Philips Hue, in Sharknado2, Marks First Time a TV Show Will Directly Control Room Lighting

Syfy is partnering with Philips to create a lighting soundtrack or “light track” for the company’s Hue-connected LED lights. The entire movie is choreographed, with the lights dimming, brightening or changing colour, depending on what’s happening on screen.

For instance, a sequence in the movie involves a plane flying through a storm. When lightning strikes, the lights flicker and brighten suddenly, and if you have multiple lights — the Hue line offers bulbs, lamps and even light strips — you’ll see some variation in the colours, too.

“We’ve been working with Philips for a few months on this,” said Matthew Chiavelli, Syfy’s vice-president of digital media and strategy. “It’s definitely an experiment — a fun extension of a product we’re really proud of.”

The app lets you select lights individually, so if your whole home is wired with Philips Hue, you can constrain the effect to just the TV room.