If you think of movies as living things
Then light and shadow are its basic cells
They always come in pairs like twins
But under the camera lens
The expression techniques and representative meanings of light and shadow are different
Today, we will explore together with the help of several master works
" Light"
is how it is given deep meaning in the lens
And how is it finally captured on film through technological transformation
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Atmospheric transmission tenderness
The intensity and shape of light depend on the medium of transmission.
The farther the photographed space is, the more likely the distant scene has visual changes in color, light and shade, and shape, and the more moisture in the air, the more obvious the changes will be.
This visual phenomenon is called atmospheric perspective , or aerial perspective.
The first person to explicitly propose this concept of perspective was the painter Leonardo da Vinci , who found that the detailed outline of the distant scene was not as realistic as the rough depiction.
This discovery not only saved the painting world a lot of trouble, but also provided a new lens language for the art of film.
Atmospheric Perspective in Oil Painting
For example, Bergman's "Shouting and Whispering", the film title shows a set of outdoor shots, the sun is shining from the shadows of the trees, the wind is shaking and the shadows are moving, and Shanshan is cute.
Because the light is refracted repeatedly on the way of propagation, the yellow long-wave light visible to the human eye is most vulnerable to loss, and the blue short-wave light is mostly preserved.
In this way, against the backdrop of the natural background, the picture showing the atmospheric perspective will always appear serene and peaceful .
Bergman deliberately intercepted this group of outdoor shots, in order to form a sharp contrast with the tense atmosphere of the interior, which is dominated by red , so as to express the ideal beauty of the heroine Agnes and the suffering of reality.
Terrence Malik also used atmospheric perspective effects to create a set of contrasts.
In the masterpiece "The Thin Red Line", he juxtaposes the dying soldiers with the natural background with atmospheric perspective effect, and wisps of light with great texture shoot down from the top of the soldiers' heads...
Death and life force are in sharp contrast in the same picture , as if God is gazing into the absurd world.
Indoors can also create an atmospheric perspective effect, properly asking for dust or steam to help, even in a small space, you can make obvious color gradation changes.
The atmospheric perspective effect in the interior often represents hazy and ambiguous .
Because of the human participation in setting and lighting, the final presentation effect has become more controllable.
There are many applications of atmospheric perspective in "Farewell My Concubine", which is at the top of domestic films.
For example, Xiaodouzi and Xiaoshi are taking a bath in the bathhouse, and being naked and frank with Shige is of course very shocking to Xiaodouzi;
At the same time, he is still ignorant about the matter of men and women . Of course, he chooses the language of the camera lens to express it most appropriately.
For another example, when Jiang Wen arranged for Ma Xiaojun and Mi Lai to be alone in "Sunny Days", he often released smoke indoors to create a sense of confusion.
This not only corresponds to the ambiguous sibling relationship between the two, but also matches Ma Xiaojun's chaotic memories.
Under the illumination of low color temperature lamps, the orange interior scene not only symbolizes the youth's desire for love and the flesh, but also has the yellowish and shabby taste of old photos.
highlighting white terror
When it comes to terror, the first thing most people think of must be a night with a dark moon and high winds...
But you know what? Bright light can also create a terrifying effect.
About a century ago, the film master Dreyer made such an attempt. In "Vampire", he completely presented the facial features of his sister, the evil queen.
The strong light shines directly on the girl's face, and the camera records the entire performance of the actors from weakness to madness, without missing a single detail.
In Dreyer's daring experiment, this highlighting effect has also become his film's signature white horror .
Half a century later, the same technique was also applied to Kubrick's great thriller "The Shining". When Jack slashed the door, the same strong light shot directly on the entire face, highlighting the dynamics of every inch of muscle.
Of course, doing this is also a test of the actor's skill, and a slight misstep may change the taste of the whole scene.
Because of Jack Nicholson's perfect interpretation, this thriller in "The Shining" has also become the most impressive classic scene in horror film history .
Back to "The Shout and the Whisper".
When Agnes' life was about to come to an end, Bergman also arranged a strong light to shine directly on Agnes' face, but this time the strong light was not to highlight the pained expression of the deceased, but to have a special meaning in it.
The light fell on Agnes, her condition suddenly intensified, and her breathing became rapid and irregular. As Agnes died, the beam went out.
The light here symbolizes death , who descended upon Agnes and took her soul with him.
In "Farewell My Concubine", Xiao Lai Zi couldn't bear the severe corporal punishment in the eyes of his master, and decided to die after eating the last candied fruit in his pocket.
Here Chen Kaige put a beam of strong light on Xiao Laizi's head, as if his heaven's door had been opened , and the god of death was ready to receive this life.
Climbing to the top of the challenge
When it comes to film lighting, Kubrick is a name that cannot be bypassed.
Others make movies and light candles, while Kushen makes movies to light candles. In that year, more than 2,000 candles were used for the filming of "Barry Lyndon", just because electricity was not invented in Barry Lyndon's time.
How hard is it to shoot with candles as a light source?
You have to know that the lighting range of the candle is very small , and the firelight is swaying in the wind. When the actor moves his hand, the brightness of the candle will change.
If you are not careful, it is very likely that the scene will not be picked up in the later editing.
Kubrick directs by candlelight
In order to overcome this technical problem, Kubrick is very thoughtful.
First of all, the candle as the light source must use a honey candle that can emit a continuous and stable orange light . At that time, this kind of candle was only produced by a small processing factory in Italy, and it took a lot of troubles just to purchase and transport.
In order to maximize the brightness of the light source, Kubrick chose the main light source as a crystal chandelier to maximize the refraction of the weak light emitted by the candle.
However, the scene was still too dark to meet the needs of ordinary cameras.
So he thought of borrowing a large-aperture Zeiss lens originally used for shooting star maps from NASA , and increased the brightness of the film by artificially increasing the amount of light.
But the problem comes again. The lens borrowed from NASA is a camera lens after all, and you have to DIY an adapter ring to connect it to the camera.
What's worse is that after connecting this external lens, the camera monitor can't be used, and even the basic zoom function is useless.
Therefore, to ensure that the characters are always in focus, the crew also had to measure the actual distance between the subject and the light aperture over and over again, and every step of the photographer must be accurate to the millimeter...
This is also the main reason why there is no big action in the characters in the candlelight scene.
Even with all the calculations, the impoverished Kubrick still shot at least 20 of each scene, and as many as 50, to ensure that the film was foolproof during post-processing.
These are no longer difficult problems today. In the 1970s, they were unheard of and unconquered mountains.
And Kubrick is holding on to his strength, and the head iron must break through, and finally let him and "Barry Lyndon" aspire to the pinnacle of the film industry's use of light .
With Kushen in front, let's look at Hou Hsiao-hsien's arrogant "Assassin Nie Yinniang", which was called full of candlelight. With the blessing of modern technology, it is like a small trouble.
Not to mention the unpredictable weather during the location shooting of "Barry Lyndon", Kushen Leng adjusted the amount of light on the camera based on experience to ensure that the post-editing would not be flawed.
Even for indoor scenes during the day, he resolutely does not use artificial light sources, and only uses a large window as the main light source to express the characters, intentionally creating the light and shadow effect on medieval oil paintings.
No wonder the outside world commented that every frame of "Barry Lyndon" was picturesque, and they were really shot according to oil paintings.
ever-changing light
There are also millions of languages it gives to the film
Cinema is a temple of "light and shadow"
In the next issue, we will continue to appreciate the world of images
The unique charm of shadows
Meet the masters of angiography in the film industry
We, read only the classics
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