5 dramatic movie lighting techniques for your home

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We all love watching drama unfold on the big screen and, although most of us would rather give the exploding cars and hair-raising sword fights a miss in reality, there’s no denying that a few movie-style thrills can add a little spice to your life. And that’s where the magic of movie lighting comes in.

Over the decades movies have mastered the art of using light to tell a story, so if your home has something to say, give it a voice through light. Here are 5 popular lighting techniques from movies that will give your home a dose of drama!

Colour wash

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If you’ve ever noticed that your favourite TV show always looks cosy and inviting, or cold and hard-edged, this could be down to colour wash lighting. Sometimes added in post-production and occasionally achieved by adding filters to camera lenses during filming, this technique saturates the footage with a carefully chosen colour to emphasise a particular mood.

Get the look: If it’s cosiness you’re after, yellow lighting could be your answer. Whether you employ well-placed lighting to illuminate yellow walls, use yellow lampshades or even pop in yellow-tinted lightbulbs, washing your home in yellow light can create an atmosphere of warmth and happiness.

Chiaroscuro

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Once you start thinking about it, you’ll notice chiaroscuro lighting in almost every film you watch, especially in serious dramas and film noir. The word literally means ‘light-dark’ in Italian and it refers to the extreme contrast between dark and light; for example, when a character is surrounded by shadow, or exposes only half of their face to the light.

Get the look: Chiaroscuro works particularly well as a lighting scheme at an intimate dinner party, so illuminate your dining table with bright candles and spotlights, and leave the rest of the room saturated in dramatic darkness.

Colourful glow

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We all remember the breathtaking bioluminescence of the alien world in Avatar ― well, that sort of magical glow is hugely popular in the world of sci-fi, and it’s a fantastic way to inspire otherworldly wonder. Even better, the captivating glow of soft, coloured lighting lends any occasion a feeling of super-slick modernity.

Get the look: Add a sprinkle of movie magic to your modern minimalist kitchen by making use of colourful lighting. Add coloured strip lights to the bottoms of cabinets, or go all out with colour-change downlight LEDs placed under wall-mounted cupboards to really give your kitchen that cool, space-age feel.

Faux darkness

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Isn’t it funny how, when a character turns off all the lights or goes outside at night, you can still see what they’re doing? Typically, when a person is meant to be submerged in pitch darkness, the action on the screen is tinged with a faint blue light. Of course this is simply because audiences don’t want to look at a black screen, but eerie blue lighting can also heighten the feeling of mystery.

Get the look: Faux blue darkness is the perfect backdrop for an atmospheric garden party. Whether you plan on gathering outdoors to tell ghost stories, or you just want to illuminate your backyard for an enchanting evening soirée, add some blue LED lights to your decking and see your garden transformed into a night-time wonderland.

Backlighting

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Often used to give powerful or holy characters a dramatic entrance (think Gandalf the White in Lord of the Rings), backlighting a character on-screen can give them a breathtaking ethereal glow. When it comes to setting a scene, backlighting is capable of generating all kinds of emotions in the audience, from chilling horror to heartwarming romance.

Get the look: Backlighting prominent features in your home is a great way to add depth to your lighting scheme, but did you know that adding backlights to your TV can also help to reduce eye strain? That’s right, you can use this piece of movie magic at home to help you watch even more movies!

Want to know more about home lighting? For more great ideas head over to Lighting Majestic here.

David Cullis Is the owner of Lighting Majestic

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