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
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