#l'arrivee d'un train a la ciotat

[sayaka-mga2024mi4017]

Day 04- Lighting in Films

Earliest Lighting in Film

In the late 1800s films were usually filmed during the day, as they purely used sunlight/ natural light. Indoor sets were built without a roof, or with a glass ceiling. As they did not utilize any artificial light (was introduced in 1900s) Light sources like Tungsten (1903) could not be used as the light rays it produced were predominantly from the red end of the spectrum. To which orthochromatic films of the era was relatively insensitive to.

L'Arrivee d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (1896)   Train Pulling into a Station

Train pulling into a station, is a cinema legend where the audience, according to legend, were so startled by the realism that they ran out of the cinema. 

La Fee Aux Choux (1896)

the first female director, Alice Guy-Blache, made her debut with La Fee Aux Choux fully utilized natural light only

Earliest use of (artificial) lighting in film

However D.W. Griffith changed the precedence by using soft artificial lighting in his work Enoch Arden by using a technique called bouncing or diffusing the light source of a shot.

Rembrandt Lighting Technique; Rembrandt lighting technique was inspired by Rembrandt’s oil paintings. This technique mimics the Tenebrism style, especially evident in Baroque era, that contains elements of dramatic lighting and violent contrasts of light and darkness. particularly created inverted triangled underneath the eye

Types of Lighting

Films lighting falls under one of two categories such as natural and artificial, 

Sun, moon, fire, or fireflies fall under Natural light

Streetlights, neon lights, flashlights fall under Artificial light

However there are other categories such as 'Ambient light' which can either be artificial or natural, as it refers to any light the crew didn't bring on set (available lights). examples of this light can be streetlamps, sunlight, overhead lights at a restaurant, etc etc...

Although Ambient lights existence are an uncontrolled variable, you can still control how it hits the subject and what purpose it serves to your image, making it a motivated light.

Ambient light vs Natural light

Since these two terms will often be used interchangeably, there is a key difference between these two type of lights is that.

Not all ambient light is natural light, but all natural light is ambient light.

Chlose Zhao's work The Rider contains her signature visual palette on heavily relying on natural ambient light. Wong Kar Wai, director of Chungking express, on the other hand is known for his distinctive style of using artificial ambient light.

ambient light can also fall under a separate category, as seen in the above image, it can be referred to as 'Practical Lighting'; it is any light source that appears in the frame of a shot.

however, practical light doesn't have to be ambient, as it can be placed by a Gaffer.

Gaffer; head lighting electrician on set, who runs the entire electrical department of the crew and helps the director of photography achieve the desired shot

Practical Lighting is also closely related to Motivated Lighting. Motivated Lighting follows an approach which has logical reasoning for appearing the way it does in a shot.

George Miller's work fully utilizes this approach as explained; As the lamps serve as practical lights on either side of the character, the right lamp provides some edge light on her back and the left provides a diffused red glow on her face (so it seems) its likely that the red light on her face may be provided by another less aesthetically pleasing light off frame.

the harsh blue spotlight shining down on the object of the character's attention. we can also safely assume that the red light on her face maybe coming through the window in the bizarre. therefore the light being motivated as well.

3 point lighting

this is the most basic lighting set up used in film and photography. It usually consists of Key light, Back light, and Fill light.

this method is the most standard method used in visual media, where they can illuminate the subject in any way they want while also controlling shadows produced by direct lighting

[fatcatartru]

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The 1st ever movie! 1895, Lumiere Brothers, "L'Arrivee d'un train en gare de la Ciotat" Zarathustra the Cat starred 😻📽️ Now you know why the audience was in the panic. 😹 When the film was first shown, the spectators were so overwhelmed by the moving image of a life-sized train coming directly at them that people screamed and ran out of the cinema hall! Now you know why 😜 Better with sound on 🔊 ⁣ #FatCatArt #silentmovie #lumierebrothers⁣ #zarathustralive⁣ ⁣ #catart #fatcat #bigcat #orangecat #artlover #gingercat #catlover #classicartmemes #contemporaryartwork⁣ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv2e1GPHt1E/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1amz2s7p12rsu

[ddacostafiction2018-blog]

The story goes that during the showing of L'Arrivee d'un train en gave de la Ciotat in 1895, people were so terrified at the sight of the oncoming loco- motive that they tried to hide under their seats. Today's filmgoers are un- doubtedly a good deal more hardened, but the cinema has itself evolved considerably since the days of the Lumiere brothers. Thus even today any cinema visitors who are in a position to observe their fellow film spectators will see reactions that are not too different from those of the primal filmgo- ers. People cover their faces, shrink back against their seats, and scream "Oh, no! Not that!" The irrationality of such reactions is striking. It is, after all, only a film. All the usual cliches present themselves: the plastic shark, the tomato ketchup blood, the starstruck lovers played by two people who can- not abide each another. Film is make-believe, and we know it.

Tan, E.S., 2013. Emotion and the structure of narrative film: Film as an emotion machine. Routledge.

[amelinolescargot]

The story goes that during the showing of L'Arrivee d'un train en gare de la Ciotat in 1895, people were so terrified at the sight of the oncoming loco- motive that they tried to hide under their seats. #cinema #leplusanciencinemadumonde #laciotat #ciotat #cine #photo #picture #bluesky #southoffrance #france #sud #sudest #edencinema #edentheatre #cinemaeden (à La Ciotat) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYyjUV3Khaa/?utm_medium=tumblr

[onethousandmovies]

403. Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, 1895. France.

D. The Lumiere Brothers

Exactly what the title says. Nothing more. Still, it's always neat to watch actual Victorian ladies and dandies bustle about.