Art & Cinematographyhow artists influence the look of films

rembrandt lighting

lighting that looks like it has a source in the scene

basic set-up use 1 main (“Key”) light and a reflector

uw

light source

camera

reflector

subject

advanced set-upuse a key light, a fill

light, and a back light

uw

key light

camera

fill light

subject

ww

back light

when you’ve got it rightyou’ll see a

characteristic triangle of light on

the shadowed side of the face

examples

low key lighting

low key = more shadow, greater contrast

(chiaroscuro)

high key lighting

high key = less shadow, lower contrast

why use it?you use rembrandt lighting when you want the scene to look as natural as possible - as if lit from a window, a lamp, or some other source in the scene

expressionismPreseNting the World from A SubjeCtive persPectiVe, DistoRting it rAdicaLly foR EmotiOnal Effect in oRder To evokE Moods or ideAs

it’s (supposed to be) kind of the opposite of impressionismMonet’s water lilies is a typical example of impressionism

impressionist artists tried to accurately portray changing patterns of light and worked outdoors

urban, crowded settings, often chaotic. perspective is distorted and colours are dictated by feeling rather than realism

expressionism in film - germany 1920s

distorted, shadowy, artificial, disorienting

monster movies

expressionist techniques were adopted by hollywood in the 1930s

film noir - adopted expressionistic styles in the 1940s

Orson wellEs usEd exPressIonisTic tEchniQues In fiLms sUch aS CitizeN kaNe, thE ladY froM shaNghai, & toUch oF evil

pan’s labyrinth has scenes clearly influenced by Francisco goya

guillermo del toro’s

“Saturn devouring his son”

edward hopper

american realisthopper’s paintings portray isolation, loneliness, and alienation

contrasts

his landscapes frequently show people isolated against an empty wilderness

many of his paintings are like stills from a film

light pushes against darkness

roads and railways cut through the landscape and somehow increase the sense of isolation

people gather in darkness and remain separate

lost in thought

we catch glimpses of other lives“Voyeurism has been an unavoidable condition of urban living and moviegoing, and Hopper’s pictures spy on people in uncurtained rooms.”

we never say what we think

“They are epiphanic moments in someone else’s life, stills from a movie we can't quite remember.”

modern life consists of waiting

framed within a frame, alone together

urban scenes, night shadows

“His 1921 etching Night Shadows looks like a storyboard sketch for a high-angle shot in a Fritz Lang movie”

like a cinematographer, hopper paints with light

film noir lighting is hopperesque

showing hopper’s influence“picnic”, 1955 James Wong

Howe

“Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) was a crucial point where the sinister verticality of Hopper's mansard-roofed house in his first acclaimed painting House by the Railroad (1925), was combined with the unprepossessing horizontality of his numerous paintings of motels.”

days of heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)

oscar winning cinematographer Néstor Almendros Cuyás was clearly influenced by both hopper and Andrew Wyeth

andrew Wyeth “Christina’s world” (1948)

force of evil (1948) George barnes (cinematographer)

the killers (1946) Robert Siodmak

the driver (1978) walter hill

the end of violence (1997) wim wenders

the road to perdition (2002) Sam mendes

read morequotes in this presentation from philip french’s

article in the observer, 25/04/2004http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2004/apr/25/art