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| - When a character switches off the last light in the room, a vaguely bluish light slightly dimmer than normal illumination switches on. It's implied that the characters aren't supposed to see what the audience can, which makes sense; a black screen isn't much fun to watch. Funny thing is, most of the time the characters will be unaffected by the supposed darkness, moving about without stumbling over furniture or stubbing toes. In a few cases, a red light will be used instead. For an aversion, when single point light sources cast shadows as they do in real life, see Chiaroscuro.
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| abstract
| - When a character switches off the last light in the room, a vaguely bluish light slightly dimmer than normal illumination switches on. It's implied that the characters aren't supposed to see what the audience can, which makes sense; a black screen isn't much fun to watch. Funny thing is, most of the time the characters will be unaffected by the supposed darkness, moving about without stumbling over furniture or stubbing toes. In a few cases, a red light will be used instead. A Fantastic Voyage or spelunking adventure often has a highly illuminated environment. Video games provide numerous examples of oddly well-lit caves. And space is always brightly illuminated. In the past, nighttime scenes were filmed in full daylight, with a blue filter on the camera; this is known in the business as "shooting day for night" and is essentially a cost-cutting measure, since it's much easier to film a scene during the day. It often becomes a form of Special Effect Failure, shadows don't match the flashlights, headlights or torches involved. In certain cinemaphile circles this was known as "broad daynight." Sometimes, even today it remains a necessity though, as some lenses and film isn't sensitive enough to shoot without enough light (such an example show up in the movie Deliverance). Not the same as Unnaturally Blue Lighting, which turns up even when it's supposed to be just a cloudy day or literal bad blue lights. There is a trend for dramatic series to prefer real darkness. Similarly, it's common in Sit Coms these days for a "good night" moment with husband and wife in bed to cut to black when the lights are turned out. Someone then says something in the dark -- sometimes it's a comment that prompts someone to turn the lights back on, and sometimes it's an entire conversation. And of course, video games often give you a torch for a reason. (If you don't have a free hand, or hands-free light, don't forget the duct tape.) In black and white films, particularly older ones, there may be no difference between day and night in terms of lighting. Watch Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, or M and try guessing what time something happens. This comes from technological limitations imposed by the cameras available in those days. By which we mean that filming in darkness would have produced absolutely nothing. Occasionally this can be justified in cases where the characters are something, such as owls, which have good night vision, because then the audience would be seeing as they see even when in darkness. Compare Mood Lighting and By the Lights of Their Eyes, in which the scene is quite a bit darker except for the eyes of the characters or the teeth of the monsters. Of course, should you find yourself in total darkness (such as a deep cave), you'll be able to 'see' the outline of your hand, but it's literally 'all in your head' -- what you're really seeing is a form of 'sensor ghost' generated by your brain as it receives signals from your body. Inverse of Nuclear Candle, which dictates that anything lit by a single tiny light will somehow illuminate the whole room evenly. For an aversion, when single point light sources cast shadows as they do in real life, see Chiaroscuro. Contrast Nothing Is Scarier. See also Rule of Perception for one reason this trope exists. The common practice of using blue to represent "darkness" is directly related to Orange-Blue Contrast (specifically, the "turn up the shadows to the teal end" part). Examples of Hollywood Darkness include:
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)