Solving the Issue (Lighting): External Lighting Sources

    As previously mentioned, it was challenging to see the subject(s) of the shots. Though day-for-night shooting presented a unique opportunity, using external lighting sources is a more realistic and reliable solution.

    Firstly, we must know the source of light within the shot - otherwise referred to as the "motivation." When lighting this outside scene, it would look unnatural for there to be a randomly colored light shining on the subject(s), so when thinking about the motivation of the light we must ensure it is indicative of what is occurring within the world of the film. For example in our opening scene when we see La Llorona standing on the side of the road, diegetic light is "motivated" by the moon, street lamps, and the car that drives by. Those light sources may exist, but they are not strong enough to adequately light the scene. As such, we must enhance the light via extra lights that mimic the color/brightness of the original light source.

    Light motivation is also applicable inside, so we must take a similar mindset to light when inside. Though we will not need large lights like we would outside, by using reflectors we can enhance the white light from TV, thus solving the issue of dim lighting. Using reflectors as opposed to extra lights preserves the realistic look of the light from the TV. 

In this shot from Apocalypse Now (1979) we see a man sitting inside a dark room with sunlight shining through a window onto his head. The light is clearly motivated by the placement of the window/sun. It's also important to acknowledge that the color of the sunlight is in line with the color of actual sunlight. As previously mentioned, when mimicking light sources with extra lights it's important that the proper color is used as well - you shouldn't be using white light to mimic the sun's light.