Film Light In This Scene

I’ve always loved this scene in Amadeus. I was so touched to see the creation of a piece of music, even if it was not true. 

In this scene, the director has chosen to light the room in a way that it appears as natural as possible.

  1. Mozart and Salieri are the main subjects. Since it was the 18th century, the director chose two candlesticks(with four or five candles on them) as the main light sources which were both present in the shot. Mozart’s light on his left; Salieri’s light on his right. The two main light sources created the shadows on their faces. And the quality of light is generally soft while you can still see some hard shadows on Salieri’s face.
  2. For the background light, behind Salieri, there’s a window and the “moonlight” came through it light the room. The main lights that bounced off the wall and the ceiling also enable us to see a bit of everything in the room.

This scene is quite intimate, which takes place in Mozart’s bedroom. Afterall, the process of composing is rarely seen by those who are not close to Mozart.

It is also a secret as what Salieri is doing here is to exhaust Mozart by helping him to compose when he is severely ill. Although the scene is filmed in front of Mozart and Salieri, it still feels like peeping into a murder scene but with no bloody images. 

The part of the Requiem they chose to use here is also quite interesting. They used this piece to do some clever cut-aways and created a bit of tension before Mozart’s death. Here are the lyrics:

While the wicked are confounded,
doomed to flames of woe unbounded
call me with thy saints surrounded.