Movie lighting is an art form in which the interplay of light, shadows, color, and movement serve as fundamental expressive elements in the telling of a story. Whether you are shooting on film or video, using only sunlight or using 20 movie lights, with lighting designed for a realistic style or a stylized look, it all comes down to finding a lighting scheme that is appropriate for this scene, at this moment, in this story. Like all art forms, there is really only one absolute rule to dramatic lighting—make it work. If you can justify the lighting design of a scene within the overall intentions of the project, then do it. However, as with all art forms, “making it work” also means having the skill ...

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