Research and Contextual References
Sparkles and Wine – Nacho Guzman
In this video, a lot of the lighting is used to create a sense of mystery as it highlights different parts of the woman’s face at the start. the movement of the lighting around 1:30 quite effectively causes the woman’s face to appear different a every angel which could convey different person or a different mood.
Screen Test (1964) – Romy Schneider
The movement of the lighting also causes a movement of the shadow which shows an effect against her body and can be used to convey a message within a message. The lighting seems to both circle and move down the woman in this way to excentuate the personality of this person in being both attractive and mysterious all the same.
Photographers
Photographer – Jamie Hawkesworth
Jamie Hawkesworth is a British photographer that specializes in fashion and documentary photography.
Context:
These images were taken at Preston Bus Station which were apart of his first photography project. The whole project was called “Preston is my Paris” and the work was published in his magazine in both 2010 and his own book in 2017. Both of these were titled ‘Preston Bus Station’.
Content:
The images feature people of different ages and presumably from a variety of different backgrounds and document how different people wait for the bus. There are images of a girl who is on her phone texting and eating a lollipop as she waits for the bus, showing how some people choose to try to pass the time. There is also an image of a boy who is using his hands as binoculars in a way that seems to indicate a childish boredom, showing how waiting at a bus stop can seem to make time go awfully slowly.
Composition:
One of images is of the girl who is looking at her phone, side lighting has been used. This could have been for a number of reasons- one of which being that it highlights the time of day (that it is either late at night or early in the morning) which makes it seem more realistic and emphasizes how feelings of boredom or impatience may be higher at these particular times as a person may be less tolerant. In the other image of the boy who is using his hands as binoculars, full lighting is used and there is a lack of shadows which brings emphasizes that there is nothing in the situation to hide behind and that the boy is very present in the moment- especially with the way that he feels.
Comment:
I like this particular series of imagery because it shows the natural beauty of something so simple that occurs on a day to day basis and really captures the way in which people are feeling- when you are waiting to get on the bus, no matter what time of the day it is- it is often a point of reflection as little else is going on to distract a person and they are really present in the way that they feel, the position they are in life and the bigger picture that they are apart of. In their own special way, these images represent all these different feelings and emotion which can be present in different people as they simply wait for a bus.
Connection:
The connection to the project that we are doing is that Hawkesworth uses lighting in his photography in order to fully highlight the way people are feeling in the way he feels necessary. We are investigating the effects that different kinds of lighting have on a subject that is being photographed and the overall impact this has on the image that is created.
Emily Soto
Emily Soto is a fashion photographer who lives in New York and focuses on a romantic style which is bold, playful and emotionally captivating. A lot of her work has been on the cover of Vogue and Teen Vogue.
Context:
These images are part of a fashion shoot that Emily Soto did of Emily Ratajkowski for a magazine called BYRDIE (which is a company who shares about celebrity make up tips and beauty secrets. These photos were published in August 2018.
Content:
The photos consist of the model, Emily Ratajkowski posing in front of a white screen background, wearing what appears to be a pantsuit and some jewelry. With each different photo, she is pulling a different face/pose which supposedly shows off different sides of her personality.
Composition:
Most of the images that have been taken use Butterfly lighting which is indicated by the butterfly-like shadow shape that appears under her nose. Butterfly lighting is created by having a light that is positioned just above the model’s head and sometimes a reflector light underneath which balances the light that is def in. This particular lighting is most commonly used when photographing people with narrower faces and higher cheekbones like this particular model has because it highlights these features and make them appear more prominent.
Connection:
This connects to our work because Emily Soto uses different kinds of lighting to highlight different features of the models that she is photographing, depending on facial structure and features that are present on their face. We are studying the different kinds of lighting that photographers use and the effect that this has on the final outcome that they are trying to produce.
Comment:
Although the for the type of photography she is aiming to express, her work is good, i don’t like the simplicity of the shoot. I feel like so much more personality could be added throughout the addition of color to the lights. She is talented but in my opinion it doesn’t feel like it is groundbreaking which is what i feel photographers should aim for.
Films
Romeo and Juliet (1996)
Content:
Romeo and Juliet is a movie about two different families that have been stuck in a feud for generations. Romeo, from one of the families, and Juliet, from the other family, meet by chance one night at a party and fall in love with each other, before they know which family that the other is from. They then attempt to navigate having a secret marriage, despite their families disagreements but tragically ends after the death of two other characters, with Romeo and Juliet taking their own lives.
Context:
The movie is set in a post-modern version of the city of Verona, called Verona Beach. The two families- the Montague’s and the Capulet’s each have skyscraper buildings located in Verona which is also a part of the setting along with the Capulet mansion and the beach. The movie is presumably set in 1996 when it was created.
Connection:
The movie uses lighting in a lot of different ways to evoke a lot of different emotions at different points in the play. We are studying the different types of lighting that photographers and cinematographers use to evoke emotion and the get the most effective outcome.
Composition:
One of the ways that lighting is used is that when Romeo has drunk the poison, at the start of the scene, the lighting is full on him but as the scene progresses, it turns to more of a side lighting (like in the second image) to indicate how he is fading away in front of her which evokes feelings of upset from someone who is watching it as they know there is nothing she can do to save him.
Another way that lighting is used is in the scene where Romeo nad Juliet first kiss. Full lighting, lighting coming from all angels, is used in order to highlight the initial attraction and the excitement between the two lovers, showing both of their love for the situation clearly as they are both completely highlighted.
Comment:
Overall i think that the movie uses lighting very effectively as it is used to cause the sad scenes to feel more devastating and to make the happy scenes feel lighter and easier to watch which heightens the connection between the audience and the scenes they are watching.
Different types of photography
Butterfly lighting is when there is a singular light positioned above the top of the subject and has got its name as it typically creates a butterfly shape under a person’s nose. Sometimes there is a ‘reflector’ light under the person too in order to balance the light out. It highlights/is best suited to people with narrow faces and higher cheekbones. It doesn’t work as well for people with full/rounder faces, acne, spots, scars or facial hair.
Remembrandt lighting creates an inverted triangle of the subject’s cheek on the side opposite to the light source. It is flattering to people with an obvious cheekbone structure and often causes there to be some light contained in each eyes. It works well for people with full/round faces as it has a slimming effect. It isn’t best for people with narrow faces and is often used for more masculine faces but doesn’t have to be.
Side Lighting often causes half of the face to fade into the darkness or appear not to be there at all. This is due to the lighting being positioned on one side of their face and therefore that side of the face is the only side that is highlighted. It is good for highlighting texture and emphasizing emotion in an dramatic way.
Full Lighting
This is when lighting is positioned at the sides, in front of and above the subject in order to show all of their facial features and to completely highlight them in an honest and raw way. There is no shadows in the background or areas of darkness meaning that there is no way to hide and nothing that is removing the focus from the model. 
Coloured Lighting
Coloured lighting is commonly achieved by using coloured gels over lights and can highlight a number of different emotions depending on the scenario. Reds can be used to express feelings of love and passion in often when photographing two people but can also be used to show anger and hatred when photographing a boxer for example. Blue’s are generally associated as calmer colors which radiate relaxation camera and more centered feelings. Colours being combined have to be careful chosen as reds and greens can be associated with christmas and reds and blues associated with emergency services sirens.
Studio Work (Experimental images in the studio).
This is butterfly lighting – indicated by the shape of the butterfly under his nose. This is created with overhead lighting positioned at the front.
These are both side lighting shown- by how only half their faces are illuminated by the light and the fact that the light is positioned directly to one side.
Monologue Research and Planning:
Idea one:
American Beauty – “I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me.”
I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all. It stretches on forever, like an ocean of time. For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout Camp, watching falling stars. And yellow leaves from the maple trees that lined our street. Or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper. And the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand new Firebird. And Janie, and Janie. And Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain, and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry. You will someday.
i would Butterfly lighting (or remembrandt) and blue lighting from the side to emphasize the sombre mood but to highlight how the person is genuine and honest and sharing something heartfelt with the slight shadow somewhere on their face to show how a side of them remains in the dark.
Idea two:
Matilda
How dare you? You are not fit to be in this school madam. You ought to be in prison! In the deepest dankest darkest prison! I shall have you wheeled out strapped to a trolley with a muzzle over your mouth. I shall crush you. I shall pound you. I shall dissect you madam. I shall strap you down to a table and perform experiments on you. I shall feed you to the termites, and then I shall squash the termites into tiny fragments. And then I shall crush those tiny fragments into dust. And then I shall take the dust and feed it to the bloodworms. Then the bloodworms I shall feed to birds and the birds I shall release into the air and shoot them down with my 12 balled shotgun and so on, and so on, an infinitum madam, and infinitum.
Your father is a crook and so are you.
Possibly using side lighting but with the camera focused on the side of the face that is in the dark and the side lighting being red to create a angry effect. possibly with the model breathing heavily or staring deep down into the camera.
Final product
Evaluation
One of the things i feel went well in this project is my choice of lighting that i wanted to do as i felt like it fit the monologue. The monologue was from American Beauty and it was from someone who had died’s point of view. This is why i chose to deliver the monologue like an external voice being told to the person- because it could be interpreted in two ways: either that the person in front of the camera is receiving the advice from a person who was close to them and had died. They are half in the dark as the darkness represents the internal struggle they feel finding the light after the loss. Contrarily, it can be interpreted as the person themselves are the one who has died and they are in front of the camera, the voice being a message that sounds all around while the person is in this split point between life and death (highlighted by the dark and light) and it reflects the time that they are alive and the one message that they want to share with whoever needs it before they pass away.
I think that the video could be improved if i had rehearsed more throughly the monologue i was going to read so that i would have been more familiarised with it and it would flow more naturally as i spoke and less robotically. I feel like i could have asked for the model to illustrate my word through action slightly better in order to help the person watching to engage further with it and to really feel the emotion of the scene. I also think i should have experimented more with the blue gels in order to try to make it look more blue than it does to have a larger effect in making it seem like the person was at peace with what was happening and that they were reflecting the things that had happened in their life- like the monologue highlights. As i have never done anything like this before, it is something that can mostly be improved if i practice more and experiment more because nothing ever comes naturally first try and nothing great is achieved without the addition of hard work.
cbushmedia 