Lighting

The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting can influence an audience’s understanding of characters, actions, themes and mood. Light (and shade) can emphasize texture, shape, distance, mood, time of day or night, season, glamour; it affects the way colors are rendered, both in hue and depth, and can focus attention on particular elements of the composition.
 * Introduction To Lighting**

**Types of Lighting** **Three-Point Lighting:** The Three Point Lighting Technique is a standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. It is a simple but versatile system which forms the basis of most lighting. Once you understand three point lighting you are well on the way to understanding all lighting. The technique uses three lights called the key light, fill light and back light. Naturally you will need three lights to utilize the technique fully. The diagram shows the position of each light when using three point lighting: http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/three-point/ Key Light: This is the main light. It is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.

Fill Light: This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. To achieve this, you could move the light further away or use some spun. You might also want to set the fill light to more of a flood than the key.  Back Light The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject's outlines. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look.     

**High-Key Lighting:** High-key lighting is a style of lighting for film that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios, but now is used to suggest an upbeat mood. It is often used in sitcoms and comedies. High-key lighting is generally free from dark shadows. The terminology comes from the key light (main light). In the 1950s and1960s, high-key lighting was achieved through multiple light sources lighting a scene, usually using three fixtures per person (left, right, and central) this resulted in a uniform lighting pattern with very little modeling. today, multiple hot light sources are substituted by much more efficient fluorescent soft lights which provide a similar effect. The advantage to high-key lighting is that it doesn't require adjustment for each scene which allows the production to complete the shooting in hours instead of days. The primary drawback is that high-key lighting fails to add meaning or drama by lighting certain parts more prominently than others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-key_lighting **Low-Key Lighting:** Low-key lighting is a style of lighting for film. It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Low-key lighting often uses only one key light, optionally controlled with a fill light or a simple reflector. Low key light accentuates the contours of an object by throwing areas into shade while a fill light or reflector may illuminate the shadow areas to control contrast. The relative strength of key-to-fill, known as the lighting ratio, can be measured using a light meter. The term "low key" is used in cinematography to refer to any scene with a high lighting ratio, especially if there is a predominance of shadowy areas. It tends to heighten the sense of alienation felt by the viewer, hence is commonly used in film noir and horror genres. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-key_lighting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsmVL7SDp5Y
 * Film Noir:**

**Hard Lighting:** - Strong well defined shadows

**Soft Lighting:** - Light, weak and more blurry shadows

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