The contribution of painting light technique "Chiaroscuro" to the visual language of cinema

Painting, a subfield of fine arts has been subject to philosophical discussions after the development of photography and cinema at the turn of the 20th century. Photography reflects the space and objects included in the frame realistically. Cinema is not limited to reflecting what is visible, bu also brings motion into the frame. Therefore, the academic discussions about the sustainability of painting, its function and sphere of influence grows increasingly. Thus, as one of the main pillars of visual arts, painting evolves formally and content-wise. The goal of this thesis is to champion the idea that art of painting contributes to the form and content of visual arts; while challenging the suggestion that art of painting is in decline of importance compared to other fields of visual arts. In this context, the technique of "chiaroscuro" which has been around since the 14th century is acknowledged as the main subject of this thesis proposal. In this thesis, the emergence of chiaroscuro is analyzed within the historical perspective through political, sociological and theological aspects. The rise of chiaroscuro in painting, its symbolic meaning frame and the works of pioneers who made use of chairoscuro are the main subjects of our analysis. Investigations about the use of chiaroscuro utilized in movies in the first decade of cinema and famous directors' and cinematographers' use for the mentioned technique follows. Examples and justifications of how directors and cinematographers conciously transform chiaroscuro from painting to cinema is represented chronologically. In the last chapter, the ideas analyze and investigated are justified via visual language. In this context, a short film demonstrating the adaptation of chiaroscuro from painting to cinema is presented as the performance part of this "Proficiency In Art" thesis. The short film, named "DÖNGÜ - C" / "LOOP - C" becomes the cinematographic statement of the conclusion.