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{{trope}}
[[File:
A: "Same place as the music."
▲{{quote|Q:"Where is the light coming from?"<br />
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.
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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 [[
In black and white films, particularly older ones, there may be no difference between day and night in terms of lighting. Watch ''[[
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.
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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}}
== Played Straight ==▼
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* ''[[Toradora
* ''[[
* [[
** It's not so much the darkness as the fact that it has been several years and {{spoiler|Kyon}} hasn't aged a day. Furthermore, they met only once, and that usually isn't enough time to form a lasting impression of a face. And Haruhi still asks: "Have we met before?" when they first meet.
▲= Played Straight =
▲== Anime & Manga ==
▲* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', the characters are fighting in a forest in the middle of the night when the nearby town, the only source of light, is plunged into a blackout. The characters can't see a thing but to the audience, the lighting has barely changed.
▲* ''[[Toradora (Light Novel)|Toradora]]'' switches to green-tinted night vision mode for this, which makes it clear that it's pitch black for the characters.
▲* ''[[Cowboy Bebop (Anime)|Cowboy Bebop]]'' where Jet and Spike descend 28 stories below ground into a defunct museum (in search of a Beta player, of all things), using just Spike's lighter, and can see perfectly well around them.
▲* [[Haruhi Suzumiya (Literature)|Haruhi Suzumiya]] couldn't distinguish the face of a {{spoiler|[[Time Travel|time-traveling]] Kyon}} when she was 13 because they met late in the night, however, in the episode both are clearly recognizable even from afar.
▲** It's not so much the darkness as the fact that it has been several years and {{spoiler|Kyon}} hasn't aged a day. Furthermore, they met only once, and that usually isn't enough time to form a lasting impression of a face. And Haruhi still asks: "Have we met before?" when they first meet.
▲== Films ==
* Countless [[Hammer Horror]] films, as well as Hollywood films would shoot "night" scenes by simply filming in daylight with a filter. As a result, you would see shadows cast by people of objects when it's supposed to be the middle of the night. As well, the sky -if shown- would be noticeably blue.
* As late as the 1950s, night scenes in black-and-white film were usually shot in full daylight, with a blue filter applied to the camera lens. For his legendary ''[[Plan 9
* In the silent movie era, the scenes were often shot in daylight and the final print tinted blue for night scenes. Old, unrestored prints of ''Nosferatu'' show that the vampire is walking around in daylight, although [[Weakened
* The lair of Shelob in ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
** Many successful horror films use pitch black to great effect, and Frodo had the Phial of Galadriel with him to serve as a light source, if it were needed. However, the general trend in film at present is to brightly illuminate the subject of terror.
** [[Averted Trope]] in the first film, as the Fellowship has no light source aside from Gandalf's staff for most of their journey through Moria.
* ''[[Scary Movie|Scary Movie 2]]'' uses a blue filter to represent darkness in scene where Cindy is in the secret study. Given that this movie is a parody of other movies, it was probably intentional.
* In ''[[Wait Until Dark]],'' the blind Susy Hendrix tries to even the odds with the sighted Harry Roat by smashing every light bulb in her house; of course, the house never goes entirely dark to the audience.
* In ''[[Rear Window]]'', [[Alfred Hitchcock]] used a blue filter for exterior night scenes, but filmed in darkness for interiors.
* In ''[[Batman: Mask of the Phantasm]]'', the second gangster falling into a grave is a case of either this or [[Behind the Black]].
* ''[[28 Days Later
* ''[[28 Weeks Later
* The night surfing scene in ''[[Point Break]]'' is clearly just daytime shot through a blue filter.
* ''[[
* ''[[Ghostbusters
** Perhaps justified as Janosz produces light beams from his eyes?
* ''[[Harry Potter (
* In ''[[
* ''[[Halloween (
* A lot of [[Hammer Horror]] films didn't even bother with the blue filters, especially during outdoor scenes. This occasionally leads to Dracula apparently wandering around in broad daylight. Even a lot of the interior shots just use a night-time matte painting. This is common to many British movies of the same period: it pops up in everything from ''The Black Narcissus'' to ''Witchfinder General''.
* ''[[Zathura]]''. So they cut off every light and heat source in the house, which happened to be floating in space at the time, apparently far away from any star. Ignoring the thousands of other implausibilities in that situation, the characters shouldn't even be able to see the backs of their own eyelids.
* Too many historical films and TV series to list film their indoor scenes with so much light that the candles appear to be just decoration, even if they should be the only light source in the room. For example, the BBC adaptation of ''Tess Of The D'Urbervilles''
* ''[[
* The characters in ''The Cave'' might be trapped underground, but lucky for them the titular cave is apparently entirely self-lit.
* The beginning of ''[[The Man
* The [[Bollywood]] film ''Koyla'' has a rather poorly done version of this as the protagonists are hiding by a river in the forest: a filter is applied, but only for ''the top half of the shot''.
* Used in the classic Western ''[[The Searchers]]''. Not very convincing at all, since they're supposed to be way out in the middle of nowhere in the American West, and yet the sky is dark-to-medium blue.
* Inverted behind the scenes in ''[[
* The German ''[[
* Averted in the first ''[[X
* Used from time to time in ''[[Cast Away]]'', identifiable by the sharp shadows at night.
* ''[[The Descent Part 2]]'''s caverns are conspicuously well-lit, which is especially bothersome when the first film's use of darkness was one of its greatest strengths.
* ''[[The Hobbit (
* Played straight in ''[[1776 (
=== Literature ===
* [[
** Lampshaded in ''[[
** In ''[[
* The first chapter of Seth Grahame-Smith's ''[[How to Survive a Horror Movie]]'', which deals with signs that you may be living a horror film, asks the reader, "Is everything bathed in bright blue light even though it's supposed to be nighttime?"
=== Live-Action TV ===▼
* There are many scenes in ''[[
▲== Live-Action TV ==
▲* There are many scenes in ''[[Twenty Four]]'' that are meant to be set shortly before dawn, but are [[Special Effects Failure|obviously the middle of the day with a grey filter]].
▲* ''[[Star Trek]]'' universe.
** Interstellar space is generally pretty well-lit. Whenever the hero ship faces a power disruption, all the systems will go offline except for a few lights here and there and all you see is the ship vaguely silhouetted by its own running lights. In real life, such a ship would be lit as such ''all the time, at best.''
** Averted in some of the Trek movies, where the ''Enterprise'' has exterior floodlights aimed at the ship's hull, specifically to make it visible.
** The ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' episode "Night" seems to establish that starlight also provides some illumination for ships. The ship travels through a pitch-black area of space and is barely visible except for its exterior lights.
** Caves. Always so well-lit, even when there are no light sources anywhere. This was finally partially fixed in Enterprise, which used the blue filter.
* In the ''[[Haven]]'' episode "A Tale of Two Audreys", when the town experiences the biblical Ten Plagues, the plague of darkness is depicted with what seems to be the "full daylight, with a dark lens on the camera" trick or something similar.
* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''
** ''Los Nuevos Extraterrestres'' shown as ''[[Pod People]]'' was atrocious in this regard. In several scenes, dialog indicates that it's supposed to be night, but it's obviously midday, and it isn't even [[Hollywood Night|blue filtered]]. Joel and the 'bots lampshade the mistake: "Night looks like day any time of day around here." To be charitable, this might just be an [[
** ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000|MST3K]] [[The Movie]]'', featuring ''[[This Island Earth]]'' <ref>which is actually ''comprehensible'' if you watch it in non-MST3K form, if not precisely great.</ref> features bad Hollywood Darkness that prompts Crow to remark that the characters are sneaking away "under cover of afternoon."
** Crow riffed on this in ''the first ever episode'':
{{quote|
** Then there was the ''[[Werewolf (
{{quote|
** ''[[The Sidehackers]]'' did the same thing as Pod People, with the addition of crickets. As the characters are conversing in blatant midday, Crow and Tom end the characters' sentences with "at night," to hang a nice little lampshade on the whole thing.
** ''[[Boggy Creek
** ''[[Attack of the Eye Creatures|Attack of The The Eye Creatures]]'' (Yes, two "The"s) takes this to another level and makes it a plot hole: The aliens can only attack at night because they're photosensitive, to the point of exploding if you shine a flashlight at them. [[They Just Didn't Care|Most of their scenes are shot during the day.]]
{{quote|
** A few scenes in ''[[Deathstalker and
** In ''[[The Girl in Gold Boots]]'', the filter was occasionally only on the top half of the camera.
{{quote|
* In the opening multi-part episode of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' season three, the team is searching through a cave. Billy advises the group to look for any sources of light filtering through. Naturally, the fact that the cave is not even slightly dark and has plenty of light sources unintentionally makes this line freakin' ''hilarious''.
* Downright jarring in ''Kindred: The Embraced'', where vampires, walking around outside at what appeared to be 3 o'clock on a sunny afternoon, would urge each other to get to cover quickly, ''before the sun comes up.''
* The caves of ''[[Fraggle Rock]]'' are awfully brightly lit for an underground world. But this is explained in a season 2 episode in which the Fraggles discover the existence of the Ditsies, tiny bioluminescent creatures who feed on
* A sketch from ''[[The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer|Bang Bang It's Reeves and Mortimer]]'' involving them being stuck in a car overnight at a gas station features an obviously fake blue filter to signify that it's night. Considering that it's Reeves and Mortimer that we're talking about here, it's hard to tell if this is an actual case of this trope or a conscious subversion/parody of it.
* Night scenes in ''[[Robin of Sherwood]]'' were the worst of both worlds: it didn't look like night-time, but the filter made it too dark to see anything!
* Appears in ''[[
* It's always fun in older period shows like ''[[Bonanza]]'' or ''[[Little House
* There are numerous out-takes from sitcoms and the like where the switching over of the studio lights as a character flicks a switch is mis-timed making the changeover obvious.
* On ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'' Venus likes to have the booth dark when he's on the air, which is usually represented by a red light. On more than one occasion Mr. Carlson comes in and switches the lights on full, which temporarily blinds Venus.
=== Tabletop Games ===
===
▲* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]''. Darkvision.
== Theatre ==▼
* A standard way to portray a night scene in theatre is to use a dark blue filter on the stage lights. In this troper's amateur theatre, the mantra is "it's not night time without Lee 120 (a dark blue colour filter)"
=== Video Games ===
* Lampshaded in ''[[
* In the original ''[[
▲* Lampshaded in ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'', when power is cut to a concert hall, causing everything to become blue. An NPC in the area comments that it's a "pitiful excuse for a blackout" and asks if you can still see his nose hair in the 'darkness'.
* Completely lit cave areas in ''[[Avernum]]'' are generally handwaved with fluorescent mushrooms. Nobody ever mentions why some indoor areas are completely lit, though (maybe they really ''don't'' have ceilings?) Unlit cave areas have full lighting a few squares away from the main characters and no lighting at all farther away from them, with no transition. Outdoor nighttime isn't present until the third game, which provides the same level of partial lighting every night with no regard for full and new moons.
▲* In the original ''[[Mario Golf (Video Game)|Mario Golf]]'', Overtime holes during match play took place at night with no visible light sources.
▲* Completely lit cave areas in ''[[Avernum]]'' are generally handwaved with fluorescent mushrooms. Nobody ever mentions why some indoor areas are completely lit, though (maybe they really ''don't'' have ceilings?) Unlit cave areas have full lighting a few squares away from the main characters and no lighting at all farther away from them, with no transition. Outdoor nighttime isn't present until the third game, which provides the same level of partial lighting every night with no regard for full and new moons.
* In ''[[Silent Scope]]'''s nighttime level, the sniper scope's night vision is activated (which ironically makes it harder to see through the scope), but you can still see enemies clearly with the naked eye, if the brightness isn't too low.
* The visual effect provided by darkvision in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]''.
* In the ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' series, Sam is effectively invisible if he's far enough into the dark. Even if he's standing between a guard and a lit area, as long as he's in the dark, they won't see him. Due to system limitations, especially on the [[
** Even more ridiculous in ''Splinter Cell'' is that Sam comes equipped with a wrist-mounted PDA, a walkie-talkie on his shoulder and night-vision goggles (which are specifically ''built for stealth'') ''that all glow bright green''. Despite this, if you're in darkness, no enemies will see you unless they already know where you are. This is all of course so that the player can see where he is.
*** In the later games that feature online play, it's revealed that it is solely for the player benefit, since those lights are invisible to enemy players (and presumably any enemy guards).
**** That's a deliberate invoking of the [[Rule of Fun]]. The games would be unplayable if players don't know what direction they're facing and aren't using their Night-Vision (especially in multiplayer on Chaos Theory/Double Agent where Mercenaries can see you using your goggles with their EMF vision).
* One particularly bad example in the ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' series is "Behind Enemy Lines" in ''Allied Assault'', which looks more like foggy dawn or dusk. In the HD remake of ''Frontline'', The Golden Lion is set at dusk rather than night, but it's still too bright.
* Light sources are pretty unnecessary in ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV
** YMMV heavily based on display settings. Some find torches and magically-augmented vision very handy for spotting traps and treasure.
* All [[Bethesda Softworks]] games, from as far back as ''[[The Elder Scrolls
** Same for ''[[
* Characters still cast shadows in Higurashi Daybreak, even on the night level.
* In ''[[
* The shadow difference between day and night in ''[[Prototype (
* Dark areas in ''[[Winback]]'' are like this, and using your flashlight only gives away your position to the enemy.
* Most [[Visual Novel|visual novels]] will have this. Compare a background during the day to that same background at night; the shadows will be in exactly the same places.
* Caves, crypts and dungeons in [[World of Warcraft]] always have enough light to see by, even when no torches, lamps, or luminescent fungus is present.
** Also, although the game has night and day corresponding to the local server time, in most zones the night is hardly any darker than the day. Averted in a very few places: nighttime in [[Wild Wilderness|The Hinterlands]] is pretty damn dark, and the Tyrande/Emerald Dragonshrine encounter in [[Bad Future|End Time]] is literally too dark to see your hand in front of your face. Players must sprint for the brief splashes of moonlight to be able to fight off the shadowy attackers.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', nighttime scenes, such as [
===
* Played with in one of the Secret Squirrel cartoons on ''[[
▲* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', nighttime scenes, such as [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4191 this one], are done in bluish shades.
== Western Animation ==▼
▲* Played with in one of the Secret Squirrel cartoons on ''[[Two Stupid Dogs (Animation)|Two Stupid Dogs]]'': When Secret and Morocco infiltrate the pitch black lair of Dr. O (who, being a bat, can see in the dark) and have their last light source destroyed, the screen goes completely black and we hear the narrator say "For the benefit of the audience, a special filter has been installed so you can accompany the action... in complete darkness." The following sequences then appear normally lit, giving the surreal ([[Rule of Funny|and funny]]) sight of Secret acting like he can't see while Morocco tries to tell him what is going on (since, being a mole, he can see in the dark as well) in what otherwise appears to be a completely normal situation.
* Featured in ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'' episode where the gang explores Arnold's digestive system. However, this is lampshaded in the closing [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]] segment where someone calls to ask where did all the light come from. The person answering merely snidely remarks they should have gone with "The Magic School Bus Radio Show."
* Very noticeable in the ''[[
* Occurs hilariously in one episode of the ''[[Spider-Man:
* In ''[[
=== Real Life ===▼
▲== Real Life ==
* This persists in modern films, even in scenes actually shot at night, for a simple reason: Cinema cameras can't shoot in the dark worth a damn. Despite what some people tend to think, one cannot simply "turn up the sensitivity" on film or digital cameras, as film will result in incredibly distracting, obscuring grain and digital sensors will have even worse blotchy, color-fringed visual noise. The easiest solution is to simply use a lot of stage lights to bring the scene to a reasonable level of brightness and underexpose from there; blue is used since that's the tinge usually resulting from night on a full moon, and therefore feels the most "natural."
* The night sky as seen in any city with enough light pollution will appear to be deep blue.
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** Ditto for nights when there is snow on the ground.
** Or when it's raining, the sky will appear to to be purple-ish.
** Mix heavy cloud cover, light pollution, and snow on the ground and you can get a lit up night that rivals even that of [[The Lord of the Rings
** White cloud covers are [[Reality Is Unrealistic|highly reflective]]. The same place, with same pinpoint sources of light, can be bright enough to see a reasonable distance away under a cloud cover and eerily dark if the sky is black.
* During local summer the nights far enough north and south are practically as light as day, due to the Sun never setting far beneath the horizon; ultimately culminating at the Arctic and Antarctic Circles past which the Sun will set at all for parts of the year, and not until autumn equinox at the poles.
== Aversions ==
===
* ''[[Equilibrium]]'': most night scenes are well-lit by spotlights or headlights. The opening nighttime gunfight is lit only by brief muzzle flashes.
** The scene in question actually takes place during the day, in what appears to be a basement level of the sense-offender's stronghold, with all the lightbulbs shot out.
* [[Quentin Tarantino]]'s ''[[Jackie Brown]]'' contains a confrontation between Pam Grier and [[Samuel L. Jackson]] in total darkness (but not just a blank screen; the occasional flash of light proves the camera is actually filming them in a dark room).
* ''Excellently'' subverted in ''[[Kill Bill]]'' when the audience watches {{spoiler|the Bride [[Nightmare Fuel|get put in a nailed-shut coffin]] and ''buried alive''.}} We are treated to a ''terrifyingly'' long shot of this as the lights slowly go black. Followed by minutes of panting, shifting, and {{spoiler|the sound of dirt ''loudly'' covering the coffin and filling the grave.}} And then more panting and shifting. We only ''finally'' see light as she turns on... a flashlight.
** Apparently, the fear was real.
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* Except for two scenes where they cheated, the only lighting in the cave in ''The Descent'' came from the caving equipment the characters had on them or in one case, a makeshift torch. This could get very confusing when the only thing you could see was the light on someone's helmet.
* In the Spanish zombie flick ''Rec'', we see the action through a two-man tv crew's camera, when the light goes out, the camera light comes on, but when the camera light bites the dust, it gets dark, and I mean ''dark''.
* In ''[[Ultraviolet (
* An interesting take on it appears in ''[[Blade|Blade 2]]'', where it's ''daylight'' that has a soft bluish hue. Night-time is bathed in harsh yellow light. It's also implied that the darkness is actually portrayed the way vampires see it, since a human character goes to great length to show us he really doesn't see shit in there.
* Watching ''[[Eraserhead]]'' without a well-tuned screen can be frustrating. Thankfully, the DVD release comes with a screen test before the menu.
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* ''[[Collateral]]'' was notable for being shot with HD cameras, so they could film during the night.
* Averted, although not necessarily in a good way, in ''AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem''. Most of the movie takes place outdoors, at night, and the film is so dark you can barely see what's going on.
* Averted in ''[[Pee
* Mostly averted in Disney's ''[[The Black Hole]]''. The exteriors of the two main ships are completely dark unless lit up by one another (the ''Palomino'' uses a spotlight to look at parts of the ''Cygnus'' as it flies over it) or itself (the ''Cygnus'' suddenly lighting up "like a tree on Christmas morning"). During the Duel between V.I.N.C.E.N.T and S.T.A.R., the realistic darkness of the scene can actually make it hard to see S.T.A.R.. The biggest offender seems to be the [[Our Wormholes Are Different|titular]] [[Swirly Energy Thingy|black hole]] itself which glows blue for visual necessity.
* Averted in ''[[Paranormal Activity]]'' as everything shot in darkness was filmed using the night setting on the camera.
* The duel by lantern-light between Michael York and [[Christopher Lee]] in Richard Lester's ''[[The Three Musketeers (1973
* Actually averted in original black and white films, when blue-tinted film was used for night scenes. Because most replications of silents do NOT use tinted film, this aversion is lost.
** A restored version of 1921's Nosferatu is available with blue-for-night tinting.
* In the first ''[[Friday the 13th (
* Notably averted in ''[[The
* The first ''[[Saw]]''. Photographer's darkroom in an already dark apartment, camera flash, [[Nightmare Fuel]].
* The [[Fritz Lang]] movie ''Ministry of Fear'' has the final confrontation take place in a hotel stairwell lit only by muzzle flashes.
** An earlier Lang movie, ''[[Metropolis]]'', has a scene in a cave where one character chases another with a flashlight. The flashlight is the only illumination at all, and the rest of the frame is pitch black.
* [[
=== Live-Action TV ===▼
* There is an old joke to the effect that you need an HDTV to make out what's going on in the average episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'', ''[[
▲== Live-Action TV ==
▲* There is an old joke to the effect that you need an HDTV to make out what's going on in the average episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'', ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'', or ''[[Supernatural (TV)|Supernatural]]''. In the latter they occasionally they throw the audience a bone and light it up a bit.
* ''X-Files'' predecessor ''[[Kolchak the Night Stalker]]''. Dark scenes in the show actually ''are'' dark, so much so that all one can see are highlights, reflections, and the occasional flashlight blotting out the entire screen.
* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' riffed on this. A scene in ''[[Clonus|Parts: The Clonus Horror]]'' had an almost completely dark room with nothing visible but a lamp. These pitch black scenes frequently cause Mike and the Bots to make comments such as "Filmed inside a deacon's hat!" or "This scene must have been lit by an Indiglo watch," and at one point caused the trio to call and whistle for the movie as though it were an inattentive pet.
* The entire Halloween episode of ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'' takes place in broad daylight, with the ''teenage troublemakers home well before sunset'', because the directors were unwilling to use
* In the two ''[[Doctor Who]]'' stories involving the Weeping Angels as the main villains, the Angels are able to move only if they are unobserved.... or completely unlit. When the Angels start disabling nearby light sources in a creepiest possible fashion, the screen goes completely black when they do so, during which time the Angels move. Since the camera usually counts as an "observer" in-universe (i.e. Angels can't move when they are on camera, either) [[Rule of Scary|except when it doesn't]], averting this trope is pretty much required.
* ''[[Huge]]'' has this problem, which makes the many night scenes a bit distracting.
* ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]''. The area around them might be black, but the characters themselves are always well-lit.
* In one episode of the 1960s ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' the villain of the week had invisible henchmen so Batman turns off the lights to even the odds and the only thing the audience gets to see are the series' trademark ultra-visible sound effects.
* The exterior of the Red Dwarf spaceship in ''[[
* A common criticism of ''[[The Pacific]]'' was that the night combat scenes were often dark and confusing (very much [[Truth in Television]], as the Japanese were quite fond of attacking at night). The night attack during the Battle of Gloucester in particular stands out, as the action occurred at night in the driving rain. It was lit almost entirely by grenades and mortar fire, muzzle-flash, and the occasional flash of lightning.
▲=== Theatre ===
* The play ''Black Comedy'' concerns a blackout. The first few minutes of the play are done with no lights but the characters act as if the apartment were fully illuminated; then there's a blackout and the lights go up full while the actors pretend they can't see. The very end of the play the lights are fixed and someone turns them "on," at which point the closing blackout occurs. Typically, this is explained in the playbill or program, or in a curtain speech, so that the audience understands what's going on.
=== Video Games ===
* Several of ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' games feature caves and dark dungeons which only become clearly visible using a lamp in-game. Only a partial aversion, though, since there are other unlit areas that are perfectly visible without using a lamp...
* Some caves in ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls III
** YMMV on the previous two examples, as many PC players were able to adjust to and play in the darkness, without gamma correction, on CRT and LCD screens, even with sunlight lighting the room around the monitor.
* ''[[Half-Life 2
** Plenty of very dark places throughout the series and expansions, notably the parts of Opposing Force that feature [[Night Vision Goggles]]. Gordon and Barney are masters of the [[No OSHA Compliance|non-OSHA compliant]] [[Ten-Second Flashlight|Ten Second Flash-lit]] [[Air Vent Passageway]] escape.
* Averted in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', where you get stuck in a cave complex, and it is way too dark to see anything. By luck you can stumble around and eventually find a torch. If it takes you long enough, it actually becomes easier to see, probably to reflect Snake's eyes adjusting to the light. You can also use his cigar to help.
* In the ''[[Pokémon]]'' games, the HM "Flash" allows one to see in dark caves. [[Guide Dang It|Many people]] are unable to find the HM in Pokemon Red, and end up stumbling through one cave in the game in ''complete darkness''! The amount of darkness varies by version. In the first generation you get a faded view of the walls (Good enough), in the second you see absolutely nothing but the glowing entrance/exits and yourself, and in the third there's a small lit circle where you can see normally that expands to most (if not exactly all) of the screen with flash.
* An interesting take can be found in the [[Adventure Game]] ''[[Indiana Jones and
* Most of ''[[Doom|Doom 3]]'' is pitch black. The player is forced to use either his gun or his flashlight, but [[Fake Difficulty|not both at the same time]]. It was dubbed "The best flashlight simulator ever." and widely ridiculed for being so aggravating. One of the first modifications created for the game was the "duct tape" mod which removed the misfeature.
** The original Doom is noted as one of the first games to make use of varying light levels to scare and disorient the player. I.E.: pick up a critical key, the lights go out, [[Oh Crap|monsters appear]]. The only light sources in these situations were rare [[Night Vision Goggles|light amplification visors]] and (less rare) [[More Dakka|muzzle flash]].
* With the exception of the fourth installment, the entirety of the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series.
** ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'', while mostly averting this trope, also plays it straight in some areas, such as the alternate hotel at the end of the game, where your flashlight no longer works.
* Averted in ''[[The Witcher]]'' where you need a special potion in order to see in dungeons and other underground spaces.
* There are two temples in ''[[
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' and ''[[Resident Evil 5|5]]'' avert this in different ways. In ''4'' Leon has a light clipped to his belt. It covers most of the screen and activates in dark areas. In ''5'' there's [[That One Level]] where you must navigate a pitch-black cave using a bulky electric lantern.
* The ''[[Penumbra (
* ''[[Amnesia:
* Averted in ''[[
* The Catacombs and the Forgotten Tomb in ''[[Drakan|Drakan: The Ancients' Gates]]'' were dark to the point all you could see were the glowing eyes of your enemies, leaving you quite helpless to aim your killing blows. You can carry a torch, but you must put it out in order to use your weapon. Most other caves or interiors had ample lighting with or without torches, glowing mushrooms, etc.
* Averted in the ''[[Myst]]'' series; lighting up pitch-black areas is typically a prerequisite for using any passage or equipment therein. Also averted with dim areas; some are so dark that it can be hard to make out detail on some screens.
* ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' has glowing mushrooms to explain the illumination. Justified, since Samus's Combat Visor adjusts for light levels.
** In the Metroid series in general, it's very rare to find an unlit area, there are always skylights, equipment, or luminescent flora. The only time it's really, really dark is when the game wants to make you tense and scared (most notably in Metroid Fusion when you're hiding from the SA-X and its visor illuminates dark areas.)
* Played straight with Area 7 in ''[[
* ''[[Fallout
* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'' encourages averting this: though you can adjust the brightness levels so you can see everything just fine, it recommends playing with fairly dark settings... the reason being, of course, that the game is [[Rule of Scary|much scarier that way]].
* The flashlights in the ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' series have the odd property of having essentially no light scattering. Every survivor's flashlight will illuminate what they're looking at and ''absolutely nothing else''. There's the bright center of the light, a slightly lighter ring around it, and that's it for light entirely. This is especially conspicuous if seen in a dark room. The odd thing is that every other light functions normally.
* ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' has certain sections which take place in darkness, and the light is handled very well; you can see fine (though with realistically affected colours) within the area of your torch beam, and can see vague shapes at close range outside the beam, but absolutely nothing further away.
* In the ''[[
=== Web Original ===
* Inverted in ''[[
▲== Web Originals ==
▲* Inverted in ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'': In one scene it the lighting on everyone makes it seem like daytime but looking at the sky and streetlights the viewer will notice that it is nighttime.
* ''[[Marble Hornets]]'' doesn't use any other illumination aside from what was available in the various areas where the series was filmed. One particularly scary entry has Alex running through a wooded area at night with the only light coming from his flashlight...which ultimately comes to rest upon a [[Humanoid Abomination|tall, faceless man in a business suit]] standing [[Nothing Is Scarier|completely silent]] among the trees....
▲=== Western Animation ===
* The British cartoon ''[[Danger Mouse]]'' was notoriously low-budget, and so the scriptwriters gleefully seized any opportunity to save on animation costs by having the heroes enter somewhere dark and bumble around in pitch blackness for a few minutes with [[By the Lights of Their Eyes|only their eyes visible]].
** A similar situation for ''[[Sealab 2021]]'', particularly "Fusebox".
* ''[[Screwy Squirrel]]'' had a classic scene where a dumb-guy dog chases him into a pitch-black cave. We see only blackness and hear some undecipherable loud sound effects...a moment later Screwy steps out in the light and tells us "Sure was a great gag, folks - too bad you couldn't see it!"
* In ''[[Titanic:
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