Cinematography Series: ZODIAC (Motivated Lighting)

Last topic in cinematography, "motivated lighting." This is an interesting topic, something we're usually not even aware of and yet is at the heart of the artifice of filmmaking. "Motivated" means that the lighting in the shot is motivated by some lights going on in the actual narrative of the movie. The classic example is when people are sitting around a campfire. The lights on the characters faces will flicker. The interesting thing is that flickering light is not actually coming from a real fire, it's recreated using a "flicker box" whose job is to make the spotlights flicker like a fire.

Another example is when a character is holding a candle, the filmmakers shine a small light at the character's face to make it look like it's coming from the candle. Another example is when it's raining, they'll making it look like something is streaming in front of the lights. The point is in every one of these cases what you think is natural lighting is actually FAKE made to recreate what it would look like in real life. Isn't that interesting?

Another kind of motivated lighting is simply when the quality of the light lighting the scene mimics the lights *in* the scene. A room with fluorescent lights will be lit more harsh or with a greenish cast, characters in a sunset will be lit more red, all of it is fake.

We'll watch Zodiac (2007). It's one of the creepiest movies ever made, and it's filled with motivated lighting. And it should lead us to an interesting conversation, because it really lies at the intersection of art and reality--the lighting in the movie is motivated, and yet it's artificial *chosen* for its mood. What IS a movie? What's it mean to "recreate reality"?

Zodiac was shot by Harris Savides. Directed by David Fincher.

Most of these movies will be available on any streaming service, or as always you can find a (free) link here:

https://gregoryberry.net/cinematography

We will meet on Friday, July 11, 2025, at 8PM, at LEANING TOWER OF PIZZA at 24th Street and Lyndale, same as always. See you there!