Hollywood Light Bulb

For more than a century the incandescent light bulb has been the preferred source for residential lighting due to its soft, warm yellow-orange glow that doesn't hurt the eyes. However it seems that the Home Depot in Hollywood land has been running a special on a different kind of lightbulb that produces a super-intense white light that makes florescent lamps seem downright cozy. These are Hollywood Light Bulbs, also known as Photo Floods and are in fact a form of specialty state lighting that amps up the candle power so that when the scene is filmed the director isn't left with a bunch of dark blobs on a dark background. Just as Hollywood Darkness has to be much brighter than actual darkness, the level of light in a standard indoor setting must be much much brighter for the end result to deliver the effect it is looking for.

Most of the time any well financed Hollywood Brand movie will easily be able to afford the lighting equipment and technical support to avoid having to buy any of these bulbs, however either to do budget problems or practical considerations involving the size and shape of the set, Hollywood Light Bulbs will have to be substituted for actual light bulbs in the light fixtures that appear on film.

The result is a lighting aesthetic that more accurately resembles a high school gymnasium than an intimate setting. Hollywood Light Bulbs most commonly affect period pieces set in the days before florescent lighting came to dominate large public spaces. The trope also stands out in industrial or military settings where bare light bulbs cannot be Lampshaded, literally.

The easy way to tell the difference between an authentic light bulb and a Hollywood example is if a light source seems strangely intense and much whiter than it would in real life. In addition to bunkers and submarines they will most typically be found in scenes relying on diegetic light in a otherwise dark room.

Compare Hollywood Darkness.

Film

 * The police station in Assault On Precinct 13 is lit with Hollywood bulbs until they all get shot out.
 * In the historical epic Downfall Hitler's Bunker is lit with the intensity of a 21st Century Hospital.
 * Stupid Jetpack Hitler.
 * In the opening credits of Kellys Heroes the Jeep possesses an unseen bulb of unusual intensity that just happens to illuminate Pvt Kelly's face.
 * The Titanic's hallways are rather dazzlingly lit for a 1912 ocean liner.