Lighting Affects Genre

Rom-Com

To try and achieve a picture that followed the genre of a romantic comedy I used a bright white back light as well as incorporating the midday sun.

The picture would have achieved the genre more effectively if I were to add a key light and a fill light but due to a lack of light sources I own I couldn't. This would have enabled me to produce high key lighting and would have been much more effective as it would prevent shadows upon the subject's face.

However, the picture does portray an upbeat scene and I therefore think it achieved what I aimed for. 

Horror

To begin with I lit several candles so that I would get an orange flickering light on the subject's face. This would have been much more effective in a video as it would light particular objects which could help the viewer depict the storyline whilst also building tension. However, after reviewing the photos I thought there was too much light to make the image look mysterious and therefore it wouldn't have the desired affect of making the viewer wary and frightened. 

I then tried using a completely dark environment and used a key light that projected a bright white light on one side of the subject's face. This then created shadows and achieved a low key lighting chiaroscuro effect. As shown above, this was much more effective. 

Sci-Fi 

Seeing the results from the previous shoot, I understood the illusions shadows could create. Using this information I set up a completely darkened room and shone a light from beneath the face of the subject so that particular features would  be elongated and therefore make them no longer look human. 

I also experimented with a different coloured light to see how it gives a supernatural, more sinister effect. I placed the light shown below in a key light position so that the picture would appear to have a filter applied.

UPDATE: In class we used different coloured lenses and experimented with them to see how they affect how the subject is perceived within the frame. In the image below the creature appears to be gruesome. The colour red gives the setting of a thriller genre because the scene looks morbid and dangerous.