![]() We’re talking about making a low budget horror film not a professional lighting design, so the halogen shop lights are perfect for harsh lighting ,and with this technique you get a great color contrast between the two different light sources without the use of gels, which simplifies your production tremendously. When you white balance the camera to tungsten (also known as indoor) the light from the halogen shop light becomes neutral and the ambient room light becomes blue because the halogen lights have a warmer color temperature than both daylight and ambient room lighting from windows. Shadows – where the creepies live – and of course the creepies are always painted in a dramatic blue ambient light, and one way to get that blue tint is to white balance your camera to tungsten because that harsh, contrasty light from your cheap halogen shop lights is tungsten which has a warm color temperature. You want harsh, almost violent lighting along with dark ambiguous shadows. They create soft, diffused light, which is great for bathing your subject in a flattering even light, which is the last thing you want in horror lighting. The lighting needs to be pretty harsh so don’t even think about soft boxes or umbrellas. Indoors you are going to need some powerful lights and outdoors you are going to need more powerful lights so it’s probably easier to do day-for-night shooting indoors during the day – and any month when the 13th falls on a Friday! Harsh Light The other benefit is the camera works best with the gain turned down and it’s just a lot easier to shoot in daylight. Hollywood shoots in daylight so that crewmembers can see while they’re working and they don’t have to work at night and earn overtime. Shoot in broad daylight, turn down the camera and turn up the lights. Yep, day-for-night shooting is an old Hollywood trick. This can work because you turn down the gain on your camcorder to get “darkness” and bring in lights for exact shadows. The first thing you need is darkness and the best way to get that is to shoot at night or better yet in a well-lit room, which to your camcorder, can be just about every room in the house. Shadows on a subjects face help imply mystery. Noir lighting is known for harsh light that skims across a face. Unlike acting where there’s a fine line between a great performance and overacting, horror film lighting is always expected to be over-the-top, so let’s get started. With a little experimenting, you can get lighting to do whatever you want. The best way to do that is with lighting because unlike walls, furniture and people, production lighting is easily manipulated and doesn’t put up a fuss when you want it to be dramatic. Filmmaking is fun and horror movies are no exception, it’s all about creative expression, letting go and creating the unexpected. ![]() You just need to understand light, color and placement of shadows for that spooky effect that garners goose bumps every time. Setting up horror film lighting is fun and easy. All it takes, with a little practice, is a few well placed lights armed with color gels and an assistant to jiggle things around a bit. And it doesn’t always take any specialized lighting equipment or lighting studio. ![]() Mix in an abrupt splash of harsh light skimming across a face and the audience will release all that tension in a sudden burst of emotions. A subtle blink of red light that vanishes as quickly as it appears mixed with a dash of blue ambient is all the ingredients a director needs to force the audience into a state of tension. This is noir lighting that’s incredibly fun to do and is an effective way to promote a sense of mystery or imminent doom in horror movie effects.Ī skilled director or special effects designer can evoke these emotions in the audience with a simple flicker of light or slight movement of a shadow while the audience doesn’t even realize they are under a spell. It never gets old does it? Well neither does classic horror film lighting where everything is hidden in deep, ambiguous shadows and what is revealed is projected in hard, contrasty light. You know, sneaking up behind them and dangling a squiggly rubber worm on a shoulder or blasting out of a closet just to see them nearly jump out of their shoes. What’s more fun than scaring the heck out of your friends. ![]()
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