How To Recreate Movie Magic With Smart Lighting, Right From Your Living Room July 5, 2017 00:00
Photo by Hashi Photo via Wikimedia
Is there anything quite like the feel of going to a movie?
The smell of the popcorn, that enormous screen that lets you see every single detail, and a sound system that can shake you to your core. And when the house lights finally lower – there are few feelings that can compare!
While smart lighting can’t do anything about the intoxicating smell of popcorn (not yet anyway), it’s certainly one of the best tools around for recreating the look and feel of a movie theater in your very own home.
Here are just a couple of ways smart lighting can be used to turn your blasé movie nights into a truly cinematic experience.
Use colored lighting to add a bit of drama
Want to add a bit of flair to your favorite flick? Try watching it in a whole new light – literally!
Smart bulbs give you the power to change your lighting to nearly any color you can imagine. In fact, many high-end bulbs have over 16 million different hues to choose from.
Try watching an underwater shark thriller like Deep Blue Sea while your home theater’s bathed in dark blue light. Or maybe a jungle action flick like Tarzan while immersing yourself in a rich green hue. A deep red for desert films like Lawrence of Arabia will really put you in the heat of the Sahara!
And with smart lighting, adding this extra level of immersion is as easy as flipping a switch, especially when you’ve got TV bias light strips around your set.
Setting the scene
Arguably the best part about smart lighting is the ease of use. No matter where you are in your house or even in the entire world, as long as you’ve got a connected smart device, it’s like you’ve got a light switch right in your pocket.
But these bulbs can do more for you than just let you shut off your home theater’s lights right from your couch. They also let you create fine-tuned lighting environments that can improve nearly every experience, and that goes double for watching a movie.
For example, if you’re in the mood for a cheery romantic comedy, you can find out what lighting scheme works best for the genre (maybe a bit darker with some light pink coloring), save it, and use it again whenever you’d like.
Or maybe there’s a new horror flick that you just can’t bring yourself to watch in the dark (it’s okay – we’ve all been there before). Just flip on your fully customized horror film lighting setting and you’ve got the perfect environment to enjoy the scares without getting too immersed.
Setting the mood has never been easier!
Automate the theater experience with smart lighting
Have you heard of IFTTT? It’s an awesome new way to connect the various abilities of different apps. Automatically turn off your lights when you leave home, change your bulb’s colors to match the weather, the possibilities are really endless.
And when you apply this powerful functionality to your home theater, you can accomplish some pretty amazing things.
For example, you might be able to set up your system to automatically dim the lights, turn up the volume, and set your system’s picture to movie mode, all by simply starting a film.
Or maybe you want your hallway lights to brighten up whenever you pause a movie. No more fumbling in the dark on the way to the fridge.
And when you add Alexa integration into the picture, you can perform it all completely hands-free!
Get your lighting just right
What’s one of the most important factors when it comes to enjoying your favorite flicks? That’s right – it’s all about the lighting.
Whether you’re watching a heart-wrenching drama, an edge-of-your-seat thriller, or even just a slapstick comedy, every single emotion, scare, or laugh is intensified when you feel like you’re fully immersed in the film.
That’s why movie theaters are so dark – it helps cut out distractions and lets you feel like you’re right there in the scene.
Unfortunately, the contrast between the bright light of the screen and the pitch black of the surrounding room can have some pretty devastating consequences for your eyes.
That’s where TV bias light strips come in. These handy LEDs attach right to the back of your television set and help brighten up a small area right around the screen, thus reducing the contrast.
That means less eyestrain for you and your guests and an overall more satisfying cinematic experience.
Get immersed in your favorite film!
What kind of creative lighting tricks do you use to really get into the cinematic mood? How have these smart lighting tips helped you get immersed in movie night? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to head over to the Flux Smart products page!