For this project, I would research the cinematographer- Emmanuel Lubezki. I especially like the movie Birdman. In 2014, Alejandro G. Iñárritu directed the comedy ” Birdman ” starring Michael Keaton and Emma Stone, and won the 87th Academy Awards for Best Director Award. The film won the 87th Oscar Awards Best Film Award. Maybe I haven’t fully grasped the intention of the director to convey, but I think this movie is very helpful for learning film light or understanding. This movie is about a washed-up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, attempts to revive his career by writing and starring in his very own Broadway play. Birdman’s lighting struck me as impressive because I had no idea how they did it. The camera moves through the scenes giving the illusion that the film is comprised of a single shot. This means that the lighting needs to adjust and adapt to the movement between each scene and I believe Birdman does this seamlessly. Birdman is known for its long shots, seems unedited shot of several minutes or more in length. In fact, Lubezki and writer/director Alejandro González Iñárritu worked very hard to make Birdman seem like it was shot entirely in a single, continuous take. Although this movie used movie tricks and illusion to make it seems like a two-hour single shot, it still has several long shots that are difficult to shot in the real scene. Upon further research I learnt that a large portion of the lighting was manipulated digitally in post production, this included highlighting certain areas of interest, tracking objects, altering saturation.

Riggan and Jake are conversing by the door, the focus is drawn to Riggan by the overhead soft lighting. The door is merely a background piece and is quite dull and dimly lit.

Then when Lesley enters the door to join the conversation, the lighting is adjusted to draw the focus onto her, this was achieved entirely digitally.

Much of the lighting in Birdman is expressive in the sense that it reveals information or creates environments to separate settings distinctly. For example when actors are waiting to go on stage in the off-stage section, the lighting is a deep blue. I believe this is a good decision as it breaks up the monotony of the grey brick walls throughout the theater. As well as allowing for the scene to be lit enough for clarity but still remain dark enough to be of a strong contrast to the activity on the stage.
In addition, Lubezki mentioned that the lighting is very difficult because he had to hide the lighting out of the frame. He had to hide physical lighting equipment and cables out the frame, and maintain the angle of lighting source within the camera move. In this movie, more shots show with 360 degree angle of set, to maintain the lighting continually work. When they do filmmaking, his team will constantly move the lighting. They would move heavy, spotlight lamps and the gels and diffusions bouncing their light and shadows in order to maintain the illusion of a natural source within the shot.

Reference:
Jack, P. (2015). The Best Cinematography: A Look At Birdman. [online] Student Resources. Available at: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/best-cinematography-look-birdman/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2018].