I thought throughout this film there was a strong use use of indoor natural lighting as well as artificial, to replicate the probable lighting of a Parisian apartment. The characters of Paloma and Madame Michelle discover similarities between them. Paloma is a girl who feels trapped into a destiny she doesn't want to realize, and Madame Michelle lives a quiet unnoticed life hiding herself from the world, behind the shadow of a widowed janitor, until their paths cross.
It seemed to me that in all shots of Madame Michelle's apartment, the lighting used is very obviously artificial and high-key as you would expect it to be, it appears to make her skin very pale and tired looking, except for when we finally discover her "hiding place" which is her personal library. In this particular room, there is the use of the diagetic & low key lighting of a single lamp. This light is very warm looking as you can see from the movie still above, which is quite a significant change compared to the other areas of her apartment. I see this room as being the heart of Michelle's character. This is the place she comes to to hide from the rest of the world (like the hedgehog she's compared to by Paloma) to be herself through reading about other worlds. The use of low key lighting reflects her reluctance to share much of her secret place to others, simultaneously as showing the small yet strong glowing warmth of her true, elegant character that is costumed in prickly spikes and unseen by most people. It also gives her apartment for once, an actual warm, homely feel.
Becoming Jane
I picked this movie to briefly analyse for lighting as I felt, whilst watching it- the brightness was one of they key aspects that I liked about it and that stood out to me my first time watching the film.
In general, I thought the lighting was designed to replicate that of a natural, rural environment in the English country side through the use of diagetic lighting, as this is where Jane Austen lived during the age she is presented in the movie. As a result the bright and raw looking lighting seemed to also brighten the characters faces and highlight rosy refreshed faces living in such a peaceful and country area. There was also quite a repetative use of low key lighting creating an effect of light and shadow in many of the scenes. However, although the lighting remains fairly natural throughout the movie, at certain points in the movie particularly when the characters are going through something emotionally difficult the brightness of it seems to depict a cold and still atmosphere rather than the simple fresh atmosphere of the country side of Hampshire- the colours of the clothing play a vital role in this as well.
Clip extract 1- Insult of the smiling face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnEKQD1fS20&feature=channel&list=UL
Within this scene, the audience is led to believe the lighting source are the candles scattered around the room and centre piece to the table. However it seemed to me, that there is a use of overhead lighting here, due to the unusual brightness of the guests at the table in contrast to the other areas of the dining room. The purpose of this could be to replicate the probable other source of lighting in the scene- perhaps a chandelier, but also to draw attention to the guests at the table. I think this attracts the eye naturally to their faces through the use of low-key overhead lighting and therefore to the conversation and reactions of each character to one another. Also, after watching the special features of this movie, it is mentioned by the costume designer how the colour choices for the costume were made to stand out or at least not blend in with the background colours, further drawing the viewers attention to the characters and maintain their visual interest.
Clip extract 2 - Jane and Tom Elope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOMIZUsKlmg&feature=relmfu
I thought there was great significance within this clip of lighting, particularly the section of the extract where the sun is rising as the characters Jane and Tom run away. Although the time of morning they eloped would make sense realistically, the way the director has chosen to have the diagetic light source of the sun in the shot sequence shows significance of the two lead characters- Jane and Tom having another chance at being togther, as previously there was a scene potentially desroying all hope the audience had, and now the sun is symbolism for that hope rising again. It also shows quite a transition between the lighting within the Austen house and the lighting outside where "the love of her life" waits. During the sequence of shots where Jane is seen packing her belongings there is quite a lot of shadow in contrast to the bright and hopeful lighting of the following sequence. The fact that the sun is so bright, results in almost a silhouette outline of both characters as they run away, creating a very romantic use of back lighting.
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