It feels like using light to sculpt a scene has fallen out of fashion. Films are trying to mimic “natural” light too much. There’s an anecdote about a conversation between Sean Astin and LOTR cinematographer Andrew Leslie: “Where’s the light coming from?” … “Same place as the music”

THAT'S the right perspective. You gotta put the light in so that people can see what's happening! Who cares if it's not *the sun*, you're telling a story, not being photorealistic! There's a dragon FFS!

Like, the Hellboy (2024) and Alien:Romulus frames both feature backgrounds that have the same lighting as the foreground characters. There’s nothing defining the space.