Too Many Possibilities and Too Many Lights - Sven Nyvkist

Could it have been put any more simply (See Arriving at Simplicity) than this? Dead Beat urges you to listen, all you writers out there prettying up the background.

Question: What is the most important thing you have learned over the years?

Nykvist: It has taken me thirty years to come to simplicity. Earlier I made a lot of what I thought were beautiful shots with much backlighting, many effects, absolutely none of which was motivated by anything in the film at all—as soon as we had a painting on the wall we thought it should have a glow around it. It was terrible and I can hardly stand to see my own films on television any more. I look for two minutes and then I thank God that there is a word called "simplicity." I prefer to shoot on location because in the studio you have too many possibilities, with too many lights to destroy your whole picture.