As part of my dissertation, I have developed an automatic lighting system called ELE (Expressive Lighting Engine), which uses expressive lighting techniques derived from the film and theatre lighting design theory to make lighting decisions in real time to satisfy several design goals, including establishing visibility, portraying dramatic tension, and directing viewer's attention to important artifacts while maintaining visual continuity between frames. 

ELE uses non-linear optimization algorithms to place lights and adjust their angles and colors given the stage configuration and placements of characters on the stage, the importance of each character, and the dramatic tension of the moment.