Research theme - cinematography

Film Lighting — Between Realism and Stylisation

A study of the two tendencies in film lighting — a tendency toward realism and toward stylisation.

The sharp overhead light that leaves important parts of Brando’s face in the dark in Copolla-Willis’ Godfather was realistically motivated, but it was perceived as a very bold stylistic move. Realism has obviously always had very conventional boundaries. Though the way the human eye normally sees the world was held as the measure of realism, the lighting procedures that enable cinematography to get close to the »natural vision« have simultaneously offered great stylistic opportunities and were a source of stylistic variances which led to the high classical style of lighting (a subtle balance of realism and stylisation).

Though bold lighting stylisation was introduced into movies at the beginning of cinema history, these stylisations pre-empted a change in the criterion of realism, i. e. the change of the realistic acceptability of the offered lighting pattern. The digital control of lighting has introduced the new possibility of highly differentiated light manipulation, which can be oriented both into a realistic direction or a stylistic one, possibly giving a new pattern to the realism-stylisation distinction in film lighting. The analytical content of the paper: Realism as a convention. Stylisation as realism. Realism, stylisation and technology. Bibliography.

Boris Popović