{"id":11953,"date":"2026-10-16T05:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T03:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/16\/how-horror-dps-light-darkness\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T05:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T03:03:11","slug":"how-horror-dps-light-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/16\/how-horror-dps-light-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"How Horror DPs Light Darkness…"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

Being in the dark is scary, especially when you’re alone. Even better if you’re in an unfamiliar space and you hear a rustle in the night. Your imagination fills in the details of what’s unseen, of who’s with you, of what they want…<\/p>\n

So obviously the deep dark shadows have become part and parcel of the horror genre. But you can’t just put your audience in a dark room with a character. Darkness that reads as mud will lose them, no matter how great your sound design or jump scares are. <\/p>\n

So cinematographers have to get creative. For example, this year’s horror breakout <\/em>Obsession<\/a><\/em> is so dark. Curry Barker’s<\/a> lower-budget genre film had to get creative, but even on exterior night scenes (and that’s a lot of the film), DP Taylor Clemons<\/a> doesn’t obscure the details we need.<\/p>\n

Good horror darkness is built on purpose, through exposure, shape, motivation, and delivery. Today we’d like to look at three cinematographers to show the range, including Clemons for the digital indie, writer\/director\/DP Zack Snyder on a Netflix zombie epic, and Jarin Blaschke on 35mm studio gothic.<\/p>\n