Lighting Blog Post #27

 Lighting in our Film Opener!

Hi guys, welcome back. Today, I will be talking about the lighting in our film and explaining everything from equipment, budget, and style of lighting. Lighting is a very important part of filming, and we did our best to try to make it good.

To begin with, in our movie, we use and rely on natural lighting a lot. We used streetlights and ambient lighting instead of artificial lighting. Due to this, it resulted in a low-key lighting style since we filmed at night. We were not able to use 3-point lighting since it required professional equipment, and we did not have the resources or budget to do so. The lack of equipment limited us a lot, but using natural lighting was a creative choice tied to our mis-en-scene. The natural and minimal lighting helped make shadows and make the environment look dark. This enhanced the suspense and the scary vibe we wanted. Since The Killer is meant to be mysterious and unseen, the natural and low-key lighting really gave us that effect and showed it on screen. The dark lighting reflects Kyle's lack of awareness and vulnerability. Also, the use of natural lighting added a sense of realism. It made the attack look like it could happen in a familiar setting, such as your own neighborhood, instead of a big set that does not look realistic. This lighting sets the mood and tone rather than just showing the events taking place.

Now, moving on to IF we had a bigger budget. We would still try to keep the overall low-key look, but we would enhance it by using a controlled backlight to give The Killer a silhouette. Also, we would use soft fill light to maintain visibility but still keep the shadows, since they are very important. These additional lights would help the film look cleaner and sleeker. Overall, we think the lighting was good but could have been better.