I offer Apocalypse Now as one of the great uses of light/darkness. In the age of special technological effects it is refreshing to think of movies that used something as simple as light and darkness to make the movie powerful. As Sheen's character moves deeper into Brando's egocentric, narcissitic world the entire movie become dark, literally. The world created by Brando's character is a world of shadows and night. Even Brando's face is shaded with dark Tatoo-like images. This use of light and darkness is the major special effect uses in the movie. What movies do you think employ simple effects as the instrument to convey its message, and what are those simple effects?

The shadows used on Brando were actually to hide the extra lbs he had packed on during the film's hiatus.

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Originally posted by P-Bo:
The shadows used on Brando were actually to hide the extra lbs he had packed on during the film's hiatus.

I remember reading articles about this in the late 70s, and they were true. I do think the use of "excessive shadowing and darkness" on Brando were exactly because of his weight gain. However, the journey into the jungle toward insanity and the reign of an egomaniac used the movement of light to darkness apart from Brando's "expansion." Thank you for reminding that we did have more darkness than was probably needed due to this fact.

(later) I watched Seven today and this was a great use of darkness and shadow in leading us through the seven deadly sins toward murder.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rev. Rikard,

I was astounded when I learned that the effect they used for Freddy to look at Nancy through the bedroom wall in "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was just a latex wall! That was the creepiest, most visually amazing scene in the whole movie!

There's a scene in John Carpenter's "The Fog" where the main woman character is visiting a church, and the priest (I think?) suddenly swoops forth, materializing out of the shadows. It can't have been very complicated to do, but it looks amazing.

Another one is in "Eternal Sunshine..." where Jim Carrey is playing a todler hiding under a table...he literally looks about three feet tall, and the rest of the kitchen looks totally real. It's just a forced perspective painting on the wall behind him, combined with the right camera angle (and a big table), which makes him look tiny. But until I watched the making-of docs and saw the set, it was really magical.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Commontone,

"Be Kind Rewind" actually came up with some pretty inventive ways to reproduce the effects in their movies. The way they pulled of the Ghostbuster's proton packs was ingenious!