Lava
Lava, in lava look cinematography, is molten light: black crust, orange wounds, heat as the key from below, air that shimmers. The ground is still deciding, and an orange grade on a normal street is not geology.
Narrative function
Ends of worlds, rage, a love that burns the set: night helps, a small figure, incandescent cracks. Under-light without crust is a campfire.
A kitchen argument is not lava unless you are joking. It is the wrong tool as a warm LUT, and the wrong tool if there is no heat warp in the air.
Show crust and flow. No volcano-park signs.
How it works
Slightly high or eye height, figure small, 24mm to 35mm, lock-off. Key from below: incandescent cracks, black rock, heat shimmer.
Night. Prompt: Lava light on [Subject], black crust, orange wounds, heat as the key from below.
When to use it
An ending of a world, rage, a set that is still molten. Do not use it as orange grade on a street, and do not use it on a kitchen argument unless the joke is geology.
Compared with similar shots
Hard Light is the sharpness. Underlighting is the axis without magma.
Lava is geology as lamp: crust, flow, heat shimmer, key from below. If the ground is asphalt with an orange LUT, you missed it.
In film
Blade Runner 2049 furnaces throw orange from below onto bodies. Volcano cinema and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King treat flow as both location and key.
Light from below. Grammar, not a copied crater.
Prompt it
Key from below, crust, shimmer. Lava light on [Subject], black crust, orange wounds, heat as the key from below.
Add night, small figure, heat warp, black rock, no park signs. Not an orange street LUT.
What usually goes wrong
Orange grade on a normal street, or Underlighting without geology. The tell is no crust and no shimmer.
Fix it: black rock, incandescent cracks, heat as key from below.
Questions
What is Lava in film?
Molten light as both set and key: black crust, orange wounds, heat from below, shimmer in the air. Not an orange LUT.
Lava vs Underlighting
Underlighting is any key from below. Lava is that axis plus magma: crust, flow, heat warp. A campfire is under-light. This is geology.
When should I use Lava?
World-endings, rage, a molten set. Skip orange streets and kitchen arguments unless the joke is lava.
How do I prompt Lava for AI image or video?
Night, small [Subject], then: Lava light on [Subject], black crust, orange wounds, heat as the key from below. Demand shimmer and crust.
Melies can generate this Lava
Melies is the AI filmmaking workspace. This Lava opens with the look prompt loaded, so you generate the format instead of chasing a trend name.