Jun 10
26
Of all the famous wall sconces in movie history, the most well-known ones of all surely belong to those found in gothic horror flicks. Typically a flaming torch held in place by an aging metal fixture on the wall, there is always a wall sconce somewhere in the movie, doing its best supporting the story.
In one scene it may perhaps serve as mere guide along dark underground paths, then suddenly in another the very weapon which the hero wields, freed from its fixture on the wall in a moment of desperate inspiration. Whether Frankenstein’s Monster or Count Dracula, it’s almost guaranteed that a proper scare and the proper mood will involve a flickering wall sconce fixture.
Wall sconces have become such a cliché in the genre that several individuals can only regard them in such campy, or even creepy, terms and may even find real, modern-day sconces unsettling. Such associations are unfortunate since they could be very charming, as attested by the wall lighting shown in such movies as recall the intricate glories of Bourbon France. Against mirrored hallways, this sort of lighting designs may be rather striking, suggesting the heavenly rather than the gothic.
Wall lights today tend to be less ostentatious and far more subdued, but the purposes they serve remain the same: to add variety to décors and help bette calibrate the levels of luminance available to a setting. Contemporary designs favor sleekness and minimalism, in contrast to the rich surpluses of much more baroque styles, but all wall lighting will showcase the interior in a unique way.
For most lighting, whether residential or commercial, has traditionally come from above, from the ceiling, whereas light fixtures such as wall sconces and the like can permit for much much more varied effects to complement, support, or even create on its own interiors and exteriors like no other.
