Unnaturally Blue Lighting: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:badblue1_3250.jpg|link=Minority Report|right]]

 

A subtrope of [[Mood Lighting]] common in [[Science Fiction]] and [[Police Procedural|Forensics]] shows. Shots are suffused with vaguely blue lighting. This is usually complemented by stark, overly bright desk lamps. Occasionally this infects outdoor scenes, making sunny days look more overcast; this should not be confused with the dark blue camera filter used in shooting "[[Hollywood Night|day for night]]".

* Used to great effect in ''[[Little Buddha]]'', [http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=6972 contrasting the cool blue Seattle shots with the warm reds of Tibet].

* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' films, the battles at Helm's Deep and Osgiliath are shown in a blue tint.

* ''[[Minority Report]]'' is a classic example -- it's in most scenes and submerges some of them. Some viewers found it strained their eyes.

* The future scenes in the ''Terminator'' films look like this.

* Done in ''[[Blade]] 2''. Daylight is a cool blue, to contrast with the harsh, halogen yellow of night lighting.

* The more recent ''[[Harry Potter]]'' films use this a lot for any scene that isn't in Hogwarts, and some that are, probably to go with the [[Darker and Edgier]] direction they're trying to take the franchise.

* In ''[[The Matrix]]'', all the scenes that take place in said Matrix have green lighting (except for the non- remastered first film). It's computerized tinting done entirely in post-production. That's why the non-remastered version is different. Similarly, scenes set in the real world have a blue bias.

* Used in ''[[Pitch Black]]'', though it's [[Justified]] by making one of the planet's suns a blue giant and it's only blue when that sun's in the sky.

* ''[[Traffic]]'' does this with Michael Douglas's politician storyline. Each storyline in the film is distinguished by slightly different filters.

* [[Justified]] in the second half of ''[[Melancholia]]'', where the sky is dominated by a giant blue planet. {{spoiler|It becomes intensely blue light when the planet is about to crush Earth.}}

** ''[[CSI: Miami]]'' uses orange and yellow light a lot to enhance the "sunny" feel of the scenes. They are more subtle about this than ''[[CSI: NY]]'' was with the blue lighting, but it still shows, especially on sets located indoors.<br /><br />One instance where this became humorous was when they had a crossover with ''[[CSI: NY]]'', and David Caruso obviously brought his orange with him when everything else was blue. This gets a [[Shout-Out]] in the ads for the ''[[Crossover|CSI Trilogy]]'' with pictures of the three leads tinted with their respective lighting. (original being green)

** The lighting used on the shows seems to extend to the DVD packaging with CSI being in green boxes, ''[[CSI: NY]]'' being in blue boxes and ''[[CSI: Miami]]'' being in -- you guessed it -- orange boxes.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'': Used for most of the scenes that happen on {{spoiler|New Caprica and the 1st Earth}} in the remake. In addition, the Algae Planet had a more grey-blue tint to it. Scenes in Caprica had a bad orange lighting even before the nukes hit.

* Parodied on ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]''.

 

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