Techniques - Lighting

Another important technique that Christopher Nolan uses in his films is lighting. Christopher Nolan uses lighting to help to demonstrate the state of mind that a character is in and forces you to think about what may be going on inside the mind of the character that he is focusing on. This use of lighting helps to re-enforce the psychological themes that are often present in his films and forces more on the characters actions and think about the relationship between the characters actions and the thoughts and ideas behind those actions.

In the film Insomnia, Nolan uses a large amount of dark lighting which reflects the darker nature of the film such as the reason for the main character, Detective Wil Dormer and his partner Detective Eckhart coming to the remote location of a small isolated town in Alaska being to assist with the investigation of the murder of a teenage girl, as well as the fact that Detective Dormer shoots his partner and tries to cover it up. In the scene that shows the incident in which Detective Dormer shoots Detective Eckhart, the lighting is relatively dark and it is filmed in fog, therefore preventing us from seeing who Detective Dormer has shot until he gets closer and discovers it was Eckhart. When the scene is revisited as a flashback later in the film the lighting appears to be changed slightly and we can see detective Eckhart. This causes us to wonder whether Detective Dormer could actually see Detective Eckhart when he shot him or whether he couldn’t see him, therefore re-enforcing the psychological theme of the film as we are essentially put in Detective Dormer’s mental position and forced to decide whether the shooting was deliberate or not. A second way in which Christopher Nolan uses lighting to reflect Detective Dormer’s state of mind is when close up shots of Dormer are taken after he has shot Detective Eckhart often use dark lighting around him with only a small bit of light around his face. An example of this is when Nolan shows Dormer in his hotel room trying to sleep and the room around him is dark, however there is some light coming through the blinds on his window that partly illuminates his face, at this point Nolan cross cuts to a flashback of the incident in which Dormer shoots Eckhart and we are given reason to believe that the dark lighting of the room reflects Dormer’s state of mind as a result of shooting Eckhart and that the light coming through his window triggers his memory of the shooting which is a memory that he is desperately trying to forget.

The film Batman Begins is characterized by a large amount of dark lighting which reflects the more sinister nature of the film in the sense that it is largely based around one individual fighting to bring down a large number of people who want to needlessly harm innocent people. The fact that Bruce Wayne’s alternative character Batman carries out his actions at night, when it is dark, means that the lighting for most of the film needs to be dark simply to reflect the time of day. The use of dark lighting also reflects the idea that the identity of Batman needs to remain secret from the other characters in the film in order to prevent him from being identified and essentially reflects the idea that Bruce Wayne is keeping the residents of Gotham City “in the dark” about his secret identity as Batman in order to live the lifestyle that he expected to live due to his status in the community.

In The Prestige Nolan uses lighting to create atmosphere in many scenes. Due to the time period in which the film was set (The beginning of the 20th century) the lighting in outdoor scenes is relatively dark due to the amount of pollution due to the use of fires as the main form of heating and due to the fact that street lighting was a relatively new idea. The lighting is deliberately dark in many of the outdoor scenes, particularly later on in the film as the rivalry between the two main characters, Robert Angier and Alfred Borden intensifies. Many of the outdoor scenes involve one of the men secretly pursuing the other in order to either spy on them or attack them, with the dark lighting used to create a sinister mood in those parts of the film as well as building suspense as you wonder what will happen next. Lighting is also used in scenes that show one of the men reading the others stolen diary in order to reflect what they may be thinking about what they are reading or the message that is being conveyed by the diary entry. One of the best uses of lighting in the film is the lighting that is used in the final scenes in which Angier and Borden meet for the last time, the room that they are in is completely dark but both men’s faces are illuminated by the light of a lamp that Angier was holding when Borden shot him that is now on the ground. The light in the otherwise dark room casts a shadow over both men’s faces as they talk about their rivalry has caused them to do in their lives and the terrible sacrifices that they were both forced to make. The way the lighting has been used places more light on Borden and less on Angier, causing us to think that it is Borden who is in the position of power and should be looked upon as the hero in a sense, whilst Angier will die a worthless death that was fueled by his constant obsession with out-doing Borden by any means.