The Lighting
Film Title: The Lion King
Year: 1994
Directors: Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
Writers: Screenplay-Irene Mechi, Johnathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton
In The Lion King(1994) there was different types of lighting used. There was traditional three-point lighting, high-key lighting, and low-key lighting. The traditional three-point lighting is showed in the film clip below. It is used at the beginning of the clip. The cinematographer uses the traditional three-point lighting to help create what daytime looks like in the forest with the sun raising. All the animals is going to the location to wait for the announcement. The lighting is changed to high-key lighting when Simba is raised into the air. Simba is the reason for everyone getting together and he represents good. That’s why the cinematographer change the lighting from traditional three-point lighting to high-key lighting. He wanted Simba to stand out and represent. If low-key lighting was used instead it would have taking away the joy they had for the birth of Simba. The scene below show the lightnings that was used.
In the clip below the low-key lighting was used because the cinematographer show the “extreme use of deep dark shadows, with very high contrast between the brightest parts of the scene and the darkest parts, which are obscured in shadows” (2014, sec 6.4). Scar showed his anger towards Simba. Scar wanted to kill Simba. Scar felled down into the valley and he was attacked by hyenas. The low-key lighting helps show the fear that Scar is feeling. If they would have use a different lighting it would have confused the audience. They would not have seen the madness Scar had toward Simba. They probably thought something good would have came out of the scene.
The theme of the movie “The Lion King” is the circle of life. Everyone has a place in the circle. Simba has to find his way and know where he stand in the circle of life. The traditional three-point lighting is used at the beginning of the movie when the sun rises. It signifies that someone is being born into the circle of life. The low-key lighting that was used signifies killing and fear.
The genre of “The Lion King” is action, drama, and adventure. Goodykoontz and Jacobs (2014) state that “low-key lighting is often used for intense dramatic scenes” (sec 6.4). In movies in which the genre is drama, various forms of lighting techniques are used (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, sec 6.4). In this movie all three lighting was used and you can see it in this movie. They used action and adventure to help convey the mood the characters are feeling in each scene.
References:
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
JokerTheNoNameGamer. (2012, January 31). Simba vs. Scar- lion king fight scene HD [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8nHCZqgFA8
Popeye. (2007, June 22). The lion king-circle of life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSKkKrUzUk
hardychanti 