Tropescilloscope: Chiaroscuro

One bright light source leaves everything else in shadow. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Bad Boss Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome The '60s From Bad to Worse Award-Bait Song The Dog Bites Back Redshirt Army Parental Substitute Manic Pixie Dream Girl The X of Y Card-Carrying Villain No Celebrities Were Harmed Body Horror Your Head A-Splode Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Silent Movie Poor Communication Kills Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Left the Background Music On Broken Aesop Agony of the Feet Pimped-Out Dress Neck Lift Casting Gag Obstructive Bureaucrat Drives Like Crazy From Nobody to Nightmare Refuge in Audacity 20 Minutes into the Future Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer As the Good Book Says... Conspicuous CG Determinator aka: The Determinator Pretty in Mink Hong Kong Films Character Development Breaking the Fourth Wall Horror Comedy Not So Above It All Badass Grandpa Kick the Son of a Bitch Cool Guns Bait-and-Switch Token Minority B-Movie Advertised Extra For the Evulz The Voiceless Posthumous Character Naked People Are Funny Recycled IN SPACE! Adaptational Attractiveness Meet Cute Heroes Want Redheads Babies Ever After Visual Pun Auto Erotica "Shaggy Dog" Story Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Spiteful Spit Meaningful Name Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Betty and Veronica Obviously Evil Arranged Marriage Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Ms. Fanservice As You Know Product Placement Attempted Rape Whole Plot Reference Fanservice Deliberate Values Dissonance Parental Neglect Police are Useless The Faceless The Mafia French Films Fatal Family Photo Sequel Escalation Adaptation Name Change Captain Obvious Fun with Acronyms Big Damn Heroes Film Noir One-Word Title Those Two Guys Cool Car Ragtag Bunch of Misfits The Film of the Book Aside Glance The Un-Reveal The Casanova "The Reason You Suck" Speech Eiffel Tower Effect Dark Reprise Wretched Hive Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Cat Scare One Steve Limit Race Against the Clock Sanity Slippage Blood from the Mouth Real Life Mighty Whitey Badass Normal Contrived Coincidence Madness Mantra Does Not Like Shoes No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Anti-Villain The Lost Lenore Lampshade Hanging Hollywood Law Shout-Out Hate Sink Faux Affably Evil Heroic Sacrifice Covers Always Lie O.O.C. Is Serious Business Rule of Symbolism Hero of Another Story Scenery Gorn Retired Badass Unreliable Narrator Mercy Kill Dark Is Not Evil Fanservice Extra Demoted to Extra Enemy Mine Small Name, Big Ego Homage Cluster F-Bomb Ambiguous Disorder Jerkass Bi the Way Totally Radical Idiot Ball Darkest Hour Call-Forward Unusually Uninteresting Sight Antagonist Title Paper-Thin Disguise Ominous Latin Chanting My God, What Have I Done? Famous Last Words Chekhov's Skill Foil Chase Scene Tap on the Head Punch-Clock Villain Stuff Blowing Up Shipper on Deck Bunny-Ears Lawyer Flashback Extreme Doormat Slasher Movie Adults Are Useless A God Am I Mama Bear Only Sane Man Death by Adaptation Random Events Plot Made of Explodium Jitter Cam Film Noir Index The Atoner Works Set in World War II Disproportionate Retribution Not So Stoic The Smurfette Principle Action Genre The Hero Lighter and Softer There Is No Kill Like Overkill Disney Villain Death Novelization Red Oni, Blue Oni German Films Canadian Movies Slashed Throat Driven to Suicide Brainless Beauty Kids Are Cruel Danny Peary Cult Movies List Trailers Always Spoil Disney Death Genre Shift Skewed Priorities Deliberately Monochrome Damsel in Distress The Cavalry Insult Backfire Pragmatic Adaptation Bowdlerise Fate Worse than Death Very Loosely Based on a True Story Badass Boast Narrator Say My Name Dramedy Bald of Evil Death Seeker Evil Sounds Deep Italian Films Red Right Hand Anguished Declaration of Love Ripped from the Headlines Red Herring Adaptation Expansion You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Smoking Is Cool Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Earn Your Happy Ending Anti-Hero Facial Horror Action Prologue Dirty Cop Title Drop Improbable Aiming Skills Cool Old Guy Expy Closed Circle Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Laughing Mad What You Are in the Dark Despair Event Horizon The Load Decoy Protagonist Final Girl Face Death with Dignity Determinator Morality Pet Manchild No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Male Frontal Nudity More Dakka Up to Eleven The Hero Dies The Chick Beware the Nice Ones Epic Fail Getting Crap Past the Radar Eye Scream Woman Scorned Reality Has No Subtitles Dogged Nice Guy Ax-Crazy Men Are the Expendable Gender Kubrick Stare Only One Name Cassandra Truth Revenge Pay Evil unto Evil Bring My Brown Pants Big Bad Duumvirate Empathic Environment Even Evil Has Standards Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Woman in White World of Ham He Knows Too Much Moment Killer Shower Scene Index of Film Westerns Better to Die than Be Killed Riddle for the Ages "Well Done, Son!" Guy Serious Business Rated M for Manly Age Lift Intrepid Reporter Deconstruction Developing Doomed Characters La Résistance Dramatic Irony Suddenly SHOUTING! Black Dude Dies First Obfuscating Stupidity Creative Closing Credits Author Avatar Black and Gray Morality Have a Gay Old Time Actor Allusion Artistic License – Biology Cain and Abel Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Unusual Euphemism Dark Action Girl '80s Hair Jump Scare Bilingual Bonus Bullying a Dragon Noodle Incident Pretty Little Headshots Black Best Friend Not Even Bothering with the Accent Hope Spot You Killed My Father Exact Words The Stoner Alpha Bitch Take a Third Option The Mole Adapted Out Deal with the Devil Canon Foreigner Drugs Are Bad Retcon Hypocrite Ascended Extra Disappeared Dad Asshole Victim Only a Flesh Wound Animal Motifs Jerk with a Heart of Gold Daylight Horror Affably Evil Bar Brawl Dramatic Gun Cock Five-Man Band The Place Early Installment Weirdness Those Two Bad Guys Adaptational Villainy Pyrrhic Victory Dressing as the Enemy Let's Get Dangerous! Stock Footage The Smart Guy She's Got Legs I Just Shot Marvin in the Face The Dreaded Kick the Dog Mooks Heterosexual Life-Partners Self-Deprecation Match Cut Grey and Gray Morality Adaptational Badass Every Car Is a Pinto Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Biopic Corrupt Corporate Executive Credits Gag Foregone Conclusion Central Theme Foreshadowing Cowboy Cop The Alleged Car Fish out of Water Psychological Thriller Dying Moment of Awesome It's Personal Off-into-the-Distance Ending Stepford Smiler Belligerent Sexual Tension Guns Akimbo Bavarian Fire Drill Vomit Discretion Shot Market-Based Title Air-Vent Passageway Guile Hero Leitmotif Never Found the Body Star-Crossed Lovers Ironic Echo Retirony BFG Only Known by Their Nickname Dissonant Serenity Eureka Moment She Cleans Up Nicely Spell My Name with an "S" Immune to Bullets Funny Background Event Accidental Murder Death of a Child Older Than They Look Wounded Gazelle Gambit Tagline Gainax Ending Lock and Load Montage Vampire Fiction The Starscream Even Evil Has Loved Ones Redemption Equals Death Hypocritical Humor Tranquil Fury Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Break the Cutie Fat Bastard The Lancer Man on Fire Amoral Attorney Big Bad In the Back The Bad Guy Wins Truth in Television All Men Are Perverts I'm a Humanitarian Catapult Nightmare Wham Shot Demonic Possession Never Trust a Trailer Drowning My Sorrows Dark and Troubled Past Mythology Gag Pragmatic Villainy Sacrificial Lion Fake Shemp Knight Templar All for Nothing Bottomless Magazines Bury Your Gays You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Black Comedy The Oner Freudian Excuse Camp Gay Dual Wielding The Stinger Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique The Power of Love Plot Hole Kill It with Fire Show Within a Show Heel Realization The Cameo Villain Protagonist It Can Think Groin Attack Animated Credits Opening Would Hurt a Child Friend to All Children The '90s Action Girl Manly Tears Break the Haughty Exactly What It Says on the Tin Affectionate Parody Romantic Comedy Smug Snake The '70s Double Entendre Our Vampires Are Different Hidden Depths Sequel Hook Historical Hero Upgrade Too Dumb to Live Parental Incest Black Comedy Rape Love at First Sight Leave the Camera Running Establishing Character Moment Insane Troll Logic Sir Swears-a-Lot Distracted by the Sexy Martial Arts Movie Big "NO!" Overprotective Dad Chewing the Scenery Fatal Flaw Motor Mouth Nothing Is Scarier Creepy Child Monumental Damage Intergenerational Friendship Epic Movie Parental Abandonment Translation Convention Well-Intentioned Extremist Last-Name Basis Rousing Speech Karma Houdini Villain Ball The Chessmaster Non-Indicative Name Beauty Is Never Tarnished Composite Character Same Language Dub Honor Before Reason Red Eyes, Take Warning Wrong Genre Savvy Spiritual Successor Mundane Made Awesome Unresolved Sexual Tension Double-Meaning Title The Great Depression Drill Sergeant Nasty Deus ex Machina Twist Ending Rasputinian Death Evil-Detecting Dog Armor-Piercing Question Bittersweet Ending The Big Guy Sports Stories Broken Bird Everyone Has Standards Super Strength Scare Chord Big Eater The Brute Crapsack World Evil Laugh Genre Savvy Fantastic Racism Hero Antagonist Evil Is Petty A Father to His Men Spared by the Adaptation Fantasy Films The '50s Country Matters Artistic License – Law Fingore Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Almost Kiss Make It Look Like an Accident True Companions Brother–Sister Incest Evil Counterpart Cloudcuckoolander Really Gets Around Femme Fatale Bare Your Midriff Did Not Get the Girl I Did What I Had to Do Sealed Evil in a Can Fiery Redhead Crucified Hero Shot Take That! Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Awesome, but Impractical Depraved Bisexual Humiliation Conga Shown Their Work Adult Fear Apocalypse How Public Domain Feature Films What Happened to the Mouse? Rule of Cool Your Cheating Heart Laser-Guided Karma Red Shirt Ambiguously Gay Greater-Scope Villain Australian Movies The Bully Freeze-Frame Bonus Stealth Pun Hair-Trigger Temper Celebrity Paradox "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Together in Death Camera Abuse Scary Black Man Suspiciously Specific Denial Villain Opening Scene Cruel and Unusual Death Four-Temperament Ensemble Author Appeal Reality Ensues Artistic License – Geography Evil Cannot Comprehend Good A.I. Is a Crapshoot Villainous Breakdown Cat Fight An Axe to Grind Time Skip Frame-Up Bond Villain Stupidity All Girls Want Bad Boys Taking the Bullet Shirtless Scene Amusing Injuries The Vamp Mexican Standoff Historical Villain Upgrade Thriller Bloodier and Gorier The End... Or Is It? No Ending Fan Disservice Animal Title Index Adorkable Action Survivor Green-Eyed Monster Bond One-Liner Outrun the Fireball Dropped a Bridge on Him Destination Defenestration Dumb Blonde Improvised Weapon Rewatch Bonus Badass Longcoat This Is Gonna Suck Abusive Parents Butt-Monkey The Ace Bad "Bad Acting" My Greatest Failure Face–Heel Turn Jerk Jock Beard of Evil Logo Joke An Aesop Domestic Abuse Ship Tease Alliterative Name Rape as Drama Genre Throwback Back from the Dead Calling the Old Man Out In Medias Res I Need a Freaking Drink Anachronic Order Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Batman Gambit Married to the Job Slasher Smile Rule of Three I Have Your Wife Leaning on the Fourth Wall Evil Brit "Awesome McCool" Name Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Manipulative Bastard Reasonable Authority Figure Extremely Short Timespan Gender Flip Henpecked Husband And the Adventure Continues Early-Bird Cameo Serial Killer Defiant to the End Villain with Good Publicity Hollywood Darkness Taking You with Me How We Got Here Catch-Phrase Video Credits Soft Glass Undying Loyalty Our Zombies Are Different Dwindling Party Handicapped Badass Diabolus ex Machina Mugging the Monster Book-Ends Peek-a-Boo Corpse I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Humans Are Bastards Informed Ability Eyepatch of Power Big Brother Instinct Maybe Ever After Only in It for the Money Costume Porn Gone Horribly Right It Will Never Catch On Malevolent Masked Men Straight Gay Deadpan Snarker Soundtrack Dissonance Silence Is Golden Due to the Dead He Who Fights Monsters Mad Scientist Vacation Films The Ghost The Musical Male Gaze Car Fu Eagleland Toplessness from the Back Vomit Indiscretion Shot Fainting The '80s Brick Joke Sole Survivor Fourth Date Marriage Evil Is Hammy Downer Ending Major Injury Underreaction Victoria's Secret Compartment Here We Go Again! Stalker with a Crush Dull Surprise Tempting Fate You Have Failed Me Shut Up, Hannibal! For Want of a Nail Scenery Porn Room Full of Crazy Children Are Innocent Gory Discretion Shot Science Fiction Films Ambiguous Ending In Name Only Failed a Spot Check Not Quite Dead Loads and Loads of Characters Took a Level in Jerkass Bland-Name Product Artistic License – Military Killed Mid-Sentence Eldritch Abomination Villain Song Heel–Face Turn Dirty Coward All Just a Dream Psycho for Hire Meaningful Echo Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking The Stoic Not Using the "Z" Word Put on a Bus Military and Warfare Films Word of God The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Needs Wiki Magic Love Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Plucky Comic Relief Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Oh, Crap! Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Jerkass Has a Point Captain Ersatz Missing Mom Mind Screw Russian Films Funny Foreigner Heroic BSoD Authority Equals Asskicking Precision F-Strike Bound and Gagged Horror Films After the End Easily Forgiven The Dragon Grievous Bottley Harm Adaptation Dye-Job It's All About Me Karmic Death Once More, with Clarity! Faking the Dead One-Man Army The Alcoholic Superhero Dies Wide Open Badass Bookworm Arch-Enemy Big Fancy House Gold Digger Spanner in the Works Didn't Think This Through Not What It Looks Like Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Romantic False Lead Department of Redundancy Department Artistic License – History And I Must Scream Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Historical-Domain Character Big-Bad Ensemble No Antagonist Implacable Man Slap-Slap-Kiss Music Stories Daddy's Girl Training Montage folderlabel Anyone Can Die Crazy-Prepared Real Life Writes the Plot Took a Level in Badass Shell-Shocked Veteran Love Triangle Interrupted Suicide Race Lift Dirty Old Man Sinister Minister Mr. Fanservice Neck Snap Fire-Forged Friends Artistic License – Physics Improbable Weapon User Bloody Hilarious All There in the Script Artistic License – Gun Safety Insistent Terminology Offscreen Moment of Awesome A Minor Kidroduction Vitriolic Best Buds Made of Iron Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Cold-Blooded Torture Bloodless Carnage Nice Guy British Films Psychopathic Manchild Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday And Starring Re-Cut Expository Hairstyle Change Does This Remind You of Anything? Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Be Careful What You Wish For Cool Shades Mystery and Detective Films Darker and Edgier timeperiod Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Flipping the Bird Evil vs. Evil Would Hit a Girl Cool Old Lady Wicked Cultured Blood Knight Chekhov's Gun Not So Different Mood Whiplash Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Berserk Button Reckless Gun Usage Adaptation Distillation Defrosting Ice Queen Sci-Fi Horror Aluminum Christmas Trees The Quiet One As Himself Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Disguised in Drag An Arm and a Leg Yandere Storming the Castle Rule of Funny Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Nice Hat Dutch Angle Boom, Headshot! Arc Words Shoot the Shaggy Dog Death Glare Irony Knife Nut Loophole Abuse Death by Sex Setting Update Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun NO INDOOR VOICE Blackmail Mistaken for Gay A Date with Rosie Palms Japanese Films Punny Name Bolivian Army Ending Kill 'em All Ghost Fiction MacGuffin Never My Fault Police Brutality Playing Gertrude Gilligan Cut Throwing Your Sword Always Works No-Sell Sassy Black Woman Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Reality Is Unrealistic Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Badass in a Nice Suit Stylistic Suck As Long as It Sounds Foreign Alas, Poor Villain Roaring Rampage of Revenge Curb-Stomp Battle Comically Missing the Point Framing Device Beta Couple Hooker with a Heart of Gold Sadistic Choice Chiaroscuro No OSHA Compliance Names to Run Away from Really Fast Call-Back Suspiciously Similar Substitute Actually Pretty Funny Mr. Exposition Hell Is That Noise Continuity Nod Ass Shove Evil Plan Pet the Dog Combat Pragmatist Curse Cut Short Crazy Jealous Guy Annoying Younger Sibling Light Is Not Good Becoming the Mask Blonde, Brunette, Redhead What the Hell, Hero? Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Corpsing Zombie Stories Brutal Honesty Gratuitous English Ungrateful Bastard Hoist by His Own Petard Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Politically Incorrect Villain Documentary Imagine Spot Adaptational Heroism Large Ham Sexy Discretion Shot May–December Romance Creator Cameo Christmas Movies Index Off with His Head! The Ditz Based on a True Story N-Word Privileges All There in the Manual Historical In-Joke War Is Hell Death by Irony Instant Death Bullet Running Gag Blatant Lies Rich Bitch Important Haircut Abhorrent Admirer Properly Paranoid Meaningful Background Event Overly Long Gag Happily Married No Name Given The Sociopath Protagonist Title Line-of-Sight Name Anachronism Stew Naïve Newcomer Half the Man He Used to Be The Reveal Big Applesauce Worthy Opponent Television Movie Index My Beloved Smother Wham Line Good Is Not Nice Broken Pedestal Coming-of-Age Story Gorn Offscreen Teleportation Accidental Misnaming Get Out! Chekhov's Gunman Papa Wolf Pre-Mortem One-Liner Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Unwitting Instigator of Doom The Remake Those Wacky Nazis Unspoken Plan Guarantee Film Series Stealth Hi/Bye