Hey guys, we're back with the second part of our lighting 101 series, and today we're
about the direction (or angle) of light.
So direction of light is... where you point your light.
That's it.
That's the video.
No, just kidding!
There's actually a lot to delve into here.
You're choosing where the light's coming from, and where it falls, and therefore what it
actually illuminates.
But, in the process you're also choosing how and where your shadows fall,
and what shapes they take.
This has an equally, if not more powerful impact on your image.
So using lighting angles in film is not only choosing what is lit and what is not...
It's about creating and defining shape and depth.
It's about bringing out three dimensions on a two-dimensional movie screen.
There are innumerable variations and combinations of different lighting angles, and how cinematographers
use them.
But in this video, we're going to go over the standard angles that you need to know
to be able to communicate well with other filmmakers, and what effects these angles have.
Today we're going to be focusing on the human face: the place where this interplay of light
and shadow really comes to life.
The canvas where cinematographers can reveal character and emotion.
And our canvas today is Cate!
Let's start with front lighting.
Which is pretty much what it sounds like: The light is coming from in front of the subject,
relative to the camera.
A few things to note here: since the light is coming from the front, there is minimal
to no shadow cast on the face.
Which explains why front lighting is also often called "flat lighting."
But when you throw a little height into the equation, we already begin to see changes.
Shadows are immediately brought out, but they are still fairly minimal.
This angle is popular in beauty lighting, because it highlights the cheekbones, and
the downward-cast shadows hide the chin, define the jawline, add some shading on the cheeks,
and a delicate shadow under the nose.
But let's push it even further so our light is no longer frontal, but directly overhead,
shooting down.
This is called a "top light."
Shadows are cast dramatically downward, creating larger and deeper shadows under the brows,
the eyes, nose, and cheeks, leaving only the top of the brow,
the nose and the cheekbones highlighted.
What's most unsettling here is the eyes are cast in shadow.
We'll get to why we're getting that "kinda creepy" feeling in a sec, but let's reverse
this and see what happens when we move our light down to a low angle.
This is called "under lighting."
Everything we just saw in top lighting-- the highlights and the shadows-- just got flipped
upside down.
Once the light is almost directly below, the jaw, nostrils, lower cheeks, and the skin
under the eyebrows are all illuminated, and the cheekbones, nose, forehead and eyelids
all cast shadows upward.
Now that we've seen how the height of our source can cast our shadows up or down the
face, let's start rotating our light source around.
A very common lighting angle you'll come across is the "45 degree light."
It's still considered frontal, meaning the light is still coming from the same direction
as camera, but moved 45 degrees to the side in either direction.
Because it's not directly frontal, more shadows are allowed to come into play, cast to the
side of the nose and onto the opposite cheek.
By moving our light 45 degrees to the side, we've allowed the shadows to define more of
the face's shape, while still keeping most of the face illuminated.
Often you can get a spot of light on the opposite cheekbone, an effect affectionately known
as "Rembrandt Lighting" a nod to the famous Dutch Golden Age painter.
This is a very versatile angle of light, giving you the best of both worlds: clarity and illumination
on the face, but also with added depth and texture.
But let's keep our light source moving.
This is called a "side light."
It's pretty straightforward.
Our light is coming directly from the side of our subject, perpendicular to camera.
The shadows we began to see earlier have grown, now covering an entire half of the face.
Our subject is now split down the middle, half in the light, and half in the dark.
This dramatic effect is even more pronounced as we rotate our light back even further.
This angle is called an "edge light."
Like the name implies, an edge light illuminates one edge of the subject, keeping the shadowy
side of our actor facing towards the camera.
We touched on how we used this lighting in an earlier tutorial, "Harnessing the Shadows."
This light still gives us information: we can see the side of the cheek and the jaw
defined, the outline of the edge of the nose, and maybe some detail in one eye.
But the rest of the face is left in shadow, leaving our image mostly dark.
Last but not least, we have the "back light."
Back light is when the light source is positioned directly behind the subject, creating an illuminated
outline of their shape.
The face is now hidden entirely, but our subject still pops out from the background with a
halo-like glow.
Back lights are primarily used to define and highlight a shape, creating separation between
your subject and your background so they don't blend together.
So what does this have to do with character and story?
As you choose what is illuminated and what is cast in shadow, you're communicating directly
with the audience, carefully controlling what they are able to see and perceive about the
character in front of them.
If a character is supposed to be safe, welcoming and familiar, we turn to the high, frontal
lighting that is most familiar to us, that we see almost everyday.
We can take that comforting feeling away almost instantly, by turning that familiar lighting
on its head with under lighting, casting shadows in places that feel unnatural to us, transforming
a face into something unsettling, fearful, or even dangerous.
Eye contact is one of the strongest ways in which human beings connect-- take that away
with a top light, and suddenly a character becomes isolated from us and hard to read.
The more and more we put into shadow, the more mysterious they become, and the more
our imaginations are stirred to life, having to fill in the blanks.
And there are so many shades in between.
From the shadowy drama of a deep edge light, to the romantic painterly effect of the 45
degree angle, to the conflicting light and dark halves of a side light, we are showing
the audience not only the inner conflicts and emotions of the characters on screen,
but stirring the audience's own emotions in response... sometimes without them even realizing it.
We're gonna stop there for now.
These seven lighting positions are an excellent place to start from when tackling a scene.
Now, while we demonstrated all of these with a single light source, rarely will you use
only one light on set.
More on using and combining all these different angles together in a later video.
Thanks, and we'll see ya next time.