Lighting Examples: Butterfly

Another lighting technique we were to put into practice is "Butterfly" lighting which was often used in Hollywood films of the 50's, its used to flatter the subject and make them more attractive so it would most likely have been used on female subjects. We tried to practice this by also using a female subject and our footage shows how it affects the subjects facial features as it adds shadow under the subjects cheek bones and over their eyes which illuminates the subjects face making it more striking.



Butterfly Light ex from Lewis Mercer on Vimeo.

This footage is also new wave in the fact that it is shot in high contrast monochrome that would be present in many French new wave films of the 1950-60's. The lighting highlight the subjects features in a way that makes them more attractive, which is often present in French new wave films as if there was a female actress as the subject the lighting technique would generally be used to make them look attractive. It is also used because butterfly lighting only requires a main light source which is useful for new wave films since it can be done on a small budget. A vague example of butterfly lighting would be  in Jean-Luc Godard's film "Breathless" whenever the female character is on screen.