What is lighting and colour and why is it an important convention?
lighting and colour are one of the important element used in film to set a mood or make the audience feel in certain way. lighting and colour creates meaning in a film and sometimes gives the audience an unnoticeable hint of what is about to happen in a scene or the role and intensions of particular characters. an example of a great use of colour was in the ending scene of the movie "se7en" where there was a long shot of the two detective walking with the antagonist/criminal who was entirely in a a red prison outfit which indicates him as being dangerous and in someway it connotes his death which happens at the end.
Angles of lighting and examples
under lighting: this type of lighting is projected from below the character creating distortion to their appearance as well making them look horrifying or fearful. the image below is of the antagonist know as Jason in the movie "Friday the 13th", in the image we see him standing up right with the light which seems to be projected from below, distorting his face and giving him a more scary look.
top lighting: top lighting is the apposite of under lighting, it creates an elegant look in the scene and mostly used to display the status or power which a character holds as well as showing clearly the features of that character and allowing the audience to understand their feeling. the top lighting in the image is used to give the actress a fashionable, attractive and smart look but it also allows the audience to see her facial expression from which we can infer that she received an unpleasant news from the person speaking on the phone.
back light: back lighting comes from behind the character showing only their outline and making them look mysterious. backlighting is also used to hide the identity of a character just like in the image below and it makes the audience more curious as well as anxious because they do not know if the character is the protagonist or antagonist.
back light: back lighting comes from behind the character showing only their outline and making them look mysterious. backlighting is also used to hide the identity of a character just like in the image below and it makes the audience more curious as well as anxious because they do not know if the character is the protagonist or antagonist.
What angle of lighting is conventional in thrillers and why?
the expectation of a thriller movie from the audience is to be thrilled, horrified and made feel uncomfortable; and the angles which suits those factors best are under lighting and back lighting. this two lights are conventional in thrillers because it brings out the right response, feeling and mood every director looks for from the audience. under lighting would mostly be used on the antagonist to make them look more unearthly and strange just like the character of Freddy Krueger from the movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street". whereas for back lighting I would say it's used to build tension in the audience as they are unsure of who the character really and scared that it may be the antagonist.
the expectation of a thriller movie from the audience is to be thrilled, horrified and made feel uncomfortable; and the angles which suits those factors best are under lighting and back lighting. this two lights are conventional in thrillers because it brings out the right response, feeling and mood every director looks for from the audience. under lighting would mostly be used on the antagonist to make them look more unearthly and strange just like the character of Freddy Krueger from the movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street". whereas for back lighting I would say it's used to build tension in the audience as they are unsure of who the character really and scared that it may be the antagonist.
Type of lighting and example
low-key lighting: low key lighting shows a lot of shadows or dark parts on the character and a few areas of light. this type of light is usually used on the antagonist to hide their identity as you can see on the image below which was captured from the movie "friday the 13th", where the unknown antagonist swings an axe to murder the female victim. the low key lighting made the antagonist fearful and is shown through the body language of the female victim who tried to hide herself near the tree as we can infer that she was terrified.
high key lighting: high key lighting is the opposite of low key lighting. There are no shadows, dark areas or distortion created but only clear details of the character. High key lighting is seen more as the color white which symbolize good so therefore, used on the protagonist in the movie.
low-key lighting: low key lighting shows a lot of shadows or dark parts on the character and a few areas of light. this type of light is usually used on the antagonist to hide their identity as you can see on the image below which was captured from the movie "friday the 13th", where the unknown antagonist swings an axe to murder the female victim. the low key lighting made the antagonist fearful and is shown through the body language of the female victim who tried to hide herself near the tree as we can infer that she was terrified.
high key lighting: high key lighting is the opposite of low key lighting. There are no shadows, dark areas or distortion created but only clear details of the character. High key lighting is seen more as the color white which symbolize good so therefore, used on the protagonist in the movie.
What type of lighting is conventional in thrillers and why?
I would say both low and high key lighting are conventional in thrillers because one creates the atmosphere of a thriller which is fear, tension and questioning in the audience and that is through low key lighting. But there also have to be something which the audience can fall back to or rely on to make the situation better and that is when the high key lighting is introduced with the protagonist who brings hope.