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Feature film with no lighting?

moonshieldmedia

moonshieldmedia

Are there any good examples of films shot with little to no lighting at all?

I'lll be shooting a film that will be all handheld, almost like a stylized documentary, but it will be fictional. It seems like I would be able to get away with only using whatever natural or practical lighting that already exists in the locations. I will be shooting mostly without permits so I won't have time for lighting setups.

It mostly takes place in the day time or inside houses. The few nights scenes can be shot in publicly lit locations like parking lots. If I'm shooting with a Red One (and Red lenses), will I be able to see my actors' faces for the most part? Natural shadows in any of the scenes will be OK because I'm going for realism, but I don't want them to be completely lost and I don't want every scene to look too bland.
 
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We did our short "The Stream, The Cave, Jim, and Dave" with all available light. Blocking and camera angles were all important to place the existing light (sun) to make the shots look lit. This would be the same with nighttime existing light as well... if you have a light above the talent, shift them to the side so it illuminates one side of them and let the shadow on the other side provide some shape to the face.
 
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Not sure if it's true, but I was taught in film school that Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" was filmed using almost entirely natural light. He did this, along with jump cuts, to prove that industry standards weren't necessarily the only way to make a good film.

He did very well in using locations with big windows to light scenes successfully.
 
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Another Dogme 95 film that uses natural light is Festen. Thomas Vinterberg admitted that he needed to add lighting in a few shots, but for the most part it's natural. Good movie too.
 
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My only advice is that if you're able to pull off a great film without any extra lighting, imagine what you can do with lighting. Personally, I've always hated the use of lights. Especially when used stylistically. Not to say that I look down on those that do, but I've always preferred natural lighting. The only time I don't mind lighting is if it's there just to illuminate the scene. No special keys or fills, just there to make the place brighter.
 
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lefecious said:
Another Dogme 95 film that uses natural light is Festen. Thomas Vinterberg admitted that he needed to add lighting in a few shots, but for the most part it's natural. Good movie too.
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Festen is a must-see!
Great story, great acting, great example of using 'present' light. The night shots needed a lot of extra candles indeed, and this footages looks grainy as hell, but you accept it, because the story is good.

(I could be wrong, but I believe it's all shot on miniDV-camcorders.)
 
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knightly said:
Then it's technically not a dogme film... dogme has to be shot on 35mm film and in academy framing (Rule #9)... and the director uncredited as well.

I've heard it's fantastic though.
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It is fantastic, but I could be wrong about miniDV: maybe I'm mixing things up with 'The idiots'. (In that movie you sometimes see the other cameraman or the shadow of the camera itself... a terribly shot terrible story...)
 
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shortboy said:
My only advice is that if you're able to pull off a great film without any extra lighting, imagine what you can do with lighting. Personally, I've always hated the use of lights. Especially when used stylistically. Not to say that I look down on those that do, but I've always preferred natural lighting. The only time I don't mind lighting is if it's there just to illuminate the scene. No special keys or fills, just there to make the place brighter.
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I'm just the opposite, hate natural light. The first thing I have the grips do at a location is black out every window that's not in the shot. As you said it's a stylistic thing.
 
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WalterB said:
It is fantastic, but I could be wrong about miniDV: maybe I'm mixing things up with 'The idiots'. (In that movie you sometimes see the other cameraman or the shadow of the camera itself... a terribly shot terrible story...)
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Hey dude. My first post here, sorry any english mistakes, not my first language and still learning.

Festen was really shot on video, because the 9# rule of Dogma was changed from "shot 35mm" to "transfer into 35mm". So you can shot it on video anyway you want but you need to transfer it to film in order to show.


Another film i would to recommend in this topic is Barry Lyndon, which is filmed with all natural lights and candlelight at night (special lenses, though). Watch out for the position of the sun. You can make unbelievable scenes with this.

See you!
 
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gebo said:
Absentia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa1UJLqYeBU


From what I've read I believe it was shot entirely with natural light. Great movie.
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I have to second the ABSENTIA recommendation. Mostly natural light, though some fill lighting was used. The special features doc is one of the best I've seen. The filmmakers are very forthcoming about the minimal use of additional lighting (including a cool camera test with a JVC camera and the 5D), shooting on the Canon 5D, raising $23,000 on Kickstarter, etc. Very interesting stuff to go along with a well done movie.

The director wanted to be able to shoot in this tunnel, with existing light, so that was the initial motivation to go natural.

absentia-photo_4.jpg
 
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