Blog Post #17 - Low-Key Lighting

Lighting is an important aspect of any film, it can influence the mood and tone of a scene, and the visual storytelling of a scene. Lighting helps to guide the audience's attention to certain key elements and can enhance the impact of an event in a film. More specifically, in crime films lighting techniques help to create tension, surprise, and suspense, and helps to set an intellectual mood. 


Low-key lighting is a technique in films that results in emphasized shadows and a high-contrast look. It is used in films— typically thrillers, dramas, and horror films— to create a dark, mysterious, and dramatic mood. An example of low-key lighting in a film is shown below. This information is from studiobinder.com.


Picture of a cat with low-key lighting, from videomaker.com


Key lighting is the lighting facing the direction the camera is shooting from, while fill lighting is the opposite— It's the lighting that is not facing the camera. Low-Key lighting is when the key lighting is dimmer than the fill lighting. This technique uses the chiaroscuro technique, which is the use of high-contrast between light and dark parts of an object. The chiaroscuro technique stems from the renaissance period, and is used in many media forms, from paintings to shows. 




This is an example of a photo I have taken using Low-Key lighting. There is no light hitting his face from the direction I took the picture from, though there is warm lighting coming from the side, and behind him. This is an example of low-key lighting and higher, warm fill lighting.


Using this knowledge, I plan to incorporate low-key lighting into my project, in order to raise drama, increase the prevalence of silhouttes— which I plan to research soon— and to increase suspense in my project. Even if I do not end up using this knowledge, it will help with other aspects of lighting my film.

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