I don’t know if it’s the studios that are dictating how things should be done or if it’s the Director’s request or just the knowledge of the Cinematographer, but the lighting in Movies and TV shows are horrible these days. I’m not saying all of them but most of them. In any environment, the Actors are side lit! Like they are getting their Senior portraits taken. Why?! Does everyone just own lamps on tables for lighting these days? Where are the overhead lights that everyone owns? I know it’s used for dramatic effect a lot of times but there are so many more ways to do that than just lighting someone from the side.
I worked for 2 years in a portrait studio and talk about an eye-opening experience. It was exactly what I needed at that time in my photography career pursuit. A crash course in how to use lights, how many lights you should have and the different styles of lighting. Then we worked our butts off trying to perfect those and then how to change them to paint a picture. There are your basic 5-6 styles for your professional portrait styles and then there are about 4-5 more to create a mood or look. Learning the basic styles and what they are used for can take some time but once you get them down you’re able to setup your lights quickly and then do some fine tuning with your subject in place.
There are many great articles about lighting out there and several variations of the styles but practice is needed to get down your style. One of my favorite places to learn or discover new ways of doing things is to search CreativeLive and see what others have posted. There are so many tutorials and other inputs on the site that you can spend days surfing. Here is a great example of a series that will teach the basic of Portrait Photography by Lindsay Adler.
These are some suggestions if you’re just learning about photography and lighting and haven’t been through any formal training. And you can always look for local photographers online and see if they have classes or would be your mentor. I mention these options because I’m curious about those that are doing all the lighting in the shows and wonder if they ever learned any of this. And if you really want to be inspired go and watch the classic movies and look at the classic Hollywood actors portraits to see truly amazing portrait photography.
I recently went to see the new Blade Runner 2049 and it didn’t inspire me like the original did. There were elements used in the new one to make us connect with the old one but that was about it. I didn’t have its own life. I can’t blame anyone because I don’t know who wanted it to look like it did. Was the Director, the Studio or Producers, who knows. But the original will always be one of the most beautifully lit movies of cinematic history. Most of the scenes in Deckharts loft were inspired by the classic 20s and 30s photographers like George Hurrell, John Engstead, Scotty Welbourne and Clarence Sinclair Bull. Photos they took, set the mark for all glamor photography and are rarely met with such craft. Jordan Cronenweth did an amazing job on Blade Runner in setting the mood with how he lit the future world if it was him that did it. It could have been Chris Franco that is listed as the lighting technician.
So to those that are in the film industry, do better work. Don’t half-ass it! Make great films and continue to inspire the future filmmakers.
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