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Light Source: In the Mood? Creating Mood with Light (page 2)

  • SETUP ONE
    Emotionally Neutral Lighting
    The first setup will be a basic emotionally neutral setup. This is what we call a high key setup. This type of lighting is commonly used in news, game shows and sitcoms. The lighting casts very few shadows and makes everything seem bright and happy.
    Place your lights in standard three-point lighting positions for one camera with the key and fill spread enough to cover both participants. Set key lights approximately 45 degrees above the subjects. The key light for the person on the left, will be the fill light for the person on the right and vise versa. Add an extra back light so that they each have their own back light. Make sure all of the lights are the same intensity and fairly soft. You can use tough spun diffusion material in front of the instruments to soften them a bit. Now let's change the lighting set up to create another mood.
  • SETUP TWO
    Dramatic/Serious Lighting
    For Setup 2 you will need to add some flags. A flag is a movable flap placed in front of a light source for casting shadows and preventing light from spilling onto areas where you don't want it. For this setup, each of the talent will be lit by a key light, but the fill light will be somewhat reduced. Flag the key and fill lights so that the spill doesn't fall on the other person. Also, flag the back lights to make sure their spill does not hit the other person. The effect you should get from this setup is one with a little more emotional tension. There will be shadows on the fill sides of the talent and the lighting will appear a bit more dramatic. This type of lighting implies that the actors are discussing a serious situation. Let's add more drama.
  • SETUP THREE
    Strong/Emotional Lighting
    For Setup 3, take the diffusion material off the front of the lights to increase their hardness. Also move the key and fill further apart so there is more separation of their beams. These simple changes will achieve a dramatic effect. The light falling on the talent will create a hard shadow line and, if properly flagged, should create a feeling of dark, strong emotions. You should, however, still be able to see the background. This gives the audience a feeling of normalcy because they have reference objects they can hang onto. Let's change that.
  • SETUP FOUR
    High Intensity Lighting
    Setup 4 introduces a style called cameo lighting. Raise your key lights so they are sixty degrees above each of the talent. Flag the lights so that there is absolutely no spill reaching the walls. You should focus and flag the back lights so that they're only hitting your subjects. You will also want to move the back lights further away or diffuse them so they're less intense. The result should be a dramatically lit scene where you see your talent suspended in a space with no walls. This should create a feeling of high drama, an intensity of mood, of either deep love or deep terror. Without the reference point of the walls, the audience is drawn closer to the talent creating a strong emotional bond. Directors often use this type of lighting to intensify scenes and create a feeling of impending doom or dramatically increased emotion.
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