The Cyber Bullets teaser is a single slow push toward one lit phone booth in a dead city. The lighting plot fits on an index card: the booth, two rim sources, and darkness doing the rest.
Restraint reads as budget
Every light you add is something the eye has to explain. With one motivated source, the audience instantly understands the world: everything alive is near that glass box, everything else is gone. Two faint cool rims keep the ruins readable without ever competing.
Rain as geometry
The rain is modeled geometry, not a post effect, so each drop catches the red glow correctly as it falls through the light. The ash is a single looping particle pass. Neither is fancy; both are motivated — which is why the shot feels expensive instead of busy.
Next time a night scene feels flat, try removing a light before adding one.