Post 11; Advanced Production Skills Workshop 1




Film Noir known as "Black Film"



Despite my original knowledge of Lighting and its importance within the film industry, there is more to lighting techniques then there actually seem. To begin with, lighting did not seem to be as important as any of the other features, such as camera, direction e.t.c.

Lighting can also be known as a way to style your film, making different themes, and moods. Important characters are usually lightened in scenes, whereas the less important characters and left in the dark, the audience will relate to this which will help get any message across, so that the audience can relate to the film.

Our teacher introduced us to some of the main aspects of lighting and its techniques, when we took part in a workshop, to help us get experience with different lighting, and the effect it has on a film its self.
We were introduced to the "Film Noir"  which was originally known ad "Black film".
This idea was first introduced by Nino Frank 1946, who was a French film critic, he said it reflects a trend of American crime and detective films. A wide range of films reflected the resultant tensions and insecurities of the time period, and counter-balanced the optimism of Hollywood's musicals and comedies. Fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia are readily evident in Noir, reflecting the 'chilly' Cold War period when the threat of nuclear annihilation was ever-present. The criminal, violent, misogynistic, hard-boiled, or greedy perspectives of anti-heroes in film Noir were a metaphoric symptom of society's evils, with a strong undercurrent of moral conflict, purposelessness and sense of injustice. There were rarely happy or optimistic endings in Noirs
They were dark, downbeat and "Black" the looks and themes were not a genre . It can be shown as a style, mood/ point of view (POV) and tone.








Themes (not a genre) displayed the insecurities of the time period and counter balances the optimism of Hollywood musicals and comedies.

Film Noir, lighting examples, it is clear to see why it is
 known as "Black Film" due to the lighting contrasts.

Generally the story of "Film Noir" consists of a "cynical hard hearted disillusioned male character, who encounters a beautiful promiscuous, a moral double dealing and seductive femme fetale. She manipulates him into being the "fall guy", which is often followed by a murder"

Lighting can create "highlights and Shadows" where they manipulate the space of our scene". Giving an idea of how much space is around your character.
Shadows can be categorised in 2 different ways.

• Attached Shadow- This occurs when lighting fails to illuminate part of an object because of its shape and size.
• Cast shadows- The object blocks the light source and "casts a Shadow".



attached Shadow example



As we can see in the picture to the left , the attached Shadow would be the Shadow underneath his left eye which is darkened due to the hat (objects shape and size). This fails to light up part of his face.

Cast Shadow example

In the picture on the left is an example of a cast Shadow, this is because we can see a Shadow of some blinds which are showing up on the mans tie. The blinds are blocking the light source and is casting a Shadow with the small lines that are still in lighting. We notice it is a cast Shadow due to the shadows on the man's jacket and tie.












During the workshop, we were asked to watch a short clip of a lemon, and watch the way lighting can effect the shape and texture of a Lemon. Below is the chip we watched.





We also created our own version on the Lemon and the lighting. We did this with a corn on the cob, and followed a torch all around the object which created similar effects to the Lemon.