Light and shadow in movies

The lighting of the film can accurately express the meaning. By changing the direction and intensity of light, the director can guide the eyes of the audience. But the lighting of movies is rarely stable. As long as the camera or the subject changes slightly, the lighting must be changed. Most of the time spent making movies is spent adjusting the complicated lighting of each shot. Every shot, the photographer should consider its internal movement. Different colors, shapes and textures will reflect or absorb different amounts of light.

There are many styles of lighting, which are often related to the theme, atmosphere and types of movies.

For example, comedies and musicals, the lighting style tends to be MingLiang Yu, with less shadows, and high-profile styles are often used.

Tragedy and popular drama often use Gao Fancha's lighting style: bright places are especially bright, while dark places are quite dramatic.

Generally speaking, suspense films, thrillers and gangster films tend to be low-key, with shadows and atmosphere.

Since the emergence of human beings, the brightness of light has been symbolic. The Bible is full of symbols of light and shadow; Painters Rembrandt and Caravaggio also like to create a psychological atmosphere with light and shadow.

Generally speaking, artists use darkness to symbolize fear, evil and the unknown, while light represents security, virtue, truth and joy. Because of this long tradition of symbolism, some directors will deliberately mislead our expectations of light and shade.

Hitchcock reversed our perception of light and shade in surprising ways. In Hitchcock's films, every evil and obscure shadow seems to threaten the safety of the protagonist, but nothing happens. However, in broad daylight, the greatest danger comes from the air.