Tropescilloscope: Chiaroscuro

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

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