Cinematography-Theory-And-Practice

Soft light: Light from a large source that creates soft, ill-definedshadows or (if soft enough), no shadows at all. Skylight on anovercast day is from many directions and is very soft.Ambient light: There are two uses of this term. One means thelight that just happens to be in a location. The second use of theterm is soft, overhead light that is just sort of “there.”Practicals: Actual working prop lights — table lamps, floorlamps, sconces, and so on. It is essential that all practical lampshave a dimmer on them for fine-tuning control; small dimmersfor this purpose are called hand squeezers.Upstage: Part of the scene on the other side of the actors, oppositethe side the camera is on. Downstage is the side the cameraupstage was the part farthest away from the audience.High key: Lighting that is bright and fairly shadowless with lotsof fill light; often used for fashion and beauty commercials.Low key: Lighting that is dark and shadowy with little or no fillBounce light: Light that is reflected off something — a wall,the ceiling, a white or neutral surface, a silk, or just about anythingelse.Available light: Whatever light already exists at the location.lights,overhead fluorescents, etc).Motivated lighting: Where light in the scene appears to have asource such as a window, a lamp, a fireplace, and so on. In somecases the light will come from a source visible in the scene; insome cases, it will only appear to come from a source that is visiblein the scene.Figure 7.8. Lighting is your primarytool in establishing mood and tone,which add layers of meaning to thecontent. This shot is lit with a MightyMole bouncing off the concrete floor.lighting basics109