Film sets: Lights, action, Tacoma!

I am watching the movie “Arrival” as I write this. I told my wife within a minute that “Oh, this must have been filmed in Canada.”

The primary clue is that Canada, apparently, has an embargo on film studio lighting. Their indoor scenes preclude the audience from discerning the full range of actors’ facial expressions. Rainy, cloudy weather and scenes shot at dusk or dawn and night all have the same effect. Every film made in Canada seems to have this characteristic.

Tacoma must encourage more studio films in our area. We owe our neighbors to the north the friendly example of how to properly light scenes in weather not much unlike theirs. We have equally fine homes, institutions and world-class scenery just like Canada.

Notable and well-lighted films have been filmed in Tacoma in the past, but I suspect those examples have been forgotten. Let’s remind Canada how to do it right.

This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Film sets: Lights, action, Tacoma!."