CDM 347

Lighting Techniques for Camera

Two Famous Horror Scenes and Analysis of Lighting

IT: Chapter One (2017)

The scene starts with Georgie, the protagonist, losing his paper boat down the sewers after being washed away by heavy rain. Georgie chases the boat while shouting and kneels in front of the opening of the sewer that he saw his boat float through seconds before.

In this frame, the camera is faced towards Georgie, peering out of the darkness at him as if it’s from Pennywise’s perspective. Everything except Georgie in this scene is in total darkness, which creates an eerie tone as we don’t know what is lurking in the shadows.

The opening of the sewer acts as a window of light against the rest of the scene which remains completely dark. Georgie is looking off-camera to show that he can’t see Pennywise in the darkness, but Pennywise can see Georgie clearly down to his brightly coloured coat. His yellow coat pops against the dull green of the slightly misty trees behind him, the mist suggesting again that he can’t see clearly.

The colour yellow is chosen deliberately for Georgie, as it has connotations of being naive and childish (portraying his youth). Yellow can also be associated with being a sickening colour which could foreshadow the imminent danger Georgie finds himself in. The bright shade of yellow pulls our focus to the character as it gets our attention. This helps to tell the story as we know that this is an important moment because the yellow coat is memorable. In other words, we know where the director wants us to look.

Interestingly, Georgie is lit from behind. He is hidden under his hood by shadow. There is a small amount of soft daylight cast on the furthest side of his face, but the rest of his features are dark, emphasising the extent of darkness protruding from the sewer. Low-key lighting is used to unnerve the audience as we are restricted to what we can see, we consider that there could be something dangerous that we aren’t aware of in the sewer.

This over the shoulder shot has low key lighting, where we can only see Pennywise’s mouth. Pennywise is lit with cold white light making the scene even more chilling, as it seems artificial or devoid of sunlight.

The scene is at the start of the film, so keeping the rest of the clown hidden adds to the suspense for when we find out what he looks like. It also keeps Georgie from seeing what Pennywise really is to save from scaring him off.

It is very important that hard light is only highlighting the clown’s mouth because Pennywise is about to eat Georgie and the lighting hints to that. Here is a closer shot of the lighting on Pennywise.

It’s important to notice how the white light creates a shimmer in Pennywise’s red lips that are conveniently coloured like wet blood which draws our attention to what the clown is saying and foreshadows what will happen next. Had the clown not convinced Georgie to take his boat back, Georgie would still have his arm, so in a way the lighting tells the story for us.

The last thing I’d like to highlight is the way Pennywise’s eyes pierce through the darkness and are made to look very artificial. The clown’s eyes are lit completely unnaturally as there is no way that we’d be able to see his eyes but not the rest of his face. This tells us that Pennywise is supernatural and that there is something disturbing about the way he looks. It plays on the fear of being watched from the shadows.

To conclude, the entire scene is lit with low-key lighting which adds an eerie tone to the scene and makes the audience nervous. The little light that we can see through the storm clouds reflects off of Georgie’s face so that we can see his expressions as he talks to Pennywise which helps to tell the story.

The contrast of the darkness in the sewer to the light outside shows Georgie is safe outside but not in the sewer. The small gap of the sewer acts as a window to Georgie to further the feeling of being watched in accompaniment with the unnatural lighting of Pennywise’s eyes.

None of the lighting in this scene is practical lighting as the scene is shot on the ground outside, this is important because it means that the characters in the scene don’t have control over what they can see and it makes Georgie appear more helpless.

The coolness of the light is uncomfortable because our eyes prefer warmer tones and this makes the scene itself feel colder and more unsafe. And finally the highlights of light point us to the main focus of the scene which is Pennywise talking and help us understand what is going to happen next.

Scream (1996)

2. Do you like scary movies?

Analysis of a contrasting scene

This scene follows the creepy conversation between Casey and the murderer Ghostface.

The lighting at the beginning of the scene is warm and comfortable as we can see in this shot, it is how we would expect a home to be lit at night. The whole scene takes place indoors; so there are multiple examples of practical lighting dotted around the house.

These are the shots of the practical lighting in chronological order as she walks through her house.

A gas-lit stove:

And 5 lamps:

In this clip she turns on the outside pool lights to check if anyone is there:

The very beginning of the scene opens on a close-up of the gaslit stove. This way, we know that it is important to pay attention to the placement of the lighting across the rest of the scene.

To begin with, the lamps and the stove are directly in front of her, but when she realises that she is in danger the sources of light begin to appear behind her and are placed closer and closer behind her back. This suggests that whatever is stalking her is getting closer and closer behind her and helps to build tension while we watch her back. I think this is deliberate as it draws the audience's attention to behind her and makes us more nervous.

Notice how the lighting in the first image with the lamp is warm and bright, as we move through the scene the lamps seem to become much less effective at lighting up the rooms so the frame gets slowly darker making the viewer more on edge. This is because the story takes a dramatic change when she finds out that she’s not alone. The lighting becomes dimmer and colder in response to this.

Aside from the first minute of the scene; the lighting throughout this clip is low-key. Low-key lighting is used to manipulate what we can and cannot see and play on our primal fear of the dark. In the last image, although there is a lamp lighting her from behind, the scene is still very dark and the majority of the light is coming from the moon outside her windows. The shadows cast around her, as well as the cold colour temperature of the lights add to the frightening effect.

This shot is particularly interesting as we can see the shadows scattered across the room created by the trees outside. This makes us feel as if the outside is creeping in just like the murderer.

One of the most interesting things about this scene is that the character actually interacts with some practical lighting. In this shot Casey starts to get concerned that she isn’t alone after talking to ghostface. She turns on the outside lights from a switch by the large window that leads to the garden.

The last thing I’d like to point out is the blank blue television. Although it doesn’t really emmitt light, it certainly helps to make the story more believable as we are reminded that Casey is preparing to watch a “scary movie”.

The lights in the pool are there not just for effect but also to light up the steam emanating from the pool and to build on the idea of not being able to see completely. The lights in the pool itself are by far the brightest in the shot so our eyes are drawn to the smoke first. The light in the doorway above is the second brightest light in the frame and it’s used to draw attention to an entry point for unwanted guests and remind the audience who Casey is talking to.

Lighting Techniques for Camera

Recreating stills from movie scenes

Original

Recreation

There is some very intense lighting in this image. Our female character is lit from both directions with two different colours, red on her right cheek and blue on her left. From the blurred background behind her and the colours used in the scene, we can assume that the source of light is artificial (more specifically neon). Although we didn't have a neon light source to hand, we aimed to recreate that glow as closely as possible. We used 1x LED panel with a red gel on the right of her face and held a blue pocket fill light to the other half of her face which we had to partially cover with our hand to prevent blue light from leaking onto the red half of the face. For the background, we used an image on a tv behind her. The tv didn't quite stretch across the entire frame so I just used content-aware fill to patch up the backdrop in photoshop.

This image is a close up where the character is facing diagonally to the camera. Half of the face is lit by deep blue light, and the other half is lit with warm orangish light. There are some intense shadows on the left side of the image and the blue light casting shadows across her cheekbones. To recreate the shadow on the bottom half of the face, we used 1x Apature MC held diagonally above her so that the light was only catching the top of her face and hair. We tried to colour match this as closely as possible. As for the other side of the face, we used a fill light on a dim setting and a frost filter to soften the edges and dim the light further. We did this in front of a black screen to keep the background as dark as we could. Letting natural light in would have affected the results of the recreation.

Original

Recreation

For this image, we used three point lighting. We actually put a light physically in shot, although the original was probably a bright light shot through a window. The three lights were placed in a triangle around the character. Interestingly though, the backlight that was placed behind the right shoulder became the key light. The fill light was placed diagonally to the left of the character, and another very dim light was placed diagonally to the right. The third light made sure that both halves of the face were lit evenly.

The panel light that we used didn't tilt down as far as the floor, so a team member had to hold over the model by its stand. As it turned out, this was the only light that we ended up using for this shot. The person standing over the model adjusted the light to a warmer setting and made the light quite bright which created the hard shadow which you see in the final product. The shadow would only work if the light was held slightly behind the model, so that no light reached past her nose. We had to increase the f./stop on the camera to make sure that the black was as dark as possible.

Original

Recreation

Original

Recreation

We actually had the most difficulty recreating the lighting in this image. Although the lighting looked simple, we struggled to match the contrast of the very dark shadow on the bottom half of the face, compared to the warm wash on the top half of the face. Being so low to the ground, we had to use the camera handheld rather than on the tripod, which presented issues in itself when framing the shot. We needed to get the camera almost on the floor, which meant that we couldn’t see the final image until we had taken the photo and then we could make our adjustments.

In contrast to the last image, this photo was the easiest to recreate. The results variate slightly from the original, simply because we are not using the same light. But we matched the tone as closely as we could using a panel light. To create the cool white wash, we adjusted the panel light to its brightest setting and clipped a small white light diffuser over the top to disperse the light across the frame. Looking back, I think we could have used two lights and a larger diffuser to get a better spread of light and remove the slight hotspot centre frame. However, the overall shadow of the hand is effective and I like the outcome.

Original

Recreation

Original

Recreation

This image was some additional work that we decided to undertake because we finished our tasks ahead of schedule. It was a suggestion from one of our team members to recreate a still from the film 'Fallen Angels.' We selected the person who most closely resembled the character and asked them to kneel in front of the camera. We positioned the camera at a side profile to the subject, set the shutter speed to 1/10, and had another team member stand behind the subject. The crew member behind the subject then slowly moved the orange aperture MC in a triangular pattern behind the subject's head. The slow shutter speed allowed the light to be captured as streaks, replicating the pattern behind the girl's head in the original picture.

Recreating Lighting Scenarios

Sat By An Open Fire

For this clip, we had to make it look like the subject was sitting over an open fire. Firstly, we started off by switching off all the overhead lights in the room to make the room as dark as possible.

Then, we took a black backdrop and placed it behind the subject to make it look like they were sitting outside at night time. This makes it so much easier when trying to light the scene because we don't have to worry about anything behind the subject getting lit up and revealing that they aren't outside.

For the lighting itself, we took two LED panel lights and dimly lit the subject from both sides with a warm wash. We made sure to lower the lighting stands and narrow the barn doors so that the orangish light was concentrated on the bottom half of the face.

We then held red and orange filters over the top of the two LED panels just to add more warmth and colour to mimic a fire. We subtly moved the filters across the light source and dimmed the panel lights up and down so that there was more realistic movement to the light.

To light up the rest of the face, we held an aperture MC light centrally, tilted up at the face. We did not have to adjust the colour temperature or brightness of this as it came with a preset fire mode. The fire mode dimly flickers orange light across the subject, making them look as if they are sat by a fire.

Police Chase

The police chase scene was probably my favourite to recreate. To start, we turned off all the overhead lights to make the scene look as though it was filmed at night. We then chose a blank wall to film against and set up the camera to face the blank wall.

Just to the left of the shot, we placed a black backdrop because we found that too much light was still being cast on the subject and this just helped to block that excess light out. We tried to light the blank wall dimly with an LED panel light, but we realised that this took away from the nighttime effect, so we removed that light before the take.

We set the aperture MC to its preset mode called police. Police mode randomly strobes with red and blue light, making it seem as though police cars were chasing the subject. Police mode made things much easier because we didn’t have to worry about operating two lights (red and blue at the same time).

We had someone hold the aperture MC in one hand to the left of the camera facing the wall. In the other hand, they held a flashlight set to a narrow beam so that it looked like the subject had been found as a fugitive.

The timing of the police light strobe effect from the aperture MC was entirely sporadic and was not controlled by the person holding it. So, we practised for a couple of takes before we were happy with the timing of the flashing red and blue light.

Lightning Storm

This was by far the most challenging scene to recreate. First of all, we had our subject stand in front of a black backdrop to give off a nighttime effect and isolate them. Our subject was holding an umbrella over their head because it was ‘raining’ in our scene, but the umbrella was blocking out any light from above.

This was a problem because we needed our subject to be lit by a ‘street light’ above their head for the most realistic effect. We could have lit them from underneath the umbrella, which we attempted at first with a small aperture light. Unfortunately, we felt that this was unrealistic because in real life, there wouldn't be a light source coming from below their face.

To try and achieve the ‘street light’ effect, we took an LED panel light and set it to a harsh white light. After that, we put the lighting stand on its highest setting, which we found still wasn't tall enough, so we ended up having a member of the crew hold the light diagonally above the subject.

The problem we were having was that it was impossible to hold the umbrella directly over the subject’s head without blocking the light from the LED panel. The way we resolved this was by getting the subject to hold the umbrella over their right shoulder and slightly more behind them, allowing the person holding the LED panel above her head to cast light on them from diagonally left.

Now that we were lighting up the subject’s face, we decided that they still needed to be separated from the background and have the rest of their body lit up. We used a panel light to fill that space and placed it directly behind the camera on a dim setting.

The last thing that we needed to do was have some kind of lightning effect to simulate stormy weather. We found this a challenge too because the lightning needed to appear as if it was coming from above but not be overpowered by the wash of the street light. This meant that while the ‘street light’ was casting light diagonally to the left of the scene, we had to make our ‘lightning’ come diagonally from the right.

To fix the issue of the lightning not being high enough, we held the light source from a staircase to the right of the camera so that it was above the subject’s head. This seemed like a pretty easy solution at the time, but after watching the clip back, we realised that the ‘lightning’ could be seen on camera for a whole list of reasons.

Now that the umbrella was held over the right shoulder, all light from the right-hand side of the face was blocked. We could get around this by having the actress rotate her body during the scene so that light was allowed from both the left and the right, but it wasn't as simple as that.

The light that we were using to create the lightning was an aperture MC set to the ‘lightning mode’. ‘Lightning mode’ is great for creating a realistic storm effect with minimal effort, but this meant that the timing of the ‘lightning’ was completely random, causing problems for the actress. As the timing of the lighting strobe was completely random and there was no audible cue when the light was going to strobe, the actress was having to guess when to rotate her body to react to the lightning.

We also had to move the staircase closer to the actress so that the light could actually be seen. After many attempts, we managed to time the lighting right so that our actress was lit as clearly as possible, and there was a realistic reaction in time with when the lightning hit.

Moonlit Lake

I really enjoyed this one, because we had to get creative with how we added movement to the lighting.

We took a panel light for a cool wash across the right of the face and simply used that as a fill light. Then we had the subject sit on the floor in front of a black backdrop and lowered the camera to eye level.

After trying a panel light with a blue filter for the water reflection, we noticed that this was too still to give the effect of light reflecting off of the surface of the water.

So, we removed the blue key light and instead got low to the ground with a bottle of water, and shone the aperture MC through the bottle. We gently shook the water in the bottle to keep it moving and set the MC to blue.

We also set another aperture MC behind the subject to try and separate them from the backdrop. This was all we needed to create a realistic moonlit lake effect.

Lighting Techniques for Camera

Lighting Diagrams & Still Frames For Horror Film Shoot

Downstairs Hallway

This is the lighting diagram for the downstairs hallway in scene 1 of our short horror film “The Babysitter”. First, we considered the layout of the room and then the camera angles that we wanted to get. If we had put lighting stands on the floor for when Ellie enters and moved them around for the opposite angle facing Ellie, then the lighting would be visibly different between shots. As we didn’t want to create more work for ourselves in post production, we decided to use both overhead lights. They provided the warm glow that we needed for a deceptively welcoming feel, while also not getting in the way of the shots and staying consistent.

On set

In this lighting diagram, we added a panel light at the top of the stairs. We decided to change this on set as it didn’t change the brightness of the light on camera at all, being so high above our actress’ heads. Instead of putting the light at the top of the stairs, we actually lit the stairs from the side, so that they cast a nice shadow across the wall which added to the creepy feel. The light was placed in the open doorway to the living room.

This is a comparison of the lighting of the downstairs opening scene in-camera vs. not in-camera. There is a noticeable difference between the exposure and the fact that the overhead light was giving off a large hotspot. This is why looking through the camera lens itself is the best way to work out whether the lighting you are using is giving off your desired effect.

Not in-camera

In-camera

Lighting Change

Living Room

This is the lighting diagram for the living room which is the next room featured in the film. The lighting in this room was the most challenging because of the size of the room. Another problem that we faced was the large window directly behind the subject. We decided to blackout the windows with a layer of tin foil and a large black cloth/curtain, this would ensure complete darkness behind the subject. As the room was now in complete darkness, we could choose the lights that we wanted to use and therefore control the lighting. In the diagram, the overhead lights are crossed out because they were just too bright. After the recce, we knew that we wanted the lights to be off and only have white flickering light spilling on the actress from the TV.

Original Plan

Reviewed Plan

Next to our actress, we positioned a side table next to the sofa and placed a lamp on it to bring attention to the baby monitor. Setting the baby monitor underneath the hot lamp was deliberate to try and introduce the idea that the baby monitor was under investigation. We tried to plant the idea that something on the baby monitor was wrong.

We placed a small aperture MC behind the blank TV screen to cast the light on the actress’ face. This was easy as it already had a TV setting and we were happy with the effect it created against the dark background.

On set

We played around quite a bit when we got on-set with the lighting in this room. After assessing the room and the difficulty of blacking out the large window, we came to the conclusion that the blinds already on the large window were enough to keep most of the light out of the room. By moving the small sofa against the wall opposite the large window, we were positioned at the furthest point away from the small amount of light spilling into the room. No additional black outs were needed.

As for the TV, nothing was changed from the original plan. We took an old television screen and placed it in front of the sofa, using just an aperture MC to mimic the light of the TV on the face. We decided to scrap the idea of the side table with the lamp, as it was interesting but too distracting to our character.

Calm Bedroom

This is the design we planned for the first time that our actress enters the baby’s room when she finds nothing wrong. The camera is placed side on to the cot and there is a cool blue panel light in front of the small window. The window will be featured (but blacked out) as she comes into the room. We liked the idea of chilling moonlight flooding the room.

We added a childrens lamp to add to the illusion of a normal child’s room. This was slightly changed in the final design.

On set

These are the images from the shoot in the calm baby’s room. The door in our original plan is in a different place. This presented a small problem as warm light from the landing outside the open door spilled into the baby’s room. Initially, we thought that this removed the eerie feel of the baby’s cool lit room. However, in editing I actually like that there is a definite contrast between the hue of the landing and the baby’s room because it introduces the idea that the baby’s room is unsafe compared to the landing.

We kept the panel light in the same position to add moonlight to her face. Although the room wasn’t blacked out that well so we found that the room was too bright to have the panel light on any setting except the lowest possible. The light wasn’t quite as blue as we wanted either so I think next time we would add a blue filter over the top of it.

Light spill from behind black out that was coming out from behind the curtain and effecting some of our B roll.

With regards to the lamp on the side table, we decided to add a small ghost light on top of the chest of drawers next to the cot instead of a side table to keep within the theme of a bedroom.

The ghost lamp which we added to the baby's room. It was a nice touch, while not being too bright to effect the overall lighting of the scene.

Baby Attack Bedroom

We kept the lighting simple and almost identical here, so that the shots appeared continuous. We added a panel light on a tripod outside the entrance to the room but that is the only difference between the calm and baby attack scene.

On set

We attempted to add lots of panel lights and strobe them for a freaky and unsettling effect. However, we soon decided to take them down as we were leaning too much toward the paranormal activity side of horror which is not what we were aiming for.

Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of the strobing lights that we put up, as we took them down almost immediately.

Upstairs Hallway

Scene 6

Here Ellie is walking up the stairs to the top of the landing, the focus is on the toy car on the floor. We need to be able to see the car but also have it as if the only light is coming from downstairs. Shining a warm light from the stairs amplifies the downstairs glow, hopefully illuminating the car and creating more distinct shadows through the bannister slats giving an eerie effect.

Scene 9

Ellie is upstairs again this time but further into the space of the landing, the focus is on the notepad and table which will be added on the right against the stairs. Here using the light from downstairs as an accent this time, for example a glow on Ellies face. Instead we will use the light from the bathroom to light the surroundings and again we can amplify that light with more lights.

On set

Scene 6

Scene 9

No changes were made from the lighting plan here. Except for the fact that we replaced the toy car with a crucifix. Mainly, this was to stay on-trend with the religious theme of the film, while also moving away from paranormal activity. I do wish that we had lit the landing more, because I am struggling to grade this shot in comparison to the others.

Finished horror film

Evaluation of Lighting on Horror Shoot

The downstairs hallway lighting was carefully considered, taking into account the room layout and desired camera angles. Instead of using floor lighting stands that would create visible differences between shots, overhead lights were chosen for a consistent and warm glow, maintaining a deceptively welcoming feel while not obstructing the shots.

In the future, I think that we are going to take the overhead lights into account in the lighting diagrams. They allowed us to take shots from a wider range of angles, without having to worry about changing the lighting in the shot by moving the lighting stand. It gave us peace of mind that the shots would be consistently lit throughout the scene which lessens the need for excess colour grading in post production. Therefore, when we perform a recce of the location next time, we will test to see if the overhead lights are suitable for the shoot by taking pictures with them on and assessing from there.

By making adjustments to the original lighting diagrams for the downstairs area we were able to enhance the creepy atmosphere almost unintentionally. Although we had planned the lighting to be positioned at the top of the stairs to look as if the landing lights were on, in reality this didn’t show up on camera at all. Finally, we found a better place for the light which cast a shadow on the wall by lighting the stairs from the side. We discovered that shining light through objects to create harsh shadows is an effective way to use hard lighting to emphasise a feeling. In our case, hard lighting was an improvement to the soft lighting from the top of the stairs that we had originally planned because it made the stairwell look more daunting and less comfortable. Additionally, we learned that open spaces like doorways to the next room are ideal places to put lighting stands as they don’t obstruct the camera operator. So, with future diagrams where we map out the layout of a room and plan the places that we want to put the lights, we will remember that open spaces don’t necessarily have to be limited to the room that you are shooting in.

Moving to the living room, challenges were faced due to the room's size and a large window behind the subject. To ensure complete darkness behind the subject, we planned to black out the windows with tin foil and a black cloth/curtain. Overhead lights were ignored as they were too bright, and the desired effect was achieved by having only white flickering light spill on the actress from the TV. We decided against placing a lamp on a side table and drew attention to the baby monitor, emphasising the notion of investigation.

After the struggle with blacking out the room on day one, I now understand that set preparation is much more important than just turning up on the day and expecting to be able to complete it quickly and without problems. Next time, I know that having a crew come the night before or early morning to dress the set before the crew arrives means that we won’t be eating into precious shooting time. Being efficient on set is a key skill that will really help in a professional setting where time is money.

In the calm bedroom scene, a cool blue panel light was positioned in front of a small window, creating the desired moonlight effect. A children's lamp was added to enhance the illusion of a normal child's room, although adjustments were made in the final design.

During the baby attack scene, the lighting remained almost identical to the calm scene to maintain continuity. However, attempts to introduce strobing lights for a freaky effect were quickly abandoned to avoid leaning too much toward paranormal activity. This is a good example of why it is important to have a clear idea of the way you want the lighting to look before you go for it on the day of the shoot. When we played around with strobing lights, we just wasted time and battery-life in the lights. I think this should have been something that we tested for effect in pre-production when we marked through the scene without our real actor.

For the upstairs hallway scenes, different lighting approaches were taken. In scene 6, a warm light was used to amplify the downstairs glow and create eerie shadows through the bannister slats. In scene 9, the light from the bathroom was utilised as an accent, illuminating the surroundings while emphasising the glow on Ellie's face. Making use of pre-installed lighting features around us in combination with lighting that we bring on set is my favourite way to light a scene. I’d like to carry it into further projects because I believe it makes the scene look more realistic.

Overall, the lighting setups demonstrated thoughtful consideration of the desired effects and mood for each scene. However, the thought could have been put in before the shoot to save time rather than in the moment despite creating interesting effects. Adjustments were made on set to ensure optimal results, while some changes were made in post-production to maintain consistency with the film's themes. The evaluation highlights the importance of assessing lighting through the camera lens to achieve the desired visual impact.