Cinematography technique · used in 3 films
Lighting good characters in warm, bright light and putting corrupt ones in shadow or sickly color. You can read who is safe and who is guilty from how a scene is lit.
Examples
Ridley Scott · 1985
Darkness belongs to the shadows, and daylight is what can destroy him, which makes the lighting part of the plot. One reading is that you can tell who is safe by how a scene is lit.
Where to see it: Sunlight trap: The group uses the ogres' metal platters to reflect daylight into Darkness's chamber.
Woody Allen · 1989
Sven Nykvist (Ingmar Bergman's longtime cinematographer) uses shadow expressively in the Judah storyline. The moral darkness of the murder plot is shown in chiaroscuro, which is strong contrast between light and dark. The Clifford comedy escapes it entirely.
Where to see it: Judah's scenes after the murder. Nykvist's shadows deepen around him. The light in his life literally pulls back as the moral weight of what he has done piles up.
Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff · 1994
The Pride Lands under Mufasa are lit in warm gold and amber. The Elephant Graveyard and Scar's territory are cold green and deep shadow. The colors tell you who is good and who is bad. Light means life and a rightful ruler, and shadow means corruption and death.
Where to see it: The Pride Lands and the Elephant Graveyard. One has a golden dawn, and the other is a grey-green wasteland.
Questions