Lighting in my film!


When I shoot my film, I plan on using a mix of natural and unnatural lighting- although, I plan on all the lighting in my film to have visible light sources. The natural ambient lighting will be from the sky and the surrounding environment, where the unnatural lighting will be coming from my main character’s flashlight. I chose these lighting forms both out of budget constraints and theming my film to my selected genre: Horror/Thriller. Films in my genre selection usually have very dimly lit scenes- me having a strong definable light source via flashlight makes it much easier to see onscreen, as well as adds to the curious nature of my main character,  who is exploring the woods at night, and needs something to light the path.

Another big reason I wanted to use a flashlight for lighting was because of the suspense it can add. As someone who consumes a lot of chilling media, the idea of having a light source fail on you in a tense moment is a trope that never fails to really scare me. Take for example the game Five Nights at Freddy’s 4, where your player character is a little child looking down his hallways with a flashlight. Seeing nothing is already scary, seeing something is scarier, and running out of power in every game is terror-inducing. I wanted to use that to my advantage in a storytelling sense. And, as an artist, working with low-key, harsh lighting differences is always a fun experiment to capture- angling the flashlight certain ways can make for really interesting shadows and visual scenes that are picturesque and addictive.


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