Film grammar / Lighting
Practical Lighting
Light sources visible in the frame: lamps, screens, candles, neon.
What it is
Practicals are lights that exist inside the story - a desk lamp, a TV, candles, a neon sign. Lighting a scene "from practicals" makes it feel real and motivated.
When to use it
Modern low-light cameras made practical-only lighting a signature of contemporary drama.
How to prompt it
Name the practical and its colour: "face lit only by the blue glow of an old CRT television".
Close-up, a small boy in a dark living room, face lit only by the blue glow of an old CRT television, slow push-in, 85mm.
26 examples in the library
Night Bus Stop
slow push-inwide
Last Dance
slow orbitfull
Midnight Diner
staticmedium
Blue Glow
slow push-inclose-up
Night Shift Lab
slow dolly-inmedium-close
Keeper
staticwide
After Hours
staticextreme-wide
Vigil
slow dolly-inwide
Posters
slow rotatemedium