Lighting in Film Noir

To help with my understanding of film noir and to help further enhance the OTS. During the analysis of Noir films i found that lighting is a very important part. It is used as a device that helps set the mood and mystery.


High-key Lighting

This type of lighting involves reducing the lighting ratio in the scene. It was originally used to fix technical problems as early film cameras did not deal with high contrast very well. When the amount of light is quite large it makes the subject is very visible. Scenes using this type of light tend to have minimal shadows and darkness. This type of lighting may be useful in our opening title sequence as it could be used to highlight an important prop and will help situate our OTS further in the genre . However we have to be cautious of how much we use it as if it is used too much it could effect the tone of the piece as it could remove enigma.

Low-key Lighting

This type of lighting is more relevant as it is commonly used in noir films. This is mainly due to the fact it helps exaggerate shadows. As you can see in the picture above the subject in low key lighting is a lot more mysterious and so the scene can be taken more seriously. In high-key lighting the subject appears to be a lot more innocent as white has that connotation. Low key lighting generally involves only one light and no others which minimises the contrast between the background and the subject.  This type would be the most suitable for our title sequence as it provides enough light yet it shrouds the subject enough to maintain mystery and is more common in noir films.