Visions of Light

     'Visions of Light' is a film that talks about the importance of lighting in movies. It shows the development of lighting in films, ever since the beginning of film making. When films were first made, they did not want any shadows on the main characters. However, the brightness of the light on them needed to be very harsh, or very flattering to the actors or actresses. But then, cinematographers wanted to have shadows on the people because it added depth to the scene. To add emotion to the pictures.

     Up until the late 30's, films were only in black and white because that was the only way that film was made. Then people started to turn to colour because the colour added to the affect of the watchers experience and the actors performance. However, black and white was still used quite a lot because ti seemed to add a sort of a surreal element to the film itself.

     Lighting is still, and always will be, the largest considered element in any moving film. The type of lighting gives more life to a film. Cinematographers put coloured filters over the lights, or added a shade of blue or yellow to the shoots, so that the film received more emotion and had a more selective component to it. This component was to help the watcher see details more and concentrate on the main points.

      Emotion in a film is another component that cinematographers should consider very deeply before making a film. Emotions are brought out by the lighting in a film. Of course that is the actors job, yet if the film is a silent film, or has no sound, then you must convey to the audience what it is that you are portraying or showing. When you have shadows and shades, the shoots are better understood. The fusion of colour or black and white film, and the shadows, fading, and angle of the shoots makes a film what it is.

     Yes, cinematography has many more elements to it, lighting is the one thing you have to know, in order to make a successful film. The deal of having to make a film with such emotion is a hard job. You must make it believable to the audience that this is what is happening, what had happened before. 'Visions of Lighting', has multitudes of slips from the best movies ever made. The clips shown, all have wonderful lighting techniques to them, along with emotional fragments all throughout them.

     Most films have a yellowish tint to them, which accomidates the story at hand. However, you must take into consideration the plot of the story, and emotions of the scenes being shot. Bluish light is also very popular, and a favourite, when you are filming extremely emotional scenes in most any film.

     Then again, you have to make sure that no matter the genre of your film, the lighting should follow along with what is going on in the film, and what is happening at the current moment, in each particular scene. Otherwise, you may lose some of the affect that you want on certain shots. You must pay attention to the movements that are being made, in order to place the correct lighting in each individual shot. The emotion that is put across to the audience/viewers is an element that is extremely important.

     You need to be sure that the mood and emotion comes across very straight forward. In 'Visions of Light', the clips that they show, are the most intense scenes that I have ever seen. Most of them, the actors have austere shadows constantly coating their faces, in sporatic places. However, some of the shadows follow along with the faces, as to make it seem that the actor(s) are immobile but still moving at the same time. It is amazing the sentiment that is put forth in scenes such as these, and the methods that are used to pull it off.

     Filters are used to give scenes a shade of blue or yellow, or sometimes other colours. Most night scenes are actually shot in the daytime but, a filter is placed over the lens to make it seem like nighttime. So, in this case, it is a bit easier to do better placement of shadows and shading.

     So, this is my review for Visions of Light, from last year with a few updates to it.

     So, until next time--