Lighting is another important element. Lighting is used to convey certain meanings through emphasizing or highlighting certain aspects of people or objects, or through uses of different colors, based on the following techniques:

Low-key lighting. Low-key lighting is employed in detective, mystery, gangster, or horror films to emphasize contrasts between light and dark images to emphasize the shadowy, dark worlds of these genres.

High-key lighting. High-key lighting employs a lot of bright lights with little variation of dark and light; often found in traditional comedies.

Backlighting. Backlighting involves placing the light behind the person or object to create an halo effect.

Colored lenses. Different colored lens are also used to set the mood in a film based on certain semiotic or archetypal meanings for colors. Red or yellow can be used to create a sense of warmth while a bluish color creates a sense of coldness. In Minority Report, the faces of the characters who could predict future events were shown as ultra-white to create a sub-human image.

Examples of use of color and light

Examples of hard and soft lighting

Abie Lane Benítez-Quinones Luz: Poetry and the Physics of Light
Yale/New Haven

Module 3: Word document

Visual Literacy: Starting with the Image

Studying Images through Still Photography

Comics and Film Technique

Film Techniques

Lighting

Editing

Sound

Using Film Techniques to Convey Cinematic Meanings

Defining Purposes for Editing Decisions: Creating Storyboards

Analysis/Evaluation of Film Technique

Film History

Television History

Accessing On-line Films / Film Reviews / Ratings / Information

Animation and Special Effects

Film Study Methods

Writing about Films

Film Study Resources

Film Journals/Magazines

References

Teaching Activities