#st lighting

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that godforsaken green lighting

Something that makes me insane is the colour grading in the “eleven, are you listening?” trailer.

Look at how green it is.

It’s completely different from the lab lighting during NINA.

This difference in lighting and colour grading between the trailer and the NINA sequences could almost be written off as an artistic choice if it wasnt for the fact that the green colour grading/lighting also appears during El’s S1 lab flashbacks/memories.

A very similar sort of green lighting is also used in Chrissy’s bathroom scene- and I think it’s used because Henry’s memories and trauma are informing the way that he traumatizes others/the visions he shows them. He’s seen that green fluorescent lighting before, in the lab, and as such, production chose to use it again.

Hell, it’s not just me making this up- the production team has already talked about how this green lighting in Chrissy’s scene was an intentional choice (source).

But the fact that Henry’s likely seen that lighting in the lab before and that El’s S1 lab memories have that sort of lighting is fascinating considering that it’s not present during NINA. Almost like NINA isn’t the full story. Almost like the teaser trailer scenes (which are scenes that AREN’T in the show) are El’s actual memories, just like how the S1 flashbacks are her actual memories. 

And to really drive this home, take a look at Kali’s lab memories. It’s got that green tinge again. 

And take a look at the S1 scenes of Hopper in the lab and how we continue to see that green tint/greenish colour grading associated with the lab. It’s stronger in some scenes than others, but still present. 

Hell, look at a comparison of the beige tiles behind Hopper’s head vs the beige tiles on the bathroom floor with Chrissy- not only is it a production choice to have such similar tiles, adding another visual tie between Chrissy’s scene and the lab, but the lighting on the tiles/their colour in the light is basically the exact same, indicating that the lighting in both scenes is the same. Which is a conscious choice. They’ve chosen to light and colour grade Chrissy’s scene the same way as a lab scene.

It’s not just a green tint that’s applied to memories, otherwise, we wouldn’t be seeing it with scenes such as Hopper’s lab scenes, and even if it was just used to indicate memories, then it should be present during NINA, but it’s not. The NINA sequences are the outlier here. That green tint/lighting is constantly associated with the lab and is consistent with the reality of the lab, and yet, is absent during NINA scenes. The green tint is literally inescapable in the lab in all scenes except for NINA. It’s more subtle in some scenes, but still there. With the NINA lab scenes though, it’s gone entirely.

Take a look at these scenes:

The green is more subtle, especially in the first two shots, but it’s absolutely still there. During NINA, we get much more blue-grey toned shots. It’s more sterile than sickly, the greenish yellow tinge is gone. Even in the NINA scenes that come the closest to being green, they’re still not green, they’re still blue.

And look at the flickering fluorescent during NINA vs the flickering fluorescent in Chrissy’s bathroom scene. Chrissy’s fluorescent turns blue sometimes, but also straight up turns green. The fluorescent in NINA, on the other hand, remains blue. There’s blue tones present in the green-toned S1 lab and Chrissy shots, but there’s also these sickly green/yellow tones that are absent from NINA. Even the mildest green in the S1 lab scenes are greener than the strongest closest-to-green scenes during NINA.

As well, the green is ALSO consistent with Terry’s memories of the lab. Again, the NINA scenes are the outlier here. 

This is something I’m working on diving into in the electrocution scene analysis, but I think the teaser trailer gives us some very important insight into what actually happened the day of the massacre. Especially because as Brenner said himself, El still hasn’t seen the truth. And neither has the audience. Brenner wanted to continue to do NINA work with El- what was he going to show her? What is the truth? What truth does Brenner think El is going to see? 

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i just think it’s interesting that the lens flare colours here are so similar and that the placement of the sun is so similar and that Chrissy and Alice look so similar and that this was right before Chrissy saw a vision in the woods… hell Alice’s hairstyle at the dinner table is basically identical to Chrissy’s ponytail

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staring directly at the lesbian flag coloured lens flare on top of chrissy 

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staring directly at the choice to feature victor’s shadow so prominently in this scene. i could talk forever about how often victor’s surrounded by shadow & the lighting choices with him (which i WILL talk about eventually, i just need to finish the analysis), but the choice specifically to show off victor’s silhouette here is haunting me considering this post.

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That Really Weird Colour Grading Change When El’s Being Used As A Swiffer

So, we start off with this cold, clinical, not particularly saturated colour grading when El’s in her swiffer mop era:

And then for some reason, at the same time as the kid’s body that El’s bumping into suddenly being an adult, the colour grading gets much warmer, using the grey chair bench thing as a point of reference for the shift from cool to warm:

Like this is what that exact kid looked like in other shots, he’s WAY smaller in other shots:

And then IMMEDIATELY after that warm shot, we’re back to cold and clinical colour grading:

And that kid that el bumped into is suddenly smaller snd WAY over here, by the bookshelf:

That kid totally changed into an adult at the SAME TIME as the colour grading changed and then changed back into a kid/moved positions entirely once the grading changed again.

And the colour grading in that warm shot is weirdly similar to these still image shots:

Which is something I’m currently writing an analysis on, but even though that Brenner outfit shows up during a rainbow room scene during NINA, this exact scene and colour grading does not. That angle/shot/position of Brenner AND that colour grading are not present in the show. It’s not just an ungraded shot, it’s a scene of Brenner talking from that angle that straight up doesn’t exist in the show. The closest thing to it is this next screenshot, and even then, the kids in the bg are in different orders too compared to the still image.

And there’s also a whole kid who was laying on that grey block chair thing who’s just straight up GONE before and during the colour grading change.

Here he is, laying on that exact grey bench earlier:

And now he’s gone and the body by the door AND the body el bumps into are also in different positions in each of these shots:

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*overanalyzing voice* “so you see, this shot represents the fact that Mike is now seeing the light (mike’s love for will), whereas Will is looking away and does not see the light (mike’s love for will), because Will assumes it is unreciprocated. the light is representative of mike’s love for will because Will is always slightly differently lit when being viewed from mike’s pov, cast in warm, angelic lighting.

Mike is now literally seeing the light- he’s seen Will the whole time, he’s seen the lighting on Will whole time, he’s seen him bathed in sunlight, but he’s never really seen where the light is coming from- he never really understood why he saw Will that way, all angelic and glowing. (literally with the lighting and figuratively with mike’s feelings towards him and how the way he felt about Will/way he saw him was different from mike’s other friends).

But now? Now he sees the light. He sees that the way he sees will (literally and figuratively) is because he loves him. Because of mike’s own feelings. He sees where the light is coming from. He finally understands the source of the way he sees will/how he feels about him.”

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guy who is so normal about Victor’s retelling of the murders being lit like a Caravaggio painting. i need to finish the full post on this but smthn smthn caravaggio & shadows representing doubt smthn smthn victor saying he "might of" killed his family in the indianapolis gazette smthn smthn victor's retelling being unreliable/full of doubt/his memories being messed with smthn smthn the lighting sounds like a reach but imo its 1000% intentional and there's other scenes in ST that are basically recreations of entire caravaggio paintings sooooo

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it’s interesting to me how during this scene at rink-o-mania, the blue light is the one with the flare around it/the brightest spotlight on el, considering that blue is Mike’s colour.  It’s also interesting to me how technically MIke played a role in El getting hit by the milkshake because he told the guy to stop the music, which lead to the milkshake. I know this was the plan all along and would’ve happened regardless of mike, but what’s interesting to me is that the st production/writers chose to have mike go up anyways + seemingly play a role in it and then ALSO have the blue spotlight be the biggest one on El when she falls.  smthn smthn mike is hurting el even when he tries to help smthn smthn that’s exactly what happened with his pizza shop monologue

Like as soon as El hits the ground, the other red and blue lights get brighter too, which are el and mike’s colours.