The Last of Us Part I - Rooftop Cinematic Lighting
This is a selection of shots for the rooftop scene after Joel, Ellie and Tess fought through the national history museum.
I am the Cinematic Lighting Artist for this real-time cutscene.
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Capturing the right color and mood was essential for this concept. The time of day remains intentionally ambiguous, sparking extensive discussions about the intensity of the red hues. The original design featured a highly stylized, warm red-tinted lighting that was both striking and effective, and we chose to preserve that tonal quality in the new version.
The scene starts with cool tones, seamlessly transitioning from the previous gameplay segment. As it unfolds, the colors gradually warm up, mirroring the emotional crescendo between Joel and Ellie and offering a moment of relief from the tension that came before.
Recreating this rooftop scene—one of my favorites from the original game—for the PS5 has been an incredible experience, a true dream come true.
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Level Lighting by Steve Cummings
Environment Art by Ryan Burke, Julian Elwood & Chad Russ
FX by Ethan Webb
Extra runtime lights were added for the foliage and surrounding of the roof.
Cooler tone in the beginning to match the gameplay.
Extra runtime lights were added to highlight elements such as the firefly logo, tilted building and foliage.
I made at least 80 different versions of this shot before finalizing with this one.
Key Light gets much warmer and angled lower to draw attention more to Joel's watch.
Close-up shot on Tess was difficult to do because of the limitation of hair shadowing on the face.
Nomadland (2021) by Chloe Zhao was one of the film reference I used.