The Importance Of Lighting In Casablanca
Film Essay In the movie Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz, lighting plays an integral part in displaying an underlying tone of what is being portrayed in the scenes. The lighting in the bar is consistently bright except when there is a spotlight focusing the viewer’s attention to a specific character. When we see the outside of Rick’s bar at night there is always searchlights roaming looking for criminals. In the Final scenes of the movie, shadows cover the eyes of Bogart letting us in on the darkness that he harbors inside. Tone in a black and white movie is heavily influenced by lighting. Tone is the viewer’s peek into the writer or director’s line of thought and attitude toward the subject they are trying to portray to the viewer (McMahan et al. 493). Lighting in a movie can draw the eyes of the viewer to a specific place on the screen, or it can shadow something allowing it to be absorbed into the back and disappear. The amount of light shown, where the light is focused and the shadows are all integral parts of the visual ambiance that is created for the viewer to behold. In watching the movie, I see that my eyes are drawn to the lightest places on screen and the shadows mimic the importance
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or the non-importance of the characters presented.
When the first scenes of Rick’s Place are shown in Casablanca the bar is lit brightly. It is a crowded scene and people are in the midst of various dealings trying to sell things, drinking, looking forlorn about their precarious situation as refugees, but all lit for the viewer to see clearly. When Sam, the bar singer played by Dooley Wilson, starts to play a song a spotlight appears on Sam and the rest of the bar gets dark. The viewer can only see Sam and the ambiance of the bar is set as a music filled escape in Morocco. The spotlight only shining on Sam singing highlights what the director wants the viewer to see, to be enveloped by the song and the bar in the background to become lost. When the lights brighten to the scene of the full bar then the characters that are going to be introduced can be seen. The light is the determining factor of what can and cannot be seen.
The illumination of searchlights on the outside of Rick’s bar also continue to bring an overall tone of being watched, even on the outside of the bar. There are scenes outside of the bar at night and a roaming spotlight is constantly seen sweeping the side of the building. In my life I have seen many sweeping spotlights at night being shown by police officers looking for criminals or suspicious activity in the darkness on the night. The fact that these lights are searching the outside of Rick’s Bar shows us that the authority, like the police, are looking for criminal activity. Since the lights are seen directly on the building someone must be holding it letting us know that they are watching.
Within the veil of shadow, our main character Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, says goodbye to the love of his life Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman.
The director is careful to position the hats of the various characters to cast shadows on their faces in different places according to scene. Ilsa’s hat is more on the side of her head so that her face is mostly illuminated and visible. Rick’s shadows seemed to be manipulated by the mood of whatever is going on in the specific scene. When Rick is killing the German soldier his eyes are dark under shadow of his brim. When he is confessing his love to Ilsa, the shadow is gone. We can fully see his love for her because the shadow is gone. Once he says goodbye to her his eyes are once again in the darkness of the
shadow.
Throughout the move Casablanca lighting plays a major role in conveying a message to the viewer about the tone the director is trying to portray. We see this from the beginning of the movie with the brightness of the bar, the purposeful use of spotlights, and the use of shadows. Throughout the movie lighting continues to be an integral part of telling the story.
Works Cited
Casablanca. Dir. Michael Curtiz. Screenplay by Julius Epstein, Philip Epstein, and Howard Koch. Perf. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Warner Bros., 1942. DVD.
McMahan Elizabeth, Susan Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman. Literature and the Writing Process. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2014. Print.
or the non-importance of the characters presented.
When the first scenes of Rick’s Place are shown in Casablanca the bar is lit brightly. It is a crowded scene and people are in the midst of various dealings trying to sell things, drinking, looking forlorn about their precarious situation as refugees, but all lit for the viewer to see clearly. When Sam, the bar singer played by Dooley Wilson, starts to play a song a spotlight appears on Sam and the rest of the bar gets dark. The viewer can only see Sam and the ambiance of the bar is set as a music filled escape in Morocco. The spotlight only shining on Sam singing highlights what the director wants the viewer to see, to be enveloped by the song and the bar in the background to become lost. When the lights brighten to the scene of the full bar then the characters that are going to be introduced can be seen. The light is the determining factor of what can and cannot be seen.
The illumination of searchlights on the outside of Rick’s bar also continue to bring an overall tone of being watched, even on the outside of the bar. There are scenes outside of the bar at night and a roaming spotlight is constantly seen sweeping the side of the building. In my life I have seen many sweeping spotlights at night being shown by police officers looking for criminals or suspicious activity in the darkness on the night. The fact that these lights are searching the outside of Rick’s Bar shows us that the authority, like the police, are looking for criminal activity. Since the lights are seen directly on the building someone must be holding it letting us know that they are watching.
Within the veil of shadow, our main character Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, says goodbye to the love of his life Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman.
The director is careful to position the hats of the various characters to cast shadows on their faces in different places according to scene. Ilsa’s hat is more on the side of her head so that her face is mostly illuminated and visible. Rick’s shadows seemed to be manipulated by the mood of whatever is going on in the specific scene. When Rick is killing the German soldier his eyes are dark under shadow of his brim. When he is confessing his love to Ilsa, the shadow is gone. We can fully see his love for her because the shadow is gone. Once he says goodbye to her his eyes are once again in the darkness of the
shadow.
Throughout the move Casablanca lighting plays a major role in conveying a message to the viewer about the tone the director is trying to portray. We see this from the beginning of the movie with the brightness of the bar, the purposeful use of spotlights, and the use of shadows. Throughout the movie lighting continues to be an integral part of telling the story.
Works Cited
Casablanca. Dir. Michael Curtiz. Screenplay by Julius Epstein, Philip Epstein, and Howard Koch. Perf. Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Warner Bros., 1942. DVD.
McMahan Elizabeth, Susan Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman. Literature and the Writing Process. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2014. Print.