[Perry] Importance of Lighting in Description

There’s a lot of cross-….pollination? That can be done between the art of filming/photography and the art of writing.

I’m more than reasonably sure that’s not the right word to use, but it’s the word I’m using for now, so there.

But regardless, I think there’s a lot that the study or the examination of these other disciplines can do to benefit your writing, or at least, your ‘writing eye.’

Here’s a specific example.

Recently, I stumbled upon this short, 5 second video.

What it is, is a brief look at a woman’s face as the lighting changes to come from various different directions and various different intensities.

I was struck by how different her face and her expression looked. The same woman and the same face, looking totally different because the light was bright and shining from below, or shining from above with her head tilted down slightly.

You can even pause this short video at any point and see a completely different face on her, just due to the light.

And I began to wonder how often I’d overlooked that descriptor, simply because it hadn’t really occurred to me.

I mean, yeah, I’ve used the device where someone walks slowly into a room and the shadows slide away from their face, revealing them for who they are, right?

But have I really delved into all the different things that shadows can do to someone’s features? Have I really taken a look at the impact light can have on someone’s expression? The way it can soften the hard edges of their face? Or how it can accentuate the sharp lines and tense look?

No, I can’t say I have.

And if I had to single out any reason as to why that is? It would be because it simply hadn’t ever occurred to me to really do so. To really explore just HOW much the different direction of light can change the way someone looks.

Until now, that is. After having seen that short clip, I can’t help but wonder what else I’m missing, simply because I wasn’t aware it exists.

Here’s another example: Movement.

In this article from Kotaku, they detail a brief test given to people applying to become animators for Toei, a fairly prominent Japanese animation studio.

In it, they’re asked to depict several key frames of a boy using a heavy sledge hammer to hit something.

The simplest answer, as you’ve probably guessed, isn’t quite the correct one, and the video embedded in the article goes through the thought process of what they’re really being asked to consider, which is the basics of human movement.

It’s something I don’t tend to think too deeply on. And I’m not saying we should all go out and include EVERY single detail we can think of.

No, I can’t help but think that would only lead to a cluttered, description heavy work that wouldn’t be appealing to read at all.

But thinking a little more deeply about these things? I can’t help but feel that it would allow us to add the occasional small detail. Nothing overt or overwhelming, but here and there, to help lend authenticity to our descriptions.