I really enjoyed "The Parallax View" and one scene's cinematography and lighting interested me because it almost entirely relied on "natural light" from a giant window with sheers over it, I will get to that soon.
As in his later classic film, "All The President's Men," Director Alan J. Pakulauch (a fantastic THRILLER genre filmmaker) utilizes massive shots of landscapes specifically featuring complex architectural design to create concrete mazes his characters move through in danger. It also feels as if they are a small cog in a very large and dangerous machine.
The film is high-key lighting, utilizing noir type shadows and deep blacks. Often we see the actor in silhouette or almost complete shadow and the background is lit which creates a striking separation from the actor and the background and adds an intense element of the character needing to hide and operate with cloak and dagger tactics.
Going back to the natural lighting of one of my favorite moments in the film, here is my cinematography and lighting breakdown on a shot of Warren Beatty.
THE SHOT
MY DIAGRAM
The large window near them is the motivation for the KEY LIGHT in the scene, this is the light that hits the BROAD SIDE of their face or the side of the face that faces towards our camera. It is almost certain that at least one other daylight balanced light was added in to help light the actors on the KEY LIGHT side as they are now a bit further from the balcony door.
On the short side of their faces or the side of their face that is on the opposite side of the camera, there is a daylight balanced FILL LIGHT, much weaker just to make the rest of their face visible. This fill light could also be a BOUNCE of the key light but on this level of production, another light is easier and allows the actors to move where they need to in the action of the scene.
Separation is created from Beatty and the background by having a tungsten practical right behind him over his left shoulder. I enjoyed the look of this scene and the more I thought about it, the more simple it seemed to achieve. I think that is the hallmark of good cinematography, simple and interesting while giving the actors and director room to deliver their best.