Employment Of The Mini Series Camera Operator
The biggest job a cinematographer has on set is directing how the lights look in the frame. He knows everything about the lights and what they represent. The cinematographer is the master of lighting. Working closely with the director and gaffer of the production, the cinematographer creates a happy balance of lighting in the frame to produce a realistic picture. There are four key concepts a cinematographer utilizes when setting up lights: movement, placement, intensity and color. This is how I describe each:
Movement: When light moves, it can mean a number of things. A character could be approaching a scene, a light could be “going out” which could create a creepy basement interrogation scene, or it could be something along the lines of a dance party or perhaps a rave of some kind. Maybe flashes are needed to mimic paparazzi taking pictures, in which case a lot of movement is needed as that could consist of a bunch of consecutive flashes from all over the frame.
Placement: Depending on where you place the light on a character, it creates different shadows on their faces and can create different moods and can change the way you look at someone. For instance, when you light someone from the bottom, it creates an evil look. Remember when you’d go camping and you’d scare your little sister by placing a flashlight under your chin, turning it on and making a scary face? Just like that. The more lights you use, the less shadow you will create, so using just one light will create more shadow and make a character look darker and more mysterious.
Lighting your actors appropriately is also very important because where the light is placed will cast different shadows on their faces. The lower the light, the more ominous someone will look and also keeping them in half light and half shadow-not revealing their whole face. If you think of a light as a little sun and then shine it on your actors according to the time of day you’re trying to mimic, thinking about the angle of the sun during that time of day will also help you manipulate the light to your liking. Protagonists tend to get lit brighter and their eyes are shown more to the audience to keep a connection. The antagonists tend to be darker lit and their eyes are not seen as much so the audience doesn’t feel as connected to them and they seem less trustworthy.
Intensity: As a Yiddish proverb once stated, “The eyes are the mirror of the soul.” Eyes also tell a lot about a character-if they’re lying, feel uncomfortable, sad or happy-you name it. You can also read subtext through eyes, meaning one can look into another’s eyes and tell what they’re really feeling as opposed to what they said they felt. This is one reason why mysterious characters or villains tend to be lit less because of their dark demeanor. Most of the time, villain’s eyes are not seen as well because they’re lying or the production does not want the subtext of the character to be read as well. Not seeing someone’s eyes also makes them less trustworthy.
You’ll notice in dramas that the character’s eyes are very well lit and will almost always have that “twinkle” in them. This is because in dramas, subtext is more important than other genres because drama is all about saying one thing and meaning another, so the eyes must be seen. Brighter light brings out a happier mood, hence why comedies tend to be brighter most of the time. If one were to sit in a dark house all day, they’d probably feel a little worse than if they sat in a well-lit house all day. The same goes for light intensity and how it provokes emotion from the audience.
Color: The color of the light also creates mood and helps the audience understand time of day and whether the character(s) are inside or outside. Inside light tends to be more orange or tungsten, and outside light tends to be bluer.
When all these concepts are learned and mastered, they come together to create a masterpiece and can be used and manipulated in every project you shoot to invent a different, unique look. With all these concepts and a touch of your personal creativity, the possibilities of painting with light are endless!
The detailed occupation of the lighting camera person at Mark Cella‘s site.
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