Not Thriving: Cukoloris

Has existed since 2007, but there are only 16 wicks. That means Starving on Wick, so it's not performing well enough. I vote cut.

Sorry for the wait, ~Piterpicher.

As a bit of backlog cleared up, opened. Thinking this could be tropeable, so I propose that we send to TLP.

I think the problem is recognizing when a cucoloris is used. It's a lighting trick where the pattern of shadows cast in the shot isn't really identifiable unless you know what a cucaloris is already.

Also, it might be misspelled?

Most sites use cucoloris, so ha! I helped catch a misspelled trope name. It does admittedly seem like an obscure term you'd need to know about to add examples, so if someone feels like going to tlp, I wouldn't mind.

Edited by Piterpicher on Apr 10th 2021 at 10:38:55 AM

to TLP / Salvage Yard (with the correct name, that is).

The backlog is finally clearing up.

Cut. Can't see this ever becoming a thriving page as per reason .

Keep but correct the spelling. This is the kind of pre-existing term we should be documenting.

Cut as a trope. This should be a useful note, and is itself small enough that it probably fits on one of the existing useful notes pages.

^ Similar trope Scully Box is Trivia so if Cukoloris is to be kept alive by popular vote it should go there as well.

I mean, maybe this does fit better as Trivia, but there's little point to keep the page around if it's so underperforming (since few people can find out about this already obscure term).

To be fair, the fact that it's an obscure term with a non-obvious definition seems like an argument in favour of keeping it. Someone has to define it, and what place would be better suited than a website that catalogues conventions and tricks of trade in storytelling.

You do have a point, but it should still follow minimum wick guidelines so people can actually find out about the term and what it's used in, which are relatively lenient but still ensure the trope shows on about 0.5‱ of pages. If this is a term that really does need a page, sending back to tlp and finding a few examples should be enough for it.

Edited by Piterpicher on Apr 11th 2021 at 10:36:07 AM

I agree.

Also, if it's decided that we need a do-over for this, I'm against sending this to TLP (as opposed to Salvage Yarding it) unless someone steps up to sponsor it.

On one hand, I don't think going hard on the low wick count is really fair, because it is an obscure but legitimate term, so it's not like we can rename it besides correcting the spelling.

OTOH I don't think moving to trivia will make it thrive (unlike Scully Box, because anyone can google the heights of actors, but this requires some technical knowhow to recognize when it is being used). I think this would be best suited to something like Useful Notes.Photography or UsefulNotes.CinematicLighting or something along with other terminology.

Edited by Synchronicity on Apr 11th 2021 at 9:15:54 AM

I'd say that being harsh on a low wick count should be acceptable if the trope can actually have wicks, because otherwise, few people would actually want to read it or care that it exists when compared to other bigger and better-known pages. Maybe it could be merged to a UN page, but there's at least the following commented out. If anyone here knows about those movies enough (or Star Trek to make the example not general as it's apparently considered one), maybe they could expand and crosswick to come closer to 24.

• Alien
• Batman & Robin
• David Lynch's Dune (so Dune (1984))
• Death Machine
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Swordfish
• Sucker Punch
• Steven Spielberg is fond of using these with underlighting to illuminate a character's face when seeing a reflective object. Particularly noteworthy as an effect used when Indiana Jones is uncovering a golden or glowing idol or artifact.
• Star Trek: The Original Series: Though not exactly "an opaque sheet with holes in it," shadows from devices like these were often used to suggest structural detail that's off camera (and so doesn't have to actually be built). Look in the "overhead" area of the ship's interiors, particularly where a corridor opens onto a larger junction.

Edited by Piterpicher on Apr 11th 2021 at 5:18:32 PM

Camera technique tropes often have low wicks because people don't notice them. This is a lighting technique trope, which is in the same boat.

This doesn't belong in Usefulnotes/. It's a trope, and we have an entire index for this kind of thing. Indeed, it's common enough that it had a name before the wiki even started, so it absolutely deserves a place in Main/.

I am all for an example drive.

I know, and some tropes related to lighting/cameras, like Motion Blur, Jitter Cam, and Chiaroscuro seem to be performing well. I'll probably ask people on att tomorrow (as today is Sunday), maybe they can help out.

Edited by Piterpicher on Apr 11th 2021 at 8:15:10 PM

The trope page says that it's from the Gaelic.

The Other Wiki however says it's from Greek or from George Cukor's name:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucoloris

Edited by Nen_desharu on Apr 11th 2021 at 9:25:52 AM

I could honestly go either way on this one. It's a legit trope, but it might be better folded into a UN page and let the name exist to catch inbounds and be a redirect.

What about making this a Definition Only Page, like what was done with Melody?

Edit: Apparently the thread for Definition-Only Pages never moved Melody back to that index after it was moved back to Main/ after it spent a short amount of time in Useful Notes, but I recall Septimus saying Definition-Only Pages was a better fit for it than Useful Notes.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 11th 2021 at 8:50:28 AM

Maybe it could be one, but if there's potential for this to be a good trope (plus it's not nearly as wide of a topic as Melody anyway), I'll post on att. And yeah, this entry states there's nothing to support our conclusion that the word is Gaelic, nor have I found an online translator that'd say so (maybe we could keep a mention that we foolishly thought the word was Gaelic for so long).

Edited by Piterpicher on Apr 11th 2021 at 7:19:13 PM

An even better place would be Tropes Needing Examples.

If Pages Needing Wicks didn't help, Tropes Needing Examples likely won't help either. I mean, we need something strong, and people have been using ATT to ask for crowner votes, surely we can use it for example help. ~Tenebrika, I saw you were on the edit screen for Cukoloris, were you by chance trying to expand any examples?

Edited by Piterpicher on Apr 12th 2021 at 11:27:58 AM

Piterpicher, I hoped to find at least a clue as to how this trope applies to Guardians of the Galaxy and Sucker Punch; I like the former, and I've seen the latter, but it was ages ago. I'm still trying to remember but I can't promise you anything.

Edited by Tenebrika on Apr 12th 2021 at 5:29:38 PM