Lighting (or lack thereof) is extremely important in film noir and especially so in Ida Lupino's The Hitchhiker. Please give 3 examples of instances where lighting creates meaning. Be specific in your meaning as well as how Lupino expresses that meaning on the screen. Be sure to describe fully what is inside of the frame.
Here is a link to the film--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIeFKTbg3Aw
It is in the public domain, so it's widely available online.
If you liked The Hitchhiker, you may also like this one...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tap67KjjPu8
1. Early in the film, when Emmett first enters the car, lighting is used by Ida Lupino in order to portray the danger present in his intentions. Roy is talking about how they'll get him some gas and drive him back, however Emmett does not respond, and his face is low key lit. You cannot see anything above his mouth due to the shadows, and though the mouth is the focal point because of the lighting, it does not move. This usage of lighting creates mystery and intrigue, both key components of film noir.
ReplyDelete2. Directly following the previous use of lighting, Emmett pulls out his gun on Roy and Gilbert, the two see his face for the first time, shown bright with high key lighting as he begins to assert his dominance over the two poor souls that picked him up. His face is practically the only visible object on screen, and centered in the shot his face becomes the focal point. This high key lighting puts him in charge of the car, and the rest of the narrative Lupino creates.
3. After Gilbert is forced to shoot at his friend, in the car his face is lit with low key lighting, creating a trap for him. He is lost and frustrated with the situation he has been put in, searching for answers. The low key lighting represents the fear among Roy and Gilbert on their seemingly never ending journey.
1. In the beginning title sequence Ida Lupino uses the lack of light to portray the genre of the film. It presets us with expectations for what to expect from the film. The moving headlights in the beginning sequence is the long light we see before the transition to the harsh lighting on grass. Both of these images show up that the genre of the film is dark and implies the meaning of mystery because we are deceived by what we see. Are they headlights? The next shot shows a car pulling up and coming to a jerking stop and it shows a person coming out of the car with hard light and the distinctive shadow. This introduces us to the plot.
ReplyDelete2. In the next shot when Emmett enters the car for the first time you can see the lighting portray the impending danger from the first moment we see him which is in a closed frame around his feet with harsh lighting. in this shot we see that this character is suspicious because of the dark lighting and the shadow that extends from his body making him seem even darker and more ominous. In the next shot we see his shoulder in the screen. Lupino did this on purpose to portray this characters importance. Not only that, but the shoulder is completely silhouetted and shows him in perspective to the car. When he puts out him thumb hailing the car it covers the cars image and shows a superiority of Elliott to the car and even then shows the control he has over the car and the people in it.
3. In the scene where Elliott forces them to pull over in order to display his shooting skills and to force the other boys into an awkward situation. The director changes the light from the hard lighting of before to soft lighting in the open day. After they get out of the car there is a close up of Emmett that Lupino uses to display his inner character. The soft-lighting represents a truth being told or revealed. In this case it was the reveal of the truth of Emmet's inner feelings. Here we see into or through Emmett into his inner psych. Emmetts face takes up the entire screen playing emphasis on his actions and words and how they relate to him as a person. Not only this but because of the transition in how the screen is when looking at emmett as opposed to the perspective shot. In the perspective shot there is hard lighting and the subjects are smaller telling us the way that he sees people is that they are smaller than him and that they too are dark in similar ways and he likes to pull that out of people, just like he does when making the one guy shoot at his friend.
This is mine oops
Delete1. About thirty minutes into the film, the characters are re entering the car, and the car is on a slight incline. The black car really offsets the overexposed background of the mountains and the sky, and the inside of the car is dark, almost so the viewer can’t see what is going on inside. Inside the car, Emmett doesn’t have that much light on his face, so the audience cannot see his expressions, and the two in the front are very harshly lit, so the viewers can see all of their emotions through their expressions.
ReplyDelete2. In the opening sequence, there are a bunch of establishing shots to show the viewer what’s going to happen and what genre of film it’ll be. The unknown man walking on the left side of the frame in the suit gives the shot a little bit of imbalance, a few cars drive past, all white, and the car that finally comes to pick him up is black. The shot on the ground, showing the murderers feet, with a bit of obviously cast light at his feet, he murders the girl in the car with a scream, and her things fall out. The only intentional shadows are the ones his legs cast, and the rest is just not lit.
3. In the 23rd minute of the film, the car is seen in a landscape shot, framed by the mountains and the natural surroundings. Again, most of the background is overexposed, so the black car really stands out against it’s harshly lit surroundings. The car casts an intentional shadow on the road, showing how horrible things are occurring within and no one on the outside knows.
Throughout Ida Lupino's "The Hitchhiker" underlying meanings are stitched into this film through the use of lighting or lack thereof. The use of natural lighting and shadows unveils the emotion of the film's antagonist, Emmett Myers. At first when we meet this malicious character, he is lit with a very low-key light which makes the viewer intrigued and shows what dark intents Myers may have from only a few moments of seeing this character. We can barely see any part of Myer’s face because of the high amount of shadows on screen. This first scene says a great amount about what kind of character he is because it is our first impression of him and every person in the car has a shadow on their face as well as the entire interior and exterior of the car they're driving in is black which aids to the darkness Myer possesses.
ReplyDeleteAnother moment in this film when Myer’s internal character is revealed through lighting is when the three men pull the car over for the second time shortly after a radio announcement is made about a “hitchhiker murderer”, Myers is lit with a natural lighting that also shows the sunlight beating down on his forehead. The bright light reflecting off of his forehead enlightens the viewer that Myers is anxious that he may be found out by the police because the previous light he has been lit with for the first part of the film is a very low-key light with a lot of shadows. (the kind of light commonly associated with films of the film noir style/feel.) Since he is now lit with the same kind of honest light as the other two men, it forces the viewer to believe he not only is a real person since he’s lit the same as Collins and Bowen, but that he possesses fear in this scene rather than evoking it.
Yet another scene where the type of lighting on a character foreshadows a possible end to the narrative is when the three men (Collins, Bowen, and Myers) make a stop at a closed gas station. In this scene Myer’s is examining gas pumps, when he walks through shadows that are in the form of bars. These specific shadows foreshadow his demise in prison. Lupino uses darkness and fear hand-in-hand in this film to emphasize the transition between power and weakness, specifically in Myer’s character. We see throughout the film that Myer’s character becomes more powerful at night, an example of this is near the end of the film while the men are sleeping in the woods and Collin and Bowen attempt an escape. This scene was the most suspenseful for me, and where I felt most intimidated by Myer’s character. One thing that I feel greatly influenced my fear was the fact it was set at night and that we could barely see any full faces due to the extreme low-key lighting and overuse of shadows. If this scene were to be set in the daytime I feel as if the lighting (because it coincides with the time of day throughout this film) would take away from the empathy we feel for Collin and Bowen, because darkness is one of the main elements that evokes fear in us and, specifically to this scene, it provides a layer of verisimilitude the audience experiences due to the empathy and fear we feel for Collin and Bowen.
1. The opening of the film even before we are introduced to the main characters makes a spectacular use of lighting. The sequence begins with a man walking along the side of the road during the day in the broad daylight attempting to catch a ride the lightning implies an innocent everyday interaction despite the ominus warning that was just given to us as the viewer. The man is picked up by a passing car and as it drives off the scene transitions to a new unknown location in the dead of night. From here the tire and wheel well of a car that appears to be of the same model enter and stop in the frame implying that our previous warning should have been heeded unlike this couple. The sequence continues with the death of the two and we are brought on in time to a sweeping flashlight beam reminiscent of a search light. As it sweeps across the scene our suspicions are confirmed as we see the familiar license plate from the start of the sequence. This lighting sets the plot of the film as well as building the diegesis, it tells the viewer that the person responsible is already being hunted and that this is not the first time this has occurred.
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2.Additionally when we are first introduced to our unlucky victims the two are almost in darkness except for a spotlight like point of light on the one’s chest that implies the two will meet the same fate as the couple carefully putting the viewer on edge before any apparent present danger.
3. When the three main characters stop for the night initially the shadows of the branches that Collin and Bowen are sleeping under create a latticework over the two further solidifying the prisoner and warden scenario that Meyer has created. Furthermore the light from the moon is reflected off of the river and onto Meyer making his still body appear wary and untouchable despite the fact he is likely asleep.
1. The opening of the film even before we are introduced to the main characters makes a spectacular use of lighting. The sequence begins with a man walking along the side of the road during the day in the broad daylight attempting to catch a ride the lightning implies an innocent everyday interaction despite the ominus warning that was just given to us as the viewer. The man is picked up by a passing car and as it drives off the scene transitions to a new unknown location in the dead of night. From here the tire and wheel well of a car that appears to be of the same model enter and stop in the frame implying that our previous warning should have been heeded unlike this couple. The sequence continues with the death of the two and we are brought on in time to a sweeping flashlight beam reminiscent of a search light. As it sweeps across the scene our suspicions are confirmed as we see the familiar license plate from the start of the sequence. This lighting sets the plot of the film as well as building the diegesis, it tells the viewer that the person responsible is already being hunted and that this is not the first time this has occurred.
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2.Additionally when we are first introduced to our unlucky victims the two are almost in darkness except for a spotlight like point of light on the one’s chest that implies the two will meet the same fate as the couple carefully putting the viewer on edge before any apparent present danger.
3. When the three main characters stop for the night initially the shadows of the branches that Collin and Bowen are sleeping under create a latticework over the two further solidifying the prisoner and warden scenario that Meyer has created. Furthermore the light from the moon is reflected off of the river and onto Meyer making his still body appear wary and untouchable despite the fact he is likely asleep.
1. The first instance of lightning to convey meaning is in the opening credit sequence, where the hitchhiker's shadow is cast on a road, and later where his shadow is nonexistent due to the lack of light during the night. We don't see the hiker’s face, but we understand the action from the shadow alone, as it depicts the character with his thumb out on the edge of the road. The purpose of doing so is to mask the character in order to convey a more ominous or secretive tone. The later scene, again, make the face of the character as he exits a vehicle in the dark, dropping items such as a purse. We understand that this hitchhiker is violent and in the process of committing a crime, which the pitch black darkness is synonymous with crime, as it helps cover up any noticeable actions. We still do not see the hiker’s face, but we know have some insight to the characters motives with the usage of light to help convey the meaning by using subtleties.
ReplyDelete2. About fifteen minutes in, where Emmett tests Gilbert’s accuracy by having him shoot a can out of Roy’s hand, Ida Lupino uses high key lighting on an already bright location, which parallels with the intensity and energy of the situation, where Roy’s life is in jeopardy if Gilbert cannot make the shot.
3. During the final scene, low key lighting is used to demonstrate imposing shadows on lit walls, and to provide major contrasts in the characters’ faces. During his walk, Collins moves in and out of key lights to no light at all, in a way that’s nearly rhythmic to mark the final climax. The heavy darkness provides isolation as Emmett dodges the police, and the high contrast helps illuminate features in the characters’ face, so the audience can identify their melancholy expressions as the end draws near.
1. In the scene about 7 minutes in, when Myers reveals his gun, his movement into light from shadow creates a powerful moment. His two unsuspecting victims are lit up with a single key light, but the sides of their faces remain in shadow, suggesting that they're not entirely wise to what's going on. Myers is positioned between them, all dark with the exception of his mouth, which is only partially illuminated so that we know who's talking. After he pulls the gun, he leans forward into the stark light, and his identity is revealed: He is the Emmett Myers from the papers. This simple technique allows for an effective dramatic reveal.
ReplyDelete2. 33 minutes in, natural light is used to portray trouble for both Myers and his victims. Throughout most of the film, the characters and sets are in complete darkness except for the light given off by a key light, giving them that harsh black and white noir feel. In this scene, they are lit up by the sun, which gives the characters a softer glow but makes the landscape seem bleached and unforgiving. At this time, their car has broken down so the shift in lighting represents Myers' panic at the danger to his plan, and the change from simply trying to survive the gunman to trying to survive the gunman while making it out of the desert.
3. 51 minutes in, they are still in the desert, and the sun creates harsh shadows more suited to the noir style. The three characters begin to trudge through the desert away from the camera, and the sun in front of them makes them appear black, standing out against the bright sand. Emmett, standing behind his victims, appears larger in the frame and holds the power. Just as they stand out from the desert in terms of lighting, they are out of place, out of supplies, and out of time. Emmett is growing more impatient and the situation becomes even more dangerous.
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ReplyDeleteAbout 6:33 into the movie, when the hitchhiker in the title first gets in the car, his face is totally covered by a shadow. We see a little bit of his clothes, there's a little sliver of light on his chin, but the main features, the money-makers, are totally dark. No eyes, no hair, no mouth, not even a nose. Did I forget to mention hair? There's no hair either, cause it's totally covered by a shadow. Is he a real person? Is he just a black blob? We don't know, he's totally mysterious. That's the effect the lighting in this shot gives us. When we first see him outside the car a few seconds earlier, he's also totally dark, and we can't make any features out. It gives an eerie feeling to him. It's like, what's this dude have to hide? It must be something pretty damn big (and I mean, it is tbh, his face is p ugly) to need a shadow to totally cover it up. He only emerges into the light when we see his true actions. The light is revealing him along with the story. It's a pretty cool effect. When we don't know who he is or what he's up to, he's dark. When he do, he's light (not to be racist or anything, but ya know, we're talking about light and dark here, so I just wanted to clarify. It's also 3:05 at the time of writing and I don't wanna offend anyone this early in the morning.) Besides the lighting, we also get a hint to his pretty well-organized plan from the way the shot is balanced. It is. His plan also happens to be pretty organized, and he is bam right in the friggin' middle of the frame. He is also higher up in the frame than the other two, giving him a more powerful position.
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This example, imho is a p cool example. I mean, it's around 21:50 in the movie, and besides that being a cool number, this is where he see this creepy guy get a little creepier. They just parked the car and they're gonna sleep right, but this hitchhiker has to watch them & make sure they don't run off. Cool plot point - one of his eyes doesn't fully close when he sleeps, so they can't tell if he's sleeping or not. Pretty cool, right? But wait - there's more. The director-woman makes it even cooler. There's some water around where they are, and the reflection of the little light in the scene bounces straight up on this dudes eye. It really emphasizes the eye, and totally tells you to focus right on that eye, nothing else. Not his handsome lips, or his dashingly elfish ears, his eye. It seems like the director likes to use the lighting to emphasize this guy (who tbh is already pretty emphasized by having the movie named after him, right? Right.). The result - an unforgettable creepy dude with an eye that conveniently doesn't close right (read: correctly) when he sleeps. The lighting combined with the angle of the shots and the way he takes up the majority of the frame here contributes to our feeling of the power this guy has over his hostages. The angle shows him looking down on them like he's their emperor or something.
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Gas station scene - 41:57. One of the hitchhiker's hostages puts his ring on the gas pump thingy (idk what that really is, I'm too young and naïve, so I've never seen one or bothered to think about it very much) presumably as a way for the police to hopefully see it and know which way they came. This is another cool place where the director uses the light to emphasize stuff. He places the ring down right in between the shadows, it's like a little river of light, and he's like Moses parting the red sea with the ring, except this really isn't as big of a deal as that biblical mumbo-jumbo-voodoo stuff. The lighting here really helps to emphasize how the ring helps the plot along. It gets the police closer to finding them, and the eventual capture of this hitchhiker dude. We probably wouldn't have known that this little ring on this guys big, fat, sausagesque fingers was this important if we didn't have a nice little spotlight for it.