The Lighting in Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is the story of a tragically beautiful and vulnerable young woman, who is assigned to an institutional asylum after her intent to save her younger sister inadvertently leads to a horrible conclusion. The chiaroscuro lighting underlines an appropriately sinister backdrop of grief and loss in charting the bleak trajectory of this character. The light in Sucker Punch, becomes it’s own sinister character. From the incessant lightening outside, to the very specific 50’s style recessed flush mount lamps on the wall. The production team turned day into night by using the “Hotter than the sun” technique. Perhaps no single stylistic visual element of film noir is more pervasive than that of chiaroscuro lighting. Chiaroscuro lighting is an artistic term dating back to the Renaissance that is noted by the contrast between dark and light. In Sucker Punch it is used in a bold manner, it has a noticeable and dramatic effect on the entire composition. The shadows and strange lighting of this film is traditionally noir, the dark room with lightening bisecting a criminal as the light flows through partially opened blinds is also a common film noir scene. Cinematographers used low-key lighting to get this effect because of its ability to show distinctness between light and dark areas. One of the reasons many of the films of the 1940′s and 50′s have the “look” that came to be known as noir is due to small budgets. A cheap set looks much better when draped in darkness and shadow. When directors and cinematographers wanted to highlight something, they would simply spray the light specifically where they wanted, thus creating distinct contrasts. Films such as Sucker Punch are pushing the limits on how we use this type of lighting in big budget movies of today. Traditionally, light has been used as a backdrop to set the tone of the film. However, in Sucker Punch the light is as important of a character as the lead actors. Without the extravagant light the