American night

The American night is a cinematographic technique which allows, thanks to an under-exposure of the film and/or with the use of a filter, to turn day of the scenes, in outside, supposed to generally be held diégétiquement the night.

The filters used depend on the film, generally dark blue for the films colors, reds or greens for the films black and white. One can associate a polarizing filter there. However, in spite of the precautions taken during turning, it is generally possible to detect this type of faking: the luminosity of the sky, the reflections and the shades are often indices which reveal the easy way.

Very often used until in the Years 1980, this technique is rarer today in films with large budget, because with this technique the night is not credible and is only one convention established between the scenario writer and the spectator. Is used it still sometimes to reproduce the aspect of old films, or to save on the budget because a turning of night is definitely more expensive (costs of lighting and labor).

See too

the American Night is also the title-homage of film of François Truffaut telling the history of a turning.

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