nofilmschool.com: There are so many different kinds of lighting it can be hard to keep track. But that's why we're here to help you sort through it.
One distinctive lighting technique that has captivated audiences and filmmakers alike is "hard lighting." It's one of those things you'll recognize as soon as you see it.
4 comments:
From my background in mostly lighting for theater, I found this article very interesting. A lot of the lighting effects that I have made or seen would be considered to be hard lighting. One of the more common lighting effects I see on stage is a single spotlight focused sharp and tight onto a lone actor. This would certainly be an example of hard lighting according to this article. One comparison that I found interesting is the article discussing how hard lighting involves using less diffusion than normal film lighting. In theater, we almost never use big diffusions, bounces, or softboxes. Even in scenes with softer lighting theatrical designers generally use single-point, intense light sources. Those sources may have softer edges like fresnels or have diffusion gel but they are still point sources and are going to cast shadows. The best way to eliminate shadows is to fill the shadows in from other directions with different fixtures.
As someone with a film degree as well as a theatre degree I really enjoy seeing the dichotomy and similarities between the two art forms. I think both forms of art use both hard and soft ways to light a scene to evoke different emotions. The place that I see hard lighting most in live theatre is in dance where to compliment herder hitting movement such as hip hop or even contemporary dance at time. I will say that even in the genres of theatre that correspond with the genres of film listed in the article do not always use hard lighting, for example a horror shows such as Grey House. Largely, this most likely is due to not being able to focus the audience’s view on the same way for live theatre as you can for film due to not being able to make cuts of a camera and utilize specific camera angles. Overall, hard lighting is able to evoke an emotion from the audience, but it could also be a smoke and mirror’s type of effect for live theatre to focus the audience’s view while other things may be happening on stage.
Hard lighting is placing lights to create strong, defined shadows and a high level of contrast. Hard lighting makes texture appear more readily, as sharper shadows are present in the image. It's especially common in Film Noir aesthetics, a traditionally dramatic genre with heightened tension. I really love the look of film noir but with muted color palettes instead of pure black and white. Controlling and playing with light is extremely fun for me as a lighting designer, and has made some of the most memorable of my designs. I love drawing images with harder lighting, as it creates really interesting compositions and feelings. I typically tend to draw with a pen, as it forces me to render forms and light more accurately and enhances the accuracy of my drawing. I also think I could really use harder lighting in my designs, as I really love the look of strong texture, and think it can really enhance the emotional quality of a scene.
Lighting is a craft that has changed entire film genres with its change that could seem insignificant. A shift of angle, a shadow change, dullness, or brightness all create different genres and periods of film. Being a film lover, I have watched many films from the early stages, the first motion pictures and then the transfer to German expressionism and then later, to noir. Lighting can shift power, emotion, and tone. I love how you can tell how a scene can play out because of lighting choices, and how you can read an actor's face by the light cast on it. Reading this article it is so admirable to me how lighting designers consider many things when choosing a lighting choice. While hard lighting is used to “add depth, contrast, and emotion to visual narratives,” I wonder if people will push the bar with this and create new meanings for the different visual effects lighting can do.
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