lighting, where the light is placed underneath the subject.