Blog post #13- Lighting

When it comes to using lighting in films it helps with determining what the focus is meant to be. Lighting can help shape the mood and help direct audience members attention. The key light is the main source of light during the scene. For example, if the light is focused on a character or certain object that is where they want the audience focus to be on. High key is bright with no shadows. Low-key creates shadows throughout the scene. Natural light is anything that occurs naturally. Things like sunlight and moonlight would be examples of this. Artificial light is anything else, mankind.  

For example, in my music video that I made earlier in the year for this class I used natural light. In the shot it shows my protagonist taking a minute alone and reminiscing on what her ex-relationship used to be. I used natural lighting in this shot because I wanted to show that it is a bright, sunny day and my protagonist feels sad and upset. My intentions were to demonstrate a situation that people really go through so that it is not unrealistic. 

When determining what type of lighting to use throughout the scene you have to think about the point wanting to get across. Say you want to create a scene where it is a bit mysterious and dark you would use low-key lighting. If you want to create a scene that seems positive and bright you would use high key. Or if you simply just want to focus on one particular item you would use key light. When using key light, you are basically signifying you want the audience to put their focus on the item lit up. 

This scene from stranger things is an example of key light. While the character is visible, he is shining the flashlight on this object so that the audience attention will go to that. This is just signifying that the audience should be paying attention to what is in the jar rather than the character and his surroundings. 

For my opening scene, I want to make it relatable. For my outside shot I would use the natural light. In these scenes the context would be similar to the music video, a bright sunny day with my protagonist feeling sad. When I want my focus to be on a specific thing, I will use key light. If I am shooting a scene and there is a specific feature, I want to be noticed I would use key light. Since my opening is a coming-of-age and not really mysterious low-key lighting will probably be used the least if used at all.