Lighting Design and mood American Beauty (LO Number 8)

I have recently watched Sam Mendes's 2000 movie "American beauty" and decided to write about how the lighting of a scene can affect the design and mood of it.

I chose the scene of the second family dinner, the most famous scene of the movie along with the first family dinner. In this scene, unlike the first dinner, the red flowers are now removed off the table, the long candles are now on the left, and the small ones on the right. The father is now holding a beer and not a wine glass anymore.

Regarding the lighting, a bright light is now covering the whole table, and this table is now covered unlike the first dinner scene. That bright light brings a totally different mood to the scene, as the mood appears to be now lighter. Added to that, we can now see that it is dark outside, another different point compare to the prevous dinner scene. If you have watched the movie, you may know this is a anger scene, as Kevin Spacey has now decided to change his life, and get rid of his wife ruling the atmosphere of the house.

Regarding the mood of the scene, all the characters are now speaking to each other more or less in a stronger tone, and as the scene goes, it will look even brighter, until Kevin Spacey flips out and start his scoop. This scene marks a hard turn in the movie, because it's at this moment that Kevin Spacey start living for himself only, and that was maybe, with this specialy scene, the best time to bring it to life.