History Main / ConspicuouslyLightPatch

* ''WesternAnimation/BackToTheFuture'': In "Gone Fishin'", the section of a cliff that collapses under Young Emmett (or, in the changed timeline, under Marty) has a rather obvious black outline while the rest of the cliff is a painting.
* Subverted (perhaps unintentionally) in one Roadrunner cartoon, where Wile E. Coyote cuts a suspension bridge that's clearly drawn on a cel, but [[GravityIsAHarshMistress the fully painted cliff he's standing on falls instead]].
* "WesternAnimation/FallingHare" does it several times, but it's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xqrdtJs8w#t=5m32s most noticeable]] on a section of a wall that WesternAnimation/BugsBunny backs up into in order to ram open a door.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' featuring "The Piper" had this exact trope. When the characters were standing on the pier, one could see the foreground planks in a richer shade of mahogany shortly before they were smashed to pieces.
%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' displayed this trope a great deal.
* ''The New Adventures of WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' had this all the time, from a door that was shortly going to be opened, to a boulder that was going to fall down on the heroes.
* In the animated feature ''WesternAnimation/AmericanPop'', one character is seen playing the piano, and as he moves his arm his sleeve repeatedly flickers to a lighter shade than the rest of his shirt.

* In the [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin1991 1991 Tintin series]] episode "Cigars of the Pharaoh", the inside of a cigar box is shown. The cigar which Tintin picks up is quite clearly drawn on a cel, whereas the rest of the cigars are obviously part of the background.

* In the second episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the snow wall Sokka is standing on has plenty of these, including his snow watch tower, which collapses as Prince Zuko's ship approaches.
* In ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' you could tell which rocks were going to fall as they'd be coloured lighter.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', there was a scene where a blind man pulls out a book from his shelf. All the other books are generic browns and reds, the one he pulls out is bright blue. For the aversion, see below.

** Although the ones in older episodes could be attributed to the fairly small budgets at the time, the newer, more {{Creator/Nickelodeon}}-backed episodes have no such [[HandWave (weak) excuse]].
** One particularly {{JustForFun/egregious}} example is the episode "Can You Spare a Dime?", where [=SpongeBob=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHv2SkfZVt8&t=19s pokes]] Squidward's animated nose, and the ''entire rest of his head'' is a much-darker matte painting.
** Also in "Bossy Boots", the squeeze toy on Mr. Krabs' desk looks painted just like the background, then it turns a lighter color when he actually picks it up and squeezes it.
** However, it was averted for the most part in "Pressure". When Sandy knocks some rocks loose to stop [=SpongeBob=] from beating her at a rock climbing competition, the rocks she moves are matte for almost the entire time until they actually begin falling.
%%* No form of animation being intrinsically immune to the Fudd Flag, {{claymation}}-animated works are wholly capable of falling prey to it, too. ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'' did it nearly every episode.
%%* While it wasn't so bad in the original black and white sorts, Ted Turner's recolored ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' shorts suffered immensely from this trope.

* Visible, though subtle, in the early ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'' episode "The Giant Bacteria", at the very beginning, parts of an oil refinery blow up, and you can tell which is which ahead of time. They had it far less subtle most of the time, however, as the backgrounds were drawn in a rather lavishly detailed style reminiscent of a comic-book, but the animated pieces were less "stylized", and more similar to other animated series of the time.
* During the "Planet Song" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the planets Venus and Saturn are for some reason both drawn as individually-animated cels, while the other planets of the Solar System ({{Uranus|IsShowing}} is completely absent due to Yakko Warner accidentally leaving it out) are all drawn as backgrounds.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', objects characters interact with are animated ([[MediumBlending typically in a medium matching at least one person using it]]) while background objects are live-action.
* Every single object and animals in ''WesternAnimation/WordWorld'' that's shaped like its name.
* {{Parodied|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw''. During a "special showing" of a ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}}'' episode the series is based on,[[note]]While it is an original ''Birdman'' episode, the cast of the parody series provide a humorous re-dub.[[/note]] Harvey is shrunk by Reducto; facing ants that now match him in size, their antenna are colored differently and are the only parts that move, to which Harvey notes [[LampshadeHanging it appears to be all they can do.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' had this pretty badly. It was quite easy to tell which objects were going to be broken or picked up and used by the characters by the distinctly different shade that they had.
* A subversion with the "Happy Helmet" episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow''. When Ren goes to the kitchen to find something to take the happy helmet off with, he stands in front of the cupboards with one drawer drawn differently than the others, but he doesn't open it right away. After a scene change, the camera switches back to the kitchen, and the entire cupboard is drawn differently with no clue as to which drawer he might open, only then does he open the one that the previous scene alluded to.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Terrible Trio", the daughter of a recent victim is sitting by her father's bedside when a nurse comes in and tells her she should get some rest since her father isn't likely to wake soon. Considering he's significantly more detailed, and therefore part of the background, the nurse is probably right.

* DarkSouls2 uses a lighting engine which seems to use different values for [=NPCs=] and static objects - due to the washed-out filter and generally harsh lighting, this doesn't become particularly obvious until you encounter a Mimic in a dark room surrounded by real chests and spot it immediately because it's about five shades brighter.

* ''[[VideoGame/BrokenSwordTheShadowOfTheTemplars Circle of Blood]]'' averted this; everything (''everything'') was in the same cartoonish style, including things two or three pixels wide that you needed to pick up. People took to calling it ''[[FanNickname Circle of Mouse]]'' because if you didn't mouse over every pixel in a new area, you missed something.

* The ''Franchise/{{Touhou}}'' doujin-anime ''Anime/MusouKakyouASummerDaysDream'' has this almost constantly.

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun2001'' and ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', using certain Psynergy powers will cause the background to turn monochrome...except for items that can be dealt with by hand or affected by Psynergy powers (containers with items inside sparkle instead). ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' instead has Insight, which causes Psynergy-affected objects (rocks, plants...) to sprout thought bubbles indicating what type of Psynergy can be used on them.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' had the point-and-click-adventure-game example of this trope. Any object, person or thing that could be examined or otherwise interacted with was rendered in rather blocky 3D (mind-blowing at the time, but extremely dated now, decades later) against the smoother, less-dated pre-rendered backgrounds. In fact, the main character remarks on it once or twice in the [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits Beginners Hall]]. Even more obvious in the [[PortingDisaster PC version]], in which the backgrounds are still 320x240 but everything else is in high resolution.

* The VideoGame/{{Touhou}} doujin-anime ''Musou Kakyo: A Summer Day's Dream'' has this almost constantly.

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[[caption-width-right:300:Guess which toy Steven picks up.[[labelnote:Give up?]][[SubvertedTrope None of them.]][[/labelnote]]]]

Something similar occasionally appears in older live-action productions. In particular, you may see an oddly colored sheen around the characters in shows featuring heavy use of ChromaKey. In his review of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080414185808/www.mrcranky.com/movies/starwarstrailer.html prequel trailer]], Mr. Cranky dubbed this slight SpecialEffectsFailure a "mystical aura." The technique has since evolved to the point where it is mostly no longer noticeable. Mostly.

!Examples

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[[folder:Film — Animated]]

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[[folder:Video Games]]

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[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* Mystical aura is spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' with the Mayor's ad for Sardine Land, in order to make it all the more [[StylisticSuck crapstastic]]. Ironically, since the film is made with state-of-the-art CGI, it took a bit of doing to properly simulate the look of bad ChromaKey.

* The creators of ''VideoGame/{{Doom 3}}'' made a point of rendering both fixed and dynamic objects the same way for this reason, among others.

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* Parodied in Episode 70 of ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'':
-->'''Pegasus:''' The only way to defeat him is with a special card that I've hidden somewhere in this room. Think strategically, though. Where can one find an extra card?\\
'''Yami:''' Well, that's obviously Pot of Greed over there.\\
'''Kaiba:''' How can you be so sure? [[RunningGag Nobody even knows what Pot of Greed does!]]\\
'''Yami:''' And neither do I. But I can tell it's that one because it's animated differently than the rest of the stuff in here.
[[/folder]]

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheBrokenSeal'' and ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', using certain Psynergy powers will cause the background to turn monochrome...except for items that can be dealt with by hand or affected by Psynergy powers (containers with items inside sparkle instead). ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' instead has Insight, which causes Psynergy-affected objects (rocks, plants...) to sprout thought bubbles indicating what type of Psynergy can be used on them.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', brick blocks with jumping Goombas hidden inside are easy to distinguish from ordinary bricks, as the enemies don't have the "shine" effect normal bricks have.

* At the end of ''NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'', after Clark's Santa sleigh flies into the air as a result of the sewer explosion, you can see a faint rectangle around the sleigh as it flies in front of the moon.

[[quoteright:300:[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/conspicuous_light_patch.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Guess which bush Amuro pushes aside.]]

!!Examples

!!Striking light objects

-->-- ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', "[[Recap/SupernaturalS13E16ScoobyNatural Scooby Natural]]"

** A subtle joke in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E20SadiesSong "Sadie's Song"]]: Sadie offers to let Steven choose a stuffed animal from a large pile. It looks like he's about to choose one that's a blatantly different style and color from the rest, but then he refuses.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Unikitty}}'' episode "Hide N' Seek", Richard, being so monotone that he people flat out don't realize that he's there sometimes, is drawn in some scenes as literally being part of the background, with his face rendered onto a separate, albiet less detailed, layer. It is not as jarring as some examples, as he is simply a grey LEGO brick in design.

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' and its sequels, using certain Psynergy powers will cause the background to turn monochrome ... except for items that can be dealt with by hand or affected by Psynergy powers (containers with items inside sparkle instead). ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' instead has Insight, which causes Psynergy-affected objects (rocks, plants...) to sprout thought bubbles indicating what type of Psynergy can be used on them.

%%* The BridgeLogic scene from ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''.
* The book Belle checks out at her village's library during the song "Belle" at the very beginning of ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''.
* Several of the older animated Disney films would occasionally have characters for some reason be drawn as a background rather than on a cel. Examples include a closeup of Monstro the whale's eye in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', a giant Alice's leg (and bloomers) sticking out of the White Rabbit's house in ''Disney/AliceInWonderland'', an unconscious Princess Aurora lying on the ground after touching a spinning-wheel in ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'', and Ariel's tail at one point during the song "Under the Sea" from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''.
* During the [[TearJerker "Baby Mine"]] scene from ''Disney/{{Dumbo}}'', when we see the montage on baby animals and their mothers after Dumbo and Timothy visit Dumbo's mother still in the cage, a mother zebra for some reason actually has her head drawn on an individual cel while her body is drawn onto the background! (her colt is also drawn on an individual cel).

* The ant-infested tile [[SinisterMinister Judge Frollo]] picks up in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Also played with in the same film with the gargoyles, who appear as matte-painted until they come to life.

* ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' uses this deliberately as part of the art style, as all the characters are cel animated on top of watercolour backgrounds.
* In ''Disney/TheLionKing'' during the elephant graveyard scene, all background bones are dark grey but animated bones are a light cream color.

* Several of the older animated Disney films would occasionally have characters for some reason be drawn as a background rather than on a cel. Examples include a closeup of Monstro the whale's eye in ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'', a giant Alice's leg (and bloomers) sticking out of the White Rabbit's house in ''Disney/AliceInWonderland'', an unconscious Princess Aurora lying on the ground after touching a spinning-wheel in ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'', and Ariel's tail at one point during the song "Under the Sea" from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''.

Nowadays, digital ink-and-paint and compositing has largely displaced the use of painted cels, meaning that colors can be matched accurately (although conspicuously light patches are still pretty common in cartoons with digitally inked-and-painted foregrounds and hand-painted backgrounds). The issue of lavish backgrounds contrasting with simple animated elements remains to some extent, but it is often avoided. Many TV cartoons now use backgrounds rendered in the same simplistic style as the animation, while theatrical films can now use CG to render "background" elements that can be animated... which can lead to a [[ThreeDEffectsTwoDCartoon whole new set of problems]].

Nowadays, digital ink-and-paint and compositing has largely displaced the use of painted cels, meaning that colors can be matched accurately (although conspicuously light patches are still pretty common in cartoons with digitally inked-and-painted foregrounds and hand-painted backgrounds). The issue of lavish backgrounds contrasting with simple animated elements remains to some extent, but it is often avoided. Many TV cartoons now use backgrounds rendered in the same simplistic style as the animation, while theatrical films can now use CG to render "background" elements that can be animated... which can lead to a [[ConspicuousCG whole new set of problems]].

* "Falling Hare" does it several times, but it's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xqrdtJs8w#t=5m32s most noticeable]] on a section of a wall that WesternAnimation/BugsBunny backs up into in order to ram open a door.

* Purposely avoided in the second episode of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', a missing cat decorated like a chimaera is sitting on the shelf in a bedroom fill with the belongings of a chunnibyou. In full room shot the cat is purposely drawn like the background. However this is excusable since the said animal doesn't move till the next shot

* ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'' humorously pointed out how the yellow outlines in Deus Ex Human Revolution [[http://awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=040113/ led to confusion when things that actually had a yellow outline weren't actually interactable.]]