Film Noir Lighting Technique
Film Noir, or "black film" in French, is an American film genre created following World War II. French film critics coined the term to describe the American style of dark and shadowy lighting in crime and detective films. Because characters in film noir movies are generally split between good and evil, lighting contrast is key. Using light and shadow to tell the stories, your own film noir should include a combination of harsh bright lights and mostly shadow, and shot in black and white only. Cigarette smoke can be used to good effect in film noir, adding white to an otherwise dark scene.
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Things You'll Need
- Film or digital movie camera
- SLR film or digital photo camera
- 500 watt or higher bulb light
- Floodlight (optional)
- Cigarette or fake cigarette
Instructions
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Choose your lights. Start by finding a large low key light. Add smaller, equally bright lights as necessary. Choose a filming location where shadows and lighting variations exist naturally, like a long street with streetlights. These elements will help make your film noir compelling.
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Develop a story which uses light and shadow to tell the characters' stories. Create a lighting scheme. Choose which characters will appear in more or less shadow.
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Create contrast. Use large, bright lights at 500 watts or over. Add smaller lights or portable floodlights to create alternate light sources. Avoid creating too many grays or off-whites in the film. Film noir is known for its high contrast through dramatic shadows and bright lights. While some grayer scenes are acceptable, watch for scenes that miss capturing that contrast effect.
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Before filming, take photographs of each scene to check light and shadow. Before shooting the film, snap black and white photographs of each set and scene to check the lighting. Develop the photos or print them from a computer. Check whether the black is pure pitch black and the whites pure snow white. If you find grays, adjust the aperture and F-stops on your film camera or increase the intensity of the harshest light source.
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Light only what you want your viewer to see. Dramatize a shot by filming a shadow of a person running down a dimly lit street or a lone spotlight dragging across a cityscape. Keep the villain in shadow; allow the hero to bask in a glowing light. Switch the lighting throughout the movie to show the dichotomous nature of your characters as a combination of evil and good.
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Shoot from provocative angles and light each scene to create a new element in the story. Cast light looking up toward a character's jawline, for instance, or light a villain from behind to produce a silhouette. A beam of harsh light cast directly on a character can be employed to expose her guilt or crime. Filming through venetian blinds or between fence slats creates a striped, suspenseful effect.
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Cigarette smoke adds white to an otherwise black space. Add cigarette smoking to the film, even if it is an electric type of cigarette that produces fake smoke. Allow the white smoke to enter dark scenes and bring characters together or obscure them in puffs of smoke and shadow.
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Tips & Warnings
You can light a film noir movie with one bright light. Adding other lights only makes scene changes and close ups quicker.
Draw attention to the eyes of your cast. Cast softer light, using an umbrella or other diffuser, to create a softness around the eyes. Let the eyes of your characters tell what they have seen.
Do not use house lights or any softer lights under 400 or 500 watts. Softer wattage produces grays and creams, not rich blacks and white. A weakly lit film will not be successful in creating a film noir effect.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit shady shadows image by Psycience from Fotolia.com old film image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com cigarette & smoke image by Dmitriy Kosterev from Fotolia.com
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