“The primary purpose of cinematic lighting is to support the story by contributing to the overall visual structure of the film.”

From Advanced Renderman

Objectives Of Lighting• Directing the viewer’s eye• Creating Depth• Conveying the Time of Day and setting• Enhancing Mood, Atmosphere, and

Drama• Revealing Character Personality and

Situation

Directing The Viewer’s EyeSetting up lighting involves adding emphasis to the subject matter so that the viewer focuses directly on the intended action. By positioning lights in specific positions, a lighting artist can pull the subject out from the background and lead the viewer’s eye. Sometimes shots are on screen for only a short time, and it becomes important to emphasize the action quickly in order to create an effective shot.

Creating DepthLighting can be used to emphasis a sense of depth by giving the viewer depth cues such as shadow areas and light fall off. The relationship of the foreground and background elements and their lighting are used by lighting artist to create depth and separation.

Conveying the Time of Day and SettingThe location and intensity of light is used by a lighting artist to suggest a time of day or specific location. This is especially important for establishing the mood of a sequence. Depending on the type of lighting chosen, environments can look completely different.

Enhancing Mood, Atmosphere, and DramaThe style of lighting can be used to emphasis the the mood of a sequence. The color, position, and intensity of lights in a scene can be used to reinforce the mood of the characters on screen.

Revealing Character Personality and SituationThe quality, color, and light direction are used by lighting artists to emphasize the the personality or character of the subject matter of shot. Different lighting setups can be used on the same character in different situations to describe different aspects of that character’s personality.

Three-point LightingThree-point lighting is a traditional approach to lighting that involves 3 types of lights that are used to light the subject of a shot. The key light is the primary light source, the fill light adds additional light, and the rim light separates the subject from the background.

Light Roles• Ambient Light• Key Light• Fill Light• Rim Light• Bounce Light

Ambient Light

Ambient light is the base light that is applied to the entire scene including shadows. They generally used to prevent areas of absolute black especially in areas that are not directly affected by the key light.

Key LightThe Key Light is the dominant source of color and illumination in a scene. The key light generally produces the strongest shadow in a shot. As the main light source, the key light is used to define the mood of a shot.

Fill LightFill Light adds subtle illumination to shadow areas that are not affected directly by the key light. The ratio of the key light plus fill light to the fill light by itself is referred to as the lighting ratio. The lighting ratio is directly related to the contrast level of the scene.

Rim LightThe Rim Light is used to “pop” a foreground element and separate it form the background. A rim light is generally aimed directly at the camera from behind the foreground subject matter creating a thin halo around the edge of the foreground element.

Bounce LightIn order to accurately portray real life lighting situations, bounce light can be used to simulate light bounced of surfaces in the environment. Some rendering engines can calculate bounced light from the key light and fill light sources by simulating light rays bouncing around in the environment.

Lighting ContinuityKeeping consistent lighting across can become a problem especially when more that one artist is working on a particular sequence. It is important to check the lighting of a shot with the rest of the sequence to insure consistency, especially with the shot directly before and directly after the shot. Sometimes camera angles can influence lighting continuity. Shots with the exact same lighting setup can appear to be lit differently depending on the camera of each shot.

Color ScriptLighting Continuity

Lights

• Ambient Light• Directional Light• Point Light• Spot Light• Area Light• Volume Light

Ambient Light

An ambient light adds illumination evenly to the entire scene. They are generally used for subtle fill light or to increase the brightness of an entire scene including areas of shadow.

Directional Light

A Directional Light adds illumination from one direction across the entire scene. A common use for a directional light is to simulate outdoor sunlight. By the time light reaches the surface of the earth it is best simulated as coming from one constant direction especially for small environments.

Spot Light

A spot light casts light in a specific area defined by a cone of light emanating from a point. They are commonly used for character lighting due to the fact that they offer the lighting artist lots of control.

Point Light

A point light emits light from a specific point outward in all directions. They are commonly used to simulate light coming from an omni directional light source like a light bulb or candle.