Why Light Brings Us Out Of the Dark: Sunset Blvd.

The mood of the film is immediately established by the narrator, a dead man floating in a swimming pool. The narrator's voice sounds amused, he promises to tell us, in a unique flashback structure, the real story of young screenwriter Joe Gillis and how he ended up face down (with his eyes open) in the villa's pool. The lighting in this opening scene is almost all natural. The sun lights up the pool area so that the body can be shown floating in the middle of the screen. In this scene, the three point lighting scheme is not in use. There is no need for it. There is nothing t

Towards the end of the film, Joe is discovered to be working on a film script with another woman by the name of Betty Schaefer. On his return to the mansion one night, Max meets him in the shadows of the garage. Protectively, he tells Joe to be careful so that Norma will not see him coming home so late. Max is concerned that Norma has become pathologically suspicious and that she had begun to notice how often Joe was gone. Joe asks Max how long he is going to shield Norma from the truth that he is writing a script with Betty. Joe is not interested in hiding the truth from Norma any more, although Max explains why he has dutifully accepted his subservient role. Max reveals that he is Max von Mayerling, the silent film maker who discovered Norma as a young girl and has been leading her on to believe that she still can accomplish her stardom in Sound Movies by writing her phony fan mail and getting artificial phone calls from studios. The lighting in this scene helps to make this newfound reality a little dark in Joe’s world. The whole scene is lit in a very low-key tone. All the facial lighting is super soft because in the dark, things aren’t always clear. Max’s body is practically fully hidden in the corner of the garage as Joe exits his car. It really reveals how equally “dark” Max is in comparison to Norma. He shows his true colors and tells Joe the whole truth in the darkness, because when he is in the light, it is show time,

Some topics in this essay:
Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard, Sound Movies, Joe Gillis, Billy Wilder, Hard Lighting, Betty Schaefer, Norma Max, Joe Gillis’, Ms Desmond’s, sunset boulevard, convey character, camera closes, billy wilder, norma desmond, coming sound, lighting scene, light help, lit low-key, tells joe,