From studying various films and listening to various mentors and colleagues, continuity in imagery is not as crucial as it is for the actual story. There are countless examples of these cases. I’ve wanted to put together something for a while now that shows images from a variety of films so people can stop wondering if what I am saying on set is true – that continuity for lighting may not be necessary as long as things make sense overall.

As more examples get added, this page will get longer.

FILM: RED NOTICE
The first example is from Red Notice, featuring the Rock and Ryan Reynolds.

Shot 1: We see from the POV of the actors entering the room. Light is coming from the window. Theoretically, if lighting should be consistent, then the factors facing the window should have their entire faces lit.

Shot 2: We see this is clearly not the case, as it’s the reverse shot of shot 1. The light is now coming from the right side of the camera. This lighting setup creates more dimension and looks less flat than if everyone was lit from the front.

Shot 3: Reverting back to Shot 1 and the lighting returns to coming from the window. Yet the light that should be on the actor’s left side from Shot 2 is not there anymore.