When it looks like nothing changes

In film making, lighting is the thing you see without being... the thing you see. It conveys mood. It conveys space.

To show that the characters are crossing a vast warehouse, for example, the lighting might be done in checkerboard. Places look bigger with spots of light breaking the shadows. If it were all evenly lighted, it would look small. Monotonous. Unchanging.

Life is a big space. It needs spots of light.