Vintage Cinematography | Lighting in B&W

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In a previous episode, we broke down the lighting behind the Joker, one of the best examples of cinematography from 2019. In this video, we will break down the lighting behind another one of the year’s best films: The Lighthouse. The Lighthouse has a very unique look for a modern film. Because of the visual techniques they used, it looks like it was made 50 years ago. So how can you achieve the same look with the equipment you have? Today on 4 Minute Film School, we are going to try to recreate the lighting from The Lighthouse, and show how you can achieve the film’s look in your own projects.

In this video, Matt from the A-Team walks us through how to light a scene that looks like the movie The Lighthouse. First, he identifies the lighting sources used in the movie. For this scene, he uses a practical lamp and windows as the sources of light. Second, he creates contrast with the lighting by using highlights and shadows in the frame. This will help match the high contrast visuals of the movie. Lastly, he matches as many technical aspects as he can. This means setting the scene to black and white, matching the aspect ratio, and any other visual adjustments.

The main aspects addressed in this video are technical details, light sources, and contrast. Technical details refers to the equipment and settings used on the original movie. Matching things like camera, ISO, and lenses will get you closer to the movie’s look. Light sources refers to the way the original movie was lit. Looking at where the light is coming from and matching that will help you achieve a similar look. Contrast refers to the difference between highlights and shadows in your image. Take note of whether the movie you’re recreating has high or low contrast.

Trying to capture the look of a movie for your own projects can be a good way to find inspiration and reference your favorite films. Oftentimes the look of a movie is inspired by the looks of different movies combined. Even this movie, The Lighthouse, is a combination of references to even more movies. As filmmakers, we don’t want to directly steal from other artists, but by taking elements from different films and combining them, we can create our own unique visual styles. Having your own style will ultimately make your work stand out and could even make you a better storyteller.


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