Chiaroscuro lighting

Chiaroscuro Lighting in Film Noir





Chiaroscuro is used in film, particularly film noir and other styles of black and white film, to create distinct areas of light and dark. Chiaroscuro is a technique most commonly found in films from the early film noir period. However there are several modern films that use chiaroscuro lighting. For example the film 'Sin City' uses this type of lighting through out. Chiaroscuro lighting can be used to establish the mood and feel of a scene. If the scene is very light with only small patches of dark this could be a technique to representation good, if the scene was primarily dark this would be a representation of evil. Instead of having a whole shot completely light, small areas of dark are used to emphasise the light and visa verse with dark and light; this is another technique using chiaroscuro common in film.