lighting is important in films as it can set the mood, tone and style. As an example Low key lighting is used for mystery and suspense, whereas when using bright lights it could suggest a clinical or happy setting.
Within our opening sequence we wanted to have each mental illness be expressed by the mise-en-scene so one of the most significant things within mise-en-scene is lighting. the lighting we looked at was using different light sources for different angles:
- below – only illuminated the bottom half of the face
- above – only illuminated the top half of the face
- to the left/right – creates a shadow on one side of the face
- centre puts a strong focus on the centre of the face
to express these ideas we made a short video using different lighting techniques, to try to express our ideas…
these are the different types of illness we are looking into and what types of lighting we would like to have for them.
- Depression
Depression of often spoken about as being lonely illness, so when I began researching about the illness I started to search what types of lighting were commonly used within photographers such as Noizeg; she uses extreme low-key lighting creating an impressionable contrast between light and dark.
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
when researching about this illness I found out that the most common symptoms was repetition, being focused. To visually represent this through lighting I was thinking harsh bright light
- Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia is largely influenced by the media, so to bring this idea into our opening sequence we decided on runway lighting to illuminate the pressure felt to look the same way models do.
- Schizophrenia
still low-key lighting, centred more onto the face however still casting slight shadows onto parts of the face to create a real contrast between light and dark.
- Multiple personality disorder
For this section we wanted to create a strong character at the start to resemble this the lighting should be strong on half section of her face. which would change as the scene went on.
