Un eashing Terror
<< Through Lighting
Cinemat ographers discuss sorne of the strategies
and tools they use to frighten audiences.
lntroduction by Stephen Pizzello
ear of the dark is a nearly universal neurosis - it's why
smaU children plead for a nightlight at bedtime, and why
even levelheaded grownups might hesitate to descend
an unlit staircase. Filmmakers seeking to terrify audi-
ences know this, of course, and are ready to exploit our
common trauma trigger for ali it's worth. lronically, thcir
main weapon is light.
Tbe makers of suspense and horror films can choosc from a wide
rangc of techniques to establish an ominous ambience and ratchet np
momcnts of terror. Strategically directional lighting, silhouettes, spot-
lighting, underexposure, projected shaclows, the creepy placement of
practical sources, and washing the frame wiU1 saturated colors are all
ractics that can make viewers cower and watch a scene through their
38 / OCTOBER 2023
))
fingers. Whether the apprehensionis caused by a lightning sto1m (Fran-
kenstein, shot by Arthur Edeson, ASC and Paul !vano, ASC), a backlit
shower curtain (Psycho, John L. Russell Jr., ASC), eeri.ly illuminated fog
(The Exorcist, Owen Roizman, ASC), a flashlight imder the bedcovers
(Don'L Be Afraid o/ the Dark, Oliver Scapleton. BSC) or the tlick of a wall
switch (Lights Out, Marc Spiccr, ACS), the selectíve use oflight and shad-
ow is a key tactic fo,r raising pulse rates.
ASC member Roy H. Wagner, a dneaste who began his carcer with
frightfests such as Witchboard, Retum to Horror High and A Night:mare on
Elm Street 3: Dream Waniors, knows a thing or two about umnerving au-
cliences this way. Mln a movie, where the shadows are is where the audi-
ence doesn't want to be," he says. "\Vhat kind of person walks into a dark
room and doesn't r,each for a light? But if you put the main character in
 Opposlte page, clockwlse from lop left. Lights Oul (2016),
Psycho (19601. The Others (2001) and The lnnacenls (1961)
all use light to lerrlfylng effect Thls page Roy H. Wagner, ASC
eyes a shot wlth actor Robert Englund (portraying horror ícon
Freddy Krueger) on the sel of A N,ghtmare on Elm Street 3:
Dream Wi,mors (19871
the líght and surround that person with shadows. the aud ience insúnc-
tivcly wantsto know what's going on in that darkness.
"On Elm Streec 3, the biggest mandate I had with Freddy Krueger
(piayed by Robert Englund] was to not ler thc audience seehimfully,~ he
says. '·Exposure was crlrically important on that character, because we
didn't want the audience to be able to ldentify too much of who he was.
Jf you revea! ·h im completely, the audience can relax a little. But lf d1ey
can't figure him out, be's scarler. rt's like in real lite, if you meeL someone
ª''
( \.. and they aren't giVi.ng you any sígnals about whether thcy Jil<c you or
fa
'11ot. lt keeps you off balance, and it can make you uneasy."
Terror tacrics vary depending on the intent or the gcnre, bur Wagner
~ ieels that sorne younger fümmakers fail to recognize the importance of
g visual symbolism. and how to use it properly. ·'Man y of them tend to em-
~ ,.,. u late what other pc()ple have done, while not rruly 1.mderstanding why ir
r~ .was done lhat way," he says. "Tbey just know that lt's effectlve, whícb is
5. il why we have so many copycat movies now.
~] "Sorne of tbose movies are like fuohouse rides, with Jots of Jump
i
~ sea.res," Wagner ndds. ·•But the problem wlth Lhos:e types of pictures Is
g< ;-~ that tbey often rely heavily on postprodLtction sound andmusic in order
~ ;§ LO make them work. lf you watcb them wlLhout sound, they're not scary
~ ;:'. at all - Jt's all jusi Jump cuts and shricking musical cucs. Fllms Ukc thal
:e~ "' ~ don't t.ake advamage of tbe dassical, subll.m.ina1 :use of strateg!es llke
tJJ. ~
~ ~ lighr, shadow. colorand composltion to frlghten }'OU. Personally, I p1•efer
~ g crearing the lónd ofpsychological tension tha.t has you dreadingwhar·s
trl t; coming.''
ge::
~! Asked co cite a few films that used tighting to creare especially ef-
o.."' fectlve m.oments of arudety, Wagner is qukk ro mention T11e lnnocents
~~
< . (1961). sh ot in widescreen Cinemascope by Fredclic Francis, BSC. "When
~~ Oeborab Kert's character is walking through that h0use at níght, the
ou. "'i=' normal Lhing to do would be m start sbadowing the hard sides of the
> o
~s
"' UJ
frame so you would.n't see the whole CínemaScope frame. But Francis
g o and the director. Jack Clnyton. did somethíng really inreresting: 'l'hey
o~ allow you to see the whole frame, butthcy only show you what they want
~ g¡
< w you to see.. So. there are things in tbe frame lhat are out of focus, or
o.."'
w o..
e -;;i_ slightmovemcnt in thc background, wbích makes you wonder if therc·s
~ g something back there or not - and that is powerful, because now you're
a. ....
o o in tite room wtth her. If those sbots bad been just tight dose-ups of her
z ¡;:
º6 face, you might have thought it was just her neurosis kicking in. But the
"' :;¡:
~ ~ filmmakers are saylng, ' l'mgoing to allow you to think that d,ere's really
~ ! something there.' So, when they cut to a s bot where there's a sbadow
· v~hat kind of person walks into e dark
room and doesn't reach for a light?"
a1 the end oí the hall, as an audience member you think, 'Th.ls is scary
- l'm bcing p layed."'
The Exorcisc (1973) is another film Wagner feels is ldeally litand struc-
turcd to disturb the audience progrcssively. ".In thc downstairs part of
che bouse, everything looks nice andnormal," he says. "Butwhen you
go up the stalrs. it gers a ble darker. and wheD you gó into [Linda l31alr's
character] Regan's bedroom. that cold, green-blue color immediat~y
tells you. ít's not safe In there - even with Catbolic priests leading thc
y.,ay."
Wagner also mentlons The Ochers (2001), shoL by Javier Aguirresarobé,
ASC, AEC, as a pidure that spooked him with its lightlng Strategi,es. "fn
tbat movie, the light is a character." he says. "The movie wouldn't really
work if il was lit normally, buL by líghtlng for shadows, the cinematog-
rapber crcates tbe inference that's something's not right. ft's unsettling
for Lhe audíence, and it's unreleming. When the characters go oucside
house, it's a dlffer!f!nt world. To me, it's one of the best cxamples l've
tfi'-'
evsr
seen of.filmmakers usJ.ng light to scare tbe audience. Jt's nor Rembrandt
llghtJng, or Gothic llghtlng; lt's a falrly even. dark-lookfng film. lt's very
subtle - and very effective."
Ln addition to establlshing atmosphere, llghtlng can be deployed for
many other purposcs - induding misdircction, by cxploiting familiar
rues. ''Jf you light someone to look normal, lt puts che audience at ease,"
Wagner observes. "Or you can go the other \,\•ay and light a c.haracter ro
lpok like a villain, even if it turns out they're not. Those chokes are n.oc
always In the script, so ir becomes a decision you make on the set -
whether to light frorn a low angle w a .h igh angle, and whcre you posi-
tion tbe dark area:s of a trame.
"A lot depeods on how a story Is structured," he adds. "With movies.
ic's ali about intention - it's never about reality. so U1e scenario doesn't
necessanly have to work according co logic. Sometlmes, che more illogi-
cal it gets, the better it is. That's especially true of lighting. If you·re dcal-
ingv.ri.th a character an.d yougo inside their mind, the normal rules don't
apply - it's your perception of where that cnaracter is at that point ín
time, and maybe they're unbalanced or their perspectlve is unreliable.
Or, you can light something to create a normal set of expcctatlons for the
viewers, and then take it away from them to freak them out. Once you
establlsh a paltem for Lbe audlence. lfyou suddenly break :Lhat patrem.
you're going to make the.m feel amctous:·
In Lbe following pages. flve more dnematographers detall s tr-acegies
they"ve used on recent fe-atures ro give viewcrs goosebumps.
OCTOBER 2023 / 39
UNLEASHING TERROR THROUGH LIGHTING
The Blackening l"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"
By Míchael Kogge
The genre h ybrid The 8/ackening mixes elements of horror with race-con-
scious cornedy: A group of co11ege friends plans to spend the Juncteentb
holiday at a cabin in the foresr, where they contend with a killer who
seems to have stepped out of a horror film.
Jokes abound, and director Tiro Story is well known for comedies like
Barbersltop (AC Oct. '02) and Ride Along, butTodd A. Dos Reis, ASC was
keen ro avoid shooting ·11te Blackening like a comedy. lnstead, horror
dassics like Tire Exor cist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, along with
the more recent Tite Strangers and Don'l Brcathe, served as inspi.rations.
#A Little Claust rophobic"
"When Tirn and I started talking about this, becausc he's a master of
comedy, I told him I was not going to have any cornedy-lighting tropes
for tb.is film - I was shooting this as straight horror ora very dark
drama," says Dos Reis. M There are literally no ,vide, bright, mulri-charac-
ter shots w ith a bunch of physical cornedy. lt was more tight - 1wanted
the frame to be a little daustrophobic.."
40 / OCTOBER 2023
Leaving Story ancl thc actors to bring out the comedy, Dos Reís cm-
ployed many techniques he had mastered shooting music v ideos and
scripted television shows to creare t he dark, claustrophobic look of '1'11e
Blackeníng. "No matter what the situation, I lean more toward the dark
sidet the cinematographer says. "l like to deal with pools of light a nd try
to !et darkness take over the majority of the trame. 1like to see eyes no
maner how dark the room is, so I always play with the eye light; I feel like
if 1can see an eye, 1 can see the actor and I can see the character."
Dos Reis routinely pushed the boundaries of w hat the show's Red
Ranger Monstro 8K W camera could capture. He recalls, "My Dl'I' would
say, 'Todd, 1 think you're a lirtle dark in the shadows, I think you need to
bring it up.' I would say, 'Don·t be afraid of Lhe dark. What would Gordon
Wtllis say?!"'
On Location in LA.
The production schedule for The Blackening was 20 days, none on stu-
dio soundstages. Most of the L.A.-based shoot took place on location
at a house in Brentwood and a house in West Adams. The Brentwood
house was used for ali exteriors, and also had a game room, Living room
and kitchen where much of the story unfolds. With Httle space to hiele
 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHERTHEASC.COM

T ech Spécs: 1.ss:1

I
Cameras Red Ranger Monstro.8K vv
Lensés .I Ar rl/Zeiss Masúw PrÍm&

ligbting rigs, Dos Reís rclicd primarfly on thc rrack lighting already ln- As for the suspcnscful momcnts in The Blackening, ''I just let the ac-
s talled In the celüng. Tomake each scene vlsually distinct, be'd add Rosco tors bandle il. I don'l think it's about special lfghtlng. Because l do tertd
1/i CTB and flull CTB to the MR16 bu lbs In th e trackUgbting. ~Evcry time toward rhc dark sldc, you can't see w h at's coming - you somctimes
1 bacl to reuse tbe same locatíon, 1 chaoged tbe lighting, which also for- have crouble seeing in dark corners or even aroundsorneone's shoulde.r.
w-t1rded the story because there was something happenlng that caused 1wan1ed t0 make it seem like thcre couJd be somebody close by, some-
the llghting change." one in an anic, someone 1n a basemen t. It's about playing with the toe
oftbe llghting curve. in the sh adowparit. andletting that scarehappen."
Lighting Strategies
In regard to lighting Black perfonners. Dos Reís notes, "I started out
llghting music videos fo r rap art:ists and R&B artists, so l've been light-
ingBlack people for my en tire career. l don't do anything spedal; a lot of
iL is playing reflecred light otI of varying Ulack sldn tones. Jf you have a
white person with a Black person in a scenc, obviously, you havc co ci-
ther bdng the Black person up or the white person down. Tn th.is movie,
wc bad very fcw whitc _people to bring down. bu t I thlnk it aTI worked o ut
pretty welLM
Opposíle: Targeted by a klller at a cabin in lhe woods, a group ol
fr1emls - played by (from lelt) MelVln Gregg, Grace Byers, Antolnerte
Robertson (foreground), Sinqua w,11:s Jermalne Fowler, Dewayne
"Because I do tend toward the dark side, you Perkins and X Mayo -must rely upon thelr wits to 'fUrvlve. Thls page;
can't see what's coming." Todd A. Dos Rels, ASC chucks hís framlng

OCTOBER 2023 / 41