Kennedy Park 

Lighting Assignment 

The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 

Director: Gore Verbinski

Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski

The notorious Captain Jack Sparrow and gutsy blacksmith, Will Turner, join forces to rescue Elizabeth Swan, the governor's daughter, and The Black Pearl, Sparrow's ship, from an unnerving crew of undead skeletons, leading them on a nautical adventure of glory, revenge, and love.

In this scene, Elizabeth Swan is frantic to escape the intruding pirates of her chamber. It takes place at night so the majority of the lighting during this scene is of soft quality and low-key intensity, except for the light that is emitted from the pirates' torch. The torch's warm light reflects off the sweat, oil, and grime on the pirates' faces, causing them to appear intimidating and menacing. The following shot is in shallow-depth of field and starts out as a close-up of Elizabeth's face, with everything around her in the shadows. Through the precise execution of lighting, the audience is able to deduce that Elizabeth hiding in her wardrobe. When the pirates reach the wardrobe, there is a single sliver of direct light  casted onto her face from the crack in the doors. The shot moves into to an extreme-close up of her eye in the slim key light and then follows her gaze down to her hands where she holds the pirates' beloved medallion. In this moment, the light is telling the story. The light glimmers off the gold medal emitting a foreboding flicker. Without words, the audience is now aware of its importance to the storyline. The pirates lean in to whisper through the crack, and the sliver of light slowly diminishes on her face as the pirates close the space between themselves and Elizabeth in the wardrobe. The shot then cuts to the pirates but now from inside the wardrobe, through Elizabeth's perspective. The only view she has of them is through the crack, causing the majority of the shot to be dark, except for the narrow fragment of the pirate's eye staring at her.