My Favorite Wake Up Dead Man Scene Shows Off Just How Important An Overlooked Part Of Filmmaking Can Be

It’s an often-repeated axiom that filmmaking is a collaborative art form. It’s certainly true. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of people whose creative work goes into making the movies that we watch on the big screen or at home. That said, some of the people in the collaboration tend to get noticed more than others. We always see the actors, and we might often notice the work of the costume designer. We frequently notice the work of the editor, especially if it’s particularly good (or not). But other talents are no less important even if we frequently don’t notice.

There are some skills where it’s said that, when they’re done right, you don’t notice them at all. I might have tended to agree with that idea in the broad sense, but when I recently sat down to watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery with my Netflix subscription, I noticed one particular element of filmmaking in a way I’m not sure I ever had before.

Benoit Blanc’s Introduction In Wake Up Dead Man Is A Work Of Art

Technically speaking, Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc is the first character we see in the movie, reading the report on the events of the story that takes up the first act of Wake Up Dead Man. However, his character isn’t properly introduced until much later, when he wanders into the church at the heart of the mystery as Josh O’Connor’s Father Jud is considering his situation.

The light is pouring into the church until Father Jud asks Blanc how the church makes him feel, at which point it’s as if the sun goes behind a cloud because the lighting temperature of the entire shot shifts into a dim gloom. Blanc, who clearly has some issues with religion, goes on a bit of a tirade about all the problems he has with it. The color of the scene remains in place until Father Jud responds, and the light returns. Check out the end of the scene here.

Is it subtle? Not even a bit. That’s clearly the point. Rian Johnson wanted people to see this, and when you do, the understanding is clear. I love the scene, but not only for its own sake, but for the way it made me think about all the other filmmaking details that we don’t otherwise think about.

Wake Up Dead Man Draws Attention To Something You Don’t Always Notice, But That Is Always Important

Lighting choices are one of those things in filmmaking that most people probably file under the “If you didn’t notice it, it did its job right” category, but the fact is that even if you don’t always register lighting choices in the cinematography, you always notice them.

Wake Up Dead Man cinematographer Steve Yedlin spoke to CinemaBlend and discussed the lighting, specifically, the creative use of which goes far beyond this scene. Lighting is a conscious choice on the part of a filmmaker at every moment. Whether it’s deciding what artificial lighting to use or what time of day to shoot in order to get as much of a certain type of natural light as possible, it’s always a choice. And that choice is always made for a reason.

Lighting is particularly important in Wake Up Dead Man, so it's handled in a way that makes you see it. That said, I'm going to use the fact that I've been woken up on this particular area of filmmaking to consider the lighting more in every movie I watch.