Type of Lighting Used in the Film Titanic
The making of Titanic always amazed me due to the fact of how realistic the movie looked. The lighting used in this film played an important role in the realistic images portrayed in the movies. This particular movie used an assortment of well lighted scenes to dark scenes to portray the dramatic effects used for the sinking scenes. The film, Titanic, uses a variety of three-point, high-key, and low-key lighting to makes the various scenes more dramatic and realistic.
Benefits of using these styles of lighting. The benefits of using three-point, high-key, and low-key lighting allows the audience to have a better understanding of the dramatic points within the scene and the differences within the scenes. The three-point lighting within scenes is mainly taken during the “real footage” taken of the Titanic before the flashbacks. This shows more of a modern look. The high-key lighting is shown more towards the flashbacks, and the story scenes that are being told by the elderly Rose. The low-key lighting is taken more towards the more dramatic scenes, such as, when the ship begins to sink.
Techniques contributed to the film. These lighting techniques allow the audience to get more of a feel of what is going on, and the different emotional aspects of the film. If high-key lighting was used during the more dramatic parts of the film the audience may not have related with the scenes as well. If the more romantic scenes were utilizing low-key lighting then the romantic scenes may not have had an effect on the audience as well either. As stated in our text, “The lighting not only reflects the time of day by the position of the shadows, but its warm colors, combined with the choice of bright reds, oranges, and yellows that decorate the setting, emphasize the heat—of both the weather and the characters’ emotions.” (Goodykoontz, Jacobs, 2014).
The choices that were made regarding lighting. I certainly believe the right choices were made in regards to lighting within this particular film. If anything had been different this film may have had a very different effect on it’s audience. Titanic had a very realistic look to it, and the lighting had an important part in portraying this aspect of the movie. The lighting had an effect also on the different social classes. The “upper class” had more bright lighting, and more sunlight. However, the third-class passengers had very little lighting, and very little sunlight.
Reference
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. This text is a Constellation™ course digital materials (CDM) title.
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