High key? Low key? High contrast? Some combination of these?

1. High key lighting--features bright, even illumination and few conspicuous shadows. This lighting key is often used in musicals and comedies.
2. Low key lighting--features diffused shadows and atmospheric pools of light. This lighting key is often used in mysteries and thrillers.
3. High contrast lighting--features harsh shafts of lights and dramatic streaks of blackness. This type of lighting is often used in tragedies and melodramas.

 

Ghost World (2001)

The lighting key in this shot is moderate. The scene is not brightly lit, but there isn't a lot of shadows either. Also, there isn't a great contrast between lights and darks in the shot. Moderate lighting fits the genre, a character-based comedy/drama. It's not as bright as a light comedy, as dark as a thriller, or as dramatic as a tragedy or melodrama.

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