SILHOUTTE

[B. Sakthidoss]

What is SILHOUTTE ?

Is there any dramatic/psycologic effect in SILHOUTTE ?

 

In my knowledge,Silhoutte is , exposure to be given to the background

and the foreground is in the dark.Is it correct.

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

yep

[Laurent Andrieux]

In french, a SILOUHETTE, that is translated in the Robert&Collins as an outline, is exactly what you mention, at a first place. But we also use it as to mean that we see somebody without being able to recognize him or her, by the light or any other matter. It can be someone who passes in the backround, for instance, or someone whom you would only see the back or a part of the body (directing term).

[Paul Bruening]

Silhouette? You mean other than being a French word that few Americans can pronounce much less spell (I had to run it through Microsoft Word's spell check, myself)?

 

It's hard to say what precise effect it has, psychologically, on a veiwer. I would volunteer that it could serve as a tension creating device. It may cause a sense of curiosity or seeking in the veiwer as they attempt to resolve the character's image in their minds. I recall from A Touch of Evil that it made my teeth grind a little. There's a split light scene in the bombing suspect's living room that stands out. One character is lit and stands against a dark wall. The light cuts diagonally across the room. In the other light triangle, a man stands in darkness, silhouetted against a bright wall.

 

I recall it being used in suspense movies to demonstrate the danger of a heavy walking around a dimly lit space. You see his figure darting in and out of background light-spaces but no light falls on him from front or sides. That's a standard tension builder in the biz.

[David Mullen ASC]

"Silhouette" should mean that the subject, or at least the important parts, are completely unlit, black, against a lighter background.

 

But sometimes a director will think it also means something backlit with no fill light, or even just a dim figure with fill light, so I have to make sure that we understand the word in the same way when he says he'd like to "silhouette" the person.

[B. Sakthidoss]

In french, a SILOUHETTE, that is translated in the Robert&Collins as an outline, is exactly what you mention, at a first place. But we also use it as to mean that we see somebody without being able to recognize him or her, by the light or any other matter. It can be someone who passes in the backround, for instance, or someone whom you would only see the back or a part of the body (directing term).

 

 

 

Sir,Thaks for your reply

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

I suppose silhouette can also be someone's shadow cast onto a wall or something as well...in the classic sense of the word.