Lighting in a horror film is absolutely vital to create the correct moods within the film at the right moments. For example, if you were to have somebody trying to hide from a masked murderer, you wouldn't have the room lit up nicely for the murderer to walk in and find the hiding person immediately, would you? no you'd have the lighting set down to being minimal with a slight tinge of blue to add to the feeling of it being at night and how everything seems slightly paler in blue lighting as it desaturates the colour from objects including skin and blood.
This is a brilliant use of low key lighting in the woman in black. They have used soft, white and blue lighting outside the window to create a tinted moon effect, giving everything a creepier, colder feel. On top of that, there is minimal lighting from behind the camera, giving the evident idea that the lights are all off and that you can't even hide from this woman-thing. This lighting is used throughout most of the film as it keeps the audience on edge because they are then unable to prepare themselves for a scary moment due to lighting changes, they always associated the dark lighting with a scare and so maximising the jump scare factor of the scene.
However, there are some lighting techniques that can be best avoided when it comes to modern psychological horrors. one of those being the highlighting effect used by soft/hard lighting. This is done by applying hard lighting to the object of focus (usually subtly positioned in the frame) and then soft lighting applied to everything else (usually really obvious and taking up majority of the frame and frame time) This is done so to make the audience think "did i just see that?!" to only be soon after shown that yes. yes they did just see that creepy monster dart behind the desk and yes, the character is now walking towards that desk for their imminent doom. However, this is a strength for the lighting effect. an instance in which i personally dislike this technique is being applied to objects or people that are dead in the centre of the frame and are obviously placed there as the object of focus. The application of hard light to them and soft lighting elsewhere just creates an amateur feeling. The following is my idea of a film makers sin and that the guy in charge of lighting should lose his job immediately.
Although it's done to draw the audience's attention to his expression, he is the only thing in the frame, the audience will therefore only be drawn to his face as his chest and upwards is all thats in centre frame and most of all, his expression isn't subtle, it's overly exaggerated. although that's how acting used to be when the film of Dracula was produced, the addition of lighting to his eyes just causes the whole shot to lose its dramatic value.
This is a brilliant use of low key lighting in the woman in black. They have used soft, white and blue lighting outside the window to create a tinted moon effect, giving everything a creepier, colder feel. On top of that, there is minimal lighting from behind the camera, giving the evident idea that the lights are all off and that you can't even hide from this woman-thing. This lighting is used throughout most of the film as it keeps the audience on edge because they are then unable to prepare themselves for a scary moment due to lighting changes, they always associated the dark lighting with a scare and so maximising the jump scare factor of the scene.
However, there are some lighting techniques that can be best avoided when it comes to modern psychological horrors. one of those being the highlighting effect used by soft/hard lighting. This is done by applying hard lighting to the object of focus (usually subtly positioned in the frame) and then soft lighting applied to everything else (usually really obvious and taking up majority of the frame and frame time) This is done so to make the audience think "did i just see that?!" to only be soon after shown that yes. yes they did just see that creepy monster dart behind the desk and yes, the character is now walking towards that desk for their imminent doom. However, this is a strength for the lighting effect. an instance in which i personally dislike this technique is being applied to objects or people that are dead in the centre of the frame and are obviously placed there as the object of focus. The application of hard light to them and soft lighting elsewhere just creates an amateur feeling. The following is my idea of a film makers sin and that the guy in charge of lighting should lose his job immediately.
Although it's done to draw the audience's attention to his expression, he is the only thing in the frame, the audience will therefore only be drawn to his face as his chest and upwards is all thats in centre frame and most of all, his expression isn't subtle, it's overly exaggerated. although that's how acting used to be when the film of Dracula was produced, the addition of lighting to his eyes just causes the whole shot to lose its dramatic value.
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