If the cinematographer doesn’t get the lighting right, the “tone” of the scene is not right and the film loses the impact it should have had on the audience.įor the first scene, if it had been daylight when the time machine was revealed, the dramatic feel would have been lost. Lighting can be interpreted the same way. For example, someone could say the exact same thing two different times, once with an angry tone and once with a happy tone, and you would get two completely different reactions from people. When a person speaks in a higher pitch and has a more delightful tone you assume that person is happy (high-key lighting) and when a person talks in a lower, deep tone and has a disgruntled tone you get a sense that the person is angry or upset (low-key lighting).
In my opinion, lighting in a movie is like listening to someone’s tone of voice when you speak to them.
The long range shots give you a clear view of what is going on around the chase, and allows you to see the crowd and their reaction to this dispute. After Biff gets punched, the scene moves outside and natural lighting is used. The scene starts out in the diner with high-key lighting from the overhead lights and the sunlight coming in from the large windows. Everyone in the town square watches this confrontation unfold and cheers for Marty in the end. Marty is the protagonist, and confronts Biff, the antagonist, and becomes the hero when he gets the last laugh. This scene may sound like a dramatic, confrontational scene, which is not consistent with the happy mood that high-key lighting usually portrays, but it’s a lot more than that. In the end, Marty outsmarts Biff and Biff drives into the back of a manure truck. This causes Biff and his friends to chase after Marty around the town square. Marty stands up for George and punches Biff in the face.
In a later scene, Biff, the high school bully, is picking on Marty’s father, George, in the local diner. The use of the street lights and some additional backlighting complete the three point lighting style. The key lighting helps highlight them in the dark parking lot and the fill light softens the shadows. The use of the three point lighting style becomes very evident with the medium, and medium close up camera shots of Doc and Marty.
“Dramatic scenes in films will vary the intensity and positions of the fill and back lights to suit the mood and/or to simulate the sources of light visible in the scene (table lamps, street lights, etc.)”(Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. During this scene the Delorean time machine is revealed with a bright backlight to enhance the car. The cinematographer uses low key lighting to give the scene a very dramatic and mysterious feel. One of the opening scenes takes place at night in a shopping mall parking lot. The movie is filmed with the three-point lighting style and is mostly filmed using a low-key design, which helps create a mysterious feeling that is common in the science fiction genre. There are a few scenes that have high-key lighting along with some natural lighting too. This variation helps the audience focus on different aspects of the scene and helps set the mood. Each item comes with a certificate stating its authenticity.Back to the Future uses a variety of lighting techniques throughout the film. These elements have been double mounted and placed within a beautiful black wood frame. This item contains clips of film, an image portraying the movie(s), artist(s) or character(s) and a stunning descriptive plaque. Please note, the cells may vary from piece to piece because they are hand selected from reels of film. The film strip portrayed in the image above is only an example of the film cells you may receive. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. But the very act of meeting them changes the course of history, and Marty realizes that unless he can get things back to normal, he'll cease to exist.Ĭast: Michael J. Marty heads back to the 1950s, where he meets his parents (Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover). Marty befriends an eccentric scientist (Christopher Lloyd) and is given the opportunity to travel back in time in a souped-up DeLorean. Fox as the ever-so-slightly nerdy but still popular high-school student Marty McFly. This product is also available with a back light, for more information, please click hereĭirector Robert Zemeckis scored a huge hit with 1985's Back to the Future, which stars Michael J.