Cinematography-Theory-And-Practice

Figure 7.4. Two devices are used toadd visual texture to this light: a 4x4cuculoris (also called a cookie) and aheavy smoke effect.Depthcinematographers, and directors, a big part of our job is trying tomake this flat art appear as three-dimensional as possible — to giveit depth and shape and perspective, to bring it alive as a real world asmuch as possible. Lighting plays a huge roll in this. Use of the lens,blocking, camera movement, set design, color, and other techniquesplay a role as well, but lighting is our key player in this endeavor.This is a big part of why “flat” lighting is so frequently the enemy.Flat lighting is light that comes from very near the camera, like theflash mounted on a consumer still camera: it is on axis with the lens.As a result it just flatly illuminates the entire subject evenly. It erasesthe natural three-dimensional quality of the subject.TextureAs with shape, light from the axis of the lens (flat lighting) tends toobscure surface texture of materials. The reason is simple: we knowtexture of the subject from the shadows. Light that comes from nearthe camera creates no shadows. The more that light comes from theside, the more it creates shadows, which is what reveals texture. Texturecan also be present in the lighting itself (Figure 7.4).Mood and ToneLet’s recall our discussion of the word “cinematic.” Used in conversation,it is often used to describe something that is “movie-like.”For example, someone might say a particular novel is cinematic ifit has fast-moving action, lots of description, and very little exposition.That is not how we will use the term here. In this context, wewill use the term cinematic to describe all the tools, techniques, andmethods we use to add layers of meaning, emotion, tone, and moodto the content.As every good camera and lighting person knows, we can take anyparticular scene and make it look scary or beautiful or ominous orwhatever the story calls for, in conjunction with use of lens andcolor, framing, use of lens, frame rate, handheld or mounted camera— indeed everything we can do with camera and lighting can beused to affect the audience’s perception of the scene.cinematography106