A written analysis of the lighting in a film scene of your choice (minimum 300 words)

The movie “Only God Forgives” is described in wikipedia as a story set in Thailand, about “a drug trafficker’s (Ryan Gosling) icy mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) sends him on a mission to avenge his older brother, who was killed for beating an underage prostitute to death.”

The lighting most evident in this scene is the combination of both a red a blue toned light. This I would assume to be either fluorescent light or a high wattage light with a blue and red gel which would then be controlled in terms of intensity and direction. The lighting used is more than likely Neon light which was invented in the early 1900s, this was used mostly for adverts and marketing shoots. This movie really draws on the neon lights and uses both interior and exterior locations with a harsh neon light with a blue/red tone to illuminate an unsettling and intoxicating environment. This really connects to the overall darkness of the movie, by using these lights its able to project a moody, unsettling and ultimately sombre tone.

If we compare the shot of a bar within the movie ‘Skyfall’ the overall tone is yellow and the low lighting used creates a more sophisticated environment with elements of suspicion via the low lighting.

In contrast this bar scene has a similar level of low light but the added contrast in colour adds a real dirty, unpleasant and quite suggestive environment. I think a large part of this adds to the way the skin is represented. In the above picture the soft yellow colour adds a soft calming tone to the skin despite giving of a slightly duller vibe overall its far more neutral. Juxtaposing this is the below image which really removes any recognisable skin tone that we would expect, this perhaps takes away some of the softness to the character. As the skin tone in this shot is shiny, quite transparent and coloured in a blue fluorescent way.

I think low lighting is used within this shot, I would say that the main subjects face is quite soft due to the lack of  harsh lines and tone. I would imagine that the lighting used is pretty much all artificial, using gels to create the distinct colour difference. The background is lit with a red hue, most likely a light with lower wattage and a red gel. Giving off a darker and more eery scene. In the foreground the subject it lit with a blue hue from the front right hand side with perhaps a reflector to minimise the harsh shadow.There might also be a spot light, perhaps similar to a dido light with a green filter hitting the right side of the shot. I really like the grungy feeling of the lighting, despite having many colour and different types of lighting the overall feel is quite dark.I think the back lighting is really well created, the subjects are visible in the background but not in a dominating way. I think this is because of the low lit red hue in addition the the contrasting colour of blue which is dominant in the foreground.

I am personally really intrigued with the neon light lighting style. I think it really differs from harsh or low lighting, I think the colours in it add another dimension that would be really interesting to play around with. I love how the colours remove a sense of innocence and softness. This scene has a really dark, moody, slightly gritty vibe to it and I think the colour adds to this feeling.