Name: Cynthia Pusheck, cinematographer, Coachella (2006), Close to Home (2007), Brothers and Sisters (2011)

Situation: Given the time pressures of episodic television drama Revenge, can contrast add visual interest (eye candy) and create a mood for even the most basic shots?

Shooting a television series has a lot in common with student or independent filmmaking—you have very little time to get your coverage, and you need it to both look good and work for the story. Dynamic visuals are important for a student film because the visual style will truly distinguish your work; they’re important on a TV show to keep people from changing the channel.

Every show or project has its own visual style, which serves to tell the story and create a mood. You may choose to use a lot of close-ups in your student films. Most TV shows also feature a lot of close-ups; even though you may have shot a beautiful, visually interesting master, they’ll cut out of it pretty quickly to go to the close-up. Unfortunately, these shots don’t always use the most dramatic lighting and can start to look a bit boring and flat. It’s the DP’s job to create mood and visual interest in close-ups as well as in wide shots.

One way to do so is to use contrast—the difference between light and dark, hard and soft lighting, or cooler and warmer colors—not just on faces themselves but between faces and backgrounds. For example, a hot spot of warm sunlight streaking through an actor’s hair or across her shoulders can make a frame more compelling. In addition, positioning the camera so the lighter side of an actor’s face is framed against a darker background, or moving the camera only a few inches so that you can capture a shadow on a wall or a lovely hot slash of sunlight, will provide some visual interest to a shot that’s otherwise flat.

In using contrast, it’s also a good idea to avoid shooting actors against walls or backgrounds that don’t have any depth. Sometimes during the rehearsal of a scene you can ask the director to make a shift to the blocking that will enable you to use windows, doorways, or other items on the set to give your shots more visual drama. Or you can simply compose a close-up that puts the darker side of an actor’s face against a brighter place in the background, or vice versa. For night scenes, adding an out-of-focus practical light deep in the frame can add visual interest.

Revenge presented some major visual challenges because it’s a drama that takes place during the summer in the Hamptons, with people in white clothing, sitting on white furniture, in rooms with white walls! Despite this, we still needed to use contrast to create mood and interest in each frame, which is one way you can make your film stand out from the many poorly lit student films I have seen. The director of the pilot, Phillip Noyce, who has directed more than a dozen features, told me, “We have to work harder visually to keep the audience’s attention and keep them on the edge of their seat.” It isn’t about always making the shots flashy; it is about using contrast between colors, of composition, of light versus dark on faces or in the background to make each shot better and to help tell the story with some drama. You have to do what I have to do: always look for ways—even simple ones—to make every shot better.

Takeaway: Visual contrast is often overlooked because it is so simple. But as with most simple things, it is powerful. Be aware of contrast in every shot, and make choices to use contrast to tell the story better.