American night shooting is a cinematographic technique used to shoot exterior scenes supposed to take place at night during the day.
The night effect is marked by a dark sky and contrasting lighting. Images are often underexposed, which means dark; If the shot is in color, the dominance of the blue color will be very noticeable.
For good American night shooting, it's imperative to have a completely clear sky, with no clouds or flying objects. A polarizing filter makes the blue sky much darker.
In both color and black & white, gradient filters are used to darken the upper part of the image (when the shot is fixed).
For color shots, a bluish or violet filter is added, in imitation of the Purkinje effect, allowing the blue color to be perceived more accurately in low light.
Pink areas of the skin should be made up to darken them and keep the color as close to "natural" as possible.
We talked about the Purkinje effect above, here's a mapped explanation :
We might think that the image is everything ? But no, the soundtrack plays a very important role.
In nature, for example, nocturnal sounds are easily differentiated from daytime ones. Sound processing contributes to the nocturnal effect when it is well executed.
When is American night used ?
Very often used in the 1980s, this technique is much rarer today. The focus is on scenes set in the countryside or mountains, avoiding extraneous lighting as much as possible.
This technique is more economical, as shooting on location at night is much more expensive.
The expression "American night" is only used in France.