For many years feature films, and later television dramas, were pro- duced in studios. Large companies dominated film production up to the 1970s and they had a commercial requirement for a specific style and type of film they wished to make. A style of lighting developed over many decades which lit the subject in sympathy with the demands of the script and the demands of glamour. The resulting images may be at odds with the perceived lighting realism of the setting (e.g., a win- dow as the only source and direction of light may be ignored in a close- up) but is sufficiently ‘natural’ to be accepted in a flow of images. One of the main influences on this style of lighting was the commercial pressure to exploit the glamour of the leading players.
The domination of the star actor/actress in Hollywood feature film production created a vocabulary of close-ups (CUs), medium close-
ups (MCUs), and over-the-shoulder (O/S) shots to emphasize the star. The aim of the lighting cameraman was to make the artiste as hand- some or as glamorous as possible. If you could photograph a star well, then the star would get you under contract to their particular studio. The following quotes from cameramen indicate the influence light- ing decisions could have. Cameraman Lee Garmes: ‘If the scene aver- age light level was 100 ft candles then Dietrich would be lit with 110 ft candles so that her face was the significant part of the frame.’ Charles Lang: ‘I had to use a high-key light to narrow Dietrich’s cheek bones. Claudette Colbert could only be shot one side and therefore sets had to be designed for the action to keep that side of face to camera.’
The creation of the studio look in the 1930s was achieved by a strong apprenticeship of assistant cameramen following a specific stu- dio style. Technicians worked on whatever they were allocated to but the studio system allowed them to work on many films and they there- fore developed a range of techniques across a diversity of narrative styles. Major studios tended to be known for specific genre films and the look of their films followed the subject. MGM built a reputation for ‘glamour’, Paramount for ‘gloss’, Warners for ‘hard-edge’ gritty realism.
Multi-camera television broadcast production followed the same ‘industrial’ pattern, with television technicians allocated to work on a broad range of programmes and techniques, ranging from ‘Play of the Month’ to ‘Playschool’. Although there was some specialism, most camera crews and lighting directors were expected to have the tech- niques required to embrace all the different television programme formats.
In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a pursuit for greater realism in the subject and appearance of many feature films. The story was filmed in its natural locations away from studio-built sets. This influenced the way the film was lit. There were competing lighting styles of expres- sionism and realism. Realism relied on found lighting at the location with the minimum of additional lamps. Expressionism was created by tight control of hard light sources in their intensity and position.
Expressionism
The fashion for high contrast, dynamic graphic images reached its apogee in the Film Noir style of the 1940s and 1950s, which had been heavily influenced by the earlier German expressionist cinema. This style of lighting with hard-edge shadows and high contrast has a powerful influence on the composition of the shot. Woody Bredell who photographed ‘The Killers’ (1946) suggested that the film was lit in order to reduce the detail in the images to the very basic visual infor- mation for storytelling. This was achieved by strong, single-source lighting, by slashes of light, low angles and dark shadows to produce stark imagery (see front cover).
An important function of a hard light source is to provide shadow as well as a lit surface. Dark shadows give an image visual weight. High contrast – deep blacks and highlights – strengthen the core mean- ing of an image. There is no uncertainty of the principal subject. Figure and ground cannot be mistaken. But strong contrast can tip over into a crude unappealing simplicity that runs out of interest once the initial impact has been absorbed. If the predominant tones of an
image are dark and without highlights, the image can convey mystery and suspense and, as used in some television soaps, a form of ersatz realism by avoiding any visual indication that is out of keeping with the setting (e.g., bright highlights on hair provided by backlight). But a surfeit of low-key realism can also induce a visual sense of depression leading to indifference.
The Film Noir period ended with ‘A Touch of Evil’ (1958). It was shot by Russell Metty with extraordinary baroque touches, made at the same time as the New Wave was emerging in Paris. ‘Touch of Evil’ anticipated the fluid use of a hand-held camera when Welles had an Eclair Cameflex lightweight European camera imported, and it was hand-held to great effect in the high contrast interior lit by an external flashing neon sign when the Welles’ character murders a small town criminal.
This graphic, hard edged, high contrast lighting style controlled the composition of the shot. Shadow can be used as mass in a framing to balance out other visual elements. The edges between shadow and lit areas can be used in the same way as line convergence is used to focus attention, create depth or to unite foreground and background.
Realism
Throughout the second half of the twentieth century film speeds continued to increase first with black and white negative and later with colour. This allowed filming in most locations without the need or requirement to add many additional lamps. To many film makers it seemed contradictory to carefully select a location for its atmo- sphere and realism and then try to obliterate the location ambience by using the same lighting techniques that were available in the studio.
The French cinematographer Raoul Coutard, when filming Jean- Luc Godard’s ‘A Bout de Souffle’ in 1959, took advantage of the increased film speed available to shoot the film using natural or ‘found’ light. He took 18-m lengths of Ilford HPS negative sold for use in 35 mm still cameras, and cemented them together to make 120-m rolls for use in a Cameflex film camera. By pushing it in devel- opment he had a film that gave him an 800 ASA rating, which allowed Goddard to shoot all the location scenes with available light. Most lighting cameramen were not such ‘available’-light purists but Coutard went on to develop the technique of bounced light.
In ‘Le Petit Soldat’ (1960) Coutard used rows of photoflood reflec- tor bulbs attached to the tops of windows and door frames pointing at the ceiling. This even spread of soft light imitates natural light from a window in an all white room with the bonus of no lamp stands or pole- cats (scaffold bars) so that an interior can be shot 3608. This technique requires a fast film as the light is all reflected, plus there are difficulties in getting light into the actors eyes.
Bounced light was seen as more natural and realistic than the sty- lized three-point lighting of key, fill and backlight that was standard in many features. It was later adapted for studio work by using large polystyrene sheets to bounce light or diffusion was achieved by semi- translucent material across the top of the set.
The increasing use of soft lights as the main source of television lighting was facilitated by:
* increased CCD sensitivity. When a light is bounced off a poly- board, the effective candlepower is reduced by about one-fifth. It was therefore difficult to get the required lighting level with older, less sensitive cameras;
* a growing awareness and fashion for more natural, soft lit images, and the developing technique to handle ‘soft’ lighting;
* the increasing availability of equipment such as special soft lights, fluorescent lights, etc.