The history of Lighting in the Cinema Industry

HISTORY OF LIGHTNG IN THE CINEMA INDUSTRY

 It is basically impossible talk about film production without mentioning the history and importance of light, which in reality, is the essence of cinema. Without it, there are no films, no exhibitions, no projections, not one inch of illumination in a dark room. Movies without music, actors and sound all exist, but we've never seen one without lighting, and for good reason. Light is the main form from which cinematographic visions are shown.

At first, film producers worked with daylight; then natural sources like candles, mirrors, fire, etc, and finally, artificial lighting. Matter of fact, Hollywood moved its main headquarters from New York to Los Angeles, mainly because on the west coast of the USA there was a stronger, clearer and more present light.

David Wark Griffith (film director) was the first use artificial lighting in his films, says Richard Blank. Cecil B. DeMille, a colleague of Griffith's, was then the one who determined the lighting rules that would be followed in Hollywood in the following decades. Additionally, DeMille created a completely new kind  of light. This happened in the 1920s, when the big studios started to have their shares traded on the stock exchange and began to be part of the establishment. At that moment, a set of rules was created to be followed in cinema, which in turn became a business. One of the rules was not to irritate the public, so that the films would be successful from a commercial point of view. Anything that was experimental was considered risky and therefore "forbidden", which makes Cecil B. DeMille a legend.

Cecil B. DeMille

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