Talks with Hollywood's Cinematographers and Gaffers

by Kris Malkiewicz assisted by Barbara J. Gryboski

drawings by Leonard Konopelski

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10

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Malkiewicz. Kris. Film Lighting. l. Cinematography-Lighting. I. Cryboski. Barbara, J. ll. Title. TR891.~ 1 35 1986 778.5'3-13 85-31177 ISBN 0-671-76634-1 1 .\l\1 CRF.ATLY indebted to a large group of chael D. Margulies, ASC; Sven :--lykvist, marvelous people who generously contrib­ ASC; James Plaonette; Howard Prouty; uted with their expertise and their time: Owen Roizman, ASC; Dr. Roderick T. Ryan; Richmond ("Aggie'') Aguilar; John Alonzo, Douglas Slocombe, BSC; Haskell Wexler, ASC; Bruce Bennan; Bill Butler, ASC; James ASC; Robert Wise; Harry Wolf, ASC; Ralph Crabe, ASC; Jordan Cronenweth, ASC; Woolsey, ASC; Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC. Nancy Cushing-Jones; Allen Daviau, ASC; There arc others. too numerous to mention Thomas Denove; Caleb Deschanel, ASC; by name. who o,·er the years shared with me Robert Hahn; Conrad Hall, ASC; Richard their kno" ledge. either direct!) or ~ the au­ Hart; Adam Holender, ASC; Gary Holt; the thors of books and articles. Seminars at the late James Wong Howe, ASC; Philip :\merican Film Institute, chaired by Howa rd Lathrop, ASC; Frank Leonetti; Richard Schwartz. ASC, and American Cinematog­ Kline, ASC; Alexander Mackendrick; Mi- rapher magazine were particularly rich and inspiring sources of infonnation. PREFACE lX

CHAPTER ONE The Cinematographer as Collaborator 1 Working with the Director 2 Working with the Art Director 9 Working with tbe Designers 11 Rehearsals 12 Composition 15 Working with the Crew 17

CHAPTER 1WO Lighting Equipment 22 Fresnel Lights 24 Open-ended Lights 24 Sealed Beam Lamps 29 Arcs 32 Compact Lights 37 Accessories to Luminaires 39 Power Supply 48

CHAPTER THREE Image Manipulation 51 Film Stock 51 Brightness Range Manipulation 52 Measuring and Evaluating Light 52 Color Gelatins 61 Image Manipulation by Filters, Nets, and Other Optical Media 62 Image Manipulation in the Laboratory 70 Video Transfer 78

CHAPTER FOUR Strategy of Lighting 83 Hard versus Soft 83 Low Key, High Key 86 Sources of Light 93 Long Shot and Close-up 96 In the Studio and on Location 97

CHAPTER FIVE Lighting a Scene 99 Day Interior 100 Night Interior 104 Controlling Hard Light 106 Controlling Soft Light 110 Treatment of Walls 117 Combining Hard and Soft Lighting 118 Using Practical Lamps 120 Mirrors 126 Process Shots 127 Lighting Faces 129

CHAPTER SIX Lighting on Location 147 Location Exterior 148 Location Interior 165 Vehicles 171

CHAPTER SEVE:-.1 Learning to Light 177

NOTES ON THE CONTRiBUTORS 183 GLOSSARY 187 INDEX 193

viii CONTE:-ITS FILM LICIITll'C is a living, changing art. Ever After transcribing the interviews I realized more sensitive film emulsions influence the that preserving the voices of these people in choice of lighting equipment; advanced lamp the form of extensive quotations wo uld bring design dictates new ways of lighting. To cap· the reader closer to this wealth of experience ture the essence of these new methods, I ap­ and advice. As a result, the same lighting proached several cinematographers and problem is often discussed by four or five ex­ gaffers to discuss their work and concepts. perts. In this way the state of the art film This led to many hours of interviews and lighting emerges. many days on film sets in the studio and on I feel most fortunate in securing the edito­ location. It was a very rewarding experience. rial help of Barbara Gryboski and in having These innovative professionals proved to be the line drawings done by Leonard Kono· very generous in sharing their techniques and pelski. On the publisher's side of this venture ideas. I fou nd the legendary closely guarded I was greatly helped by senior editor Susan boxes of personal filters to be memories from Gies. the past. Today, there is a camaraderie of Last but not least I am grateful to Alexis camera people freely exchanging their inven· Krasilovsky for her creative typing of the tions with each other. manuscript.

ix CHAPTER o(ii){g

The Cinematographer as Collaborator

"FILMS ARE light." This statement by Fe­ vant as the French impressionist painter derico Fellini brings us to the essence of the Claude Monet, who painted the cathedral at cinematographer's art and function. One of Rouen from the same angle at various times the most important abilities of a cinematogra­ of the day. When Sven Nykvist (ASC) and pher is to see light and to remember it. The Ingmar Bergman prepared to shoot Winter "light memory" for the lighting cameraman is Light, they spent an entire day observing the similar to the musical memory necessary for a changes in light in a country church in mustctan. Northern Sweden in order to be able to re­ Light is the most changing element in our produce that winter light on a sound stage. daily life. We move among solid objects and For a cinematographer, watching the light among people who do not change drastically becomes second nature. Whether in a city during a day or a week. But visually the ap· hall, a restaurant, a night club, or in the pearance of our environment and of people woods, the cinematographer will file it away around us may change from one hour to the in his memory to be recalled when lighting a next due to the time of day, the weather, or similar situation on a movie set. This will the particular source of the light. The best help in the final task of a cinematographer, cinematographers are very aware of these which is to contribute to the visual character changes and store in their memory the impact of the film . different types of light have on our emotions Light will enhance or diminish the efforts and our subconscious. Most people see the of all the people who create the sets, the cos· change in the quality of light as the day goes tumes and the makeup. by, but a cinematographer must be as obser- Filmmaking is a collaborative art. It would be misleading to insist that the cinematogra­ film studios. For example the glossy Holly­ pher is totally responsible for the visual char· wood pictures of the thirties were foll owed by acter of the picture. Even in terms of the the stylized low-key lighbng of film noir in camera moves and framing, the creative pro­ the forties, and the Italian stark neorealism of cess involves the director, the cinematogra­ the late forties and fifties. pher and the camera operator, and it depends Styles are also influenced by the personali­ very much on their individual talents and per· ties of the cinematographers and the techni· sonalities as to whose ideas are decisive in the cal progress in film stocks, lenses and the final outcome. Yet lighting is the sole domain lighting equipment. Very sensitive emulsions of the cinematographer. This is his most obvi­ and faster lenses require less light intensity. ous contribution. Light can fall on the scene This allows for much greater use of soft, in a variety of wa>•S. It can create a great man}' bounced or diffused light and of practical moods, but the task of the cinematographer is light sources that constitute part of the set. It to choose the type of lighting that will best also facilitates greater use of the available help to tell the story. The angle of light, its light, especially in backgrounds, such as in intensity, its quality (hard or soft), its color, the streets at night. Collaboration between these are some of the paints on the cinema· the cinematographer and the set designer who togra pher's palette. The dark areas and shad­ provides some of the lighting becomes essen· ows are of equal value. It was said by more tial. than one cinematographer: "\Vhat you do In this chapter we will look at the various not see is equally important as what you do aspects of the collaboration between the cine­ see. " The light is there to direct the viewer's matographer and the other vital members of attention, the darkness to stimulate his imagi­ the filmmaking team. Working with the nation. director is one of the most exciting artistic re­ As in all arts there are styles in lighting lationships in this medium. which characterize certain periods or certain

WORKING WITH THE DIRECTOR

Ideally the cinematographer's relationship at his body of work to evaluate rus style and with the director is a symbiotic one. The cine­ experience. matographer em braces the director's vision and uses his visual talent and technical knowl­ Alexander Mackendrick edge to capture the director's inner thoughts and put them on the screen. Needless to say, It is my impression that most of the cam­ the process of choosing a cinematographer is eramen I kn ow have developed a highly per­ of no small importance to the director. sonal style. They have an individual character that becomes their stock in trade. During the planning for Sweet Smell of Success, the pro­ TilE HIRil\G PROCESS ducer, Harold Hecht, suggested James Wong Many directors choose a cinematographer Howe. I remembered jimmy as extremely much as they would cast an actor. They look good with strong, melodramatic material and

2 FI LM LlGHTI:--JG felt his hard-edged approach would be ideal In paintings I look for lighting and compo­ for this particular subject, so 1 was delighted. sition. Very often for lighting. There is much to be gained from the examples of lighting Often a director will screen severa l film s shot and effects. by a prospective cinematographer.

AleXIlnder Mackendrick TAKING ON THE PROJECT In effect, I believe you have to trust the taste The process of selection is not one-sided. Cin­ and temperament of the cameraman as you ematographers pick and choose among the see it in his previous work. Obviously, you scripts which are offered to them to find the should take care to see a number of his film s stories which, for whatever reason, they to sec how he handles different genres; to see would like to shoot. Cinematographers who what range he has. \Vong Howe bad consider­ are in great demand can, naturally, be more able range: I looked at both Body and Soul selective. As we all know, truly great scripts and Picnic which was in color and much surface not too often and sometimes won­ more sentimental. But what I asked Jimmy derful scripts can turn out to be mediocre for was the black-and-white harshness I'd seen mOVIeS. in his melodramatic movies. British cinematographer Douglas Slo­ combe (BSC), who photographed some 100 Once the director finds a cinematographer feature films, admits to reading close to 1000 who interests him, he sends him a script. scripts. Out of this volume of work be feels that the truly memorable films could be Robert Wise counted on the fingers of one, perhaps two hands. \,Vhcn you start to zero in on somebody that The script is certainly a useful blueprint you think might be the candidate, you want the cinematographer can use to judge the llis reaction to the script. So 1 usually have worth of the project. him read it and then, without guiding him too much, I get his input in a chat about how Allen Daviau, ASC he sees it, what kind of texture and quality he feels the picture should have. The 5rst time I see the script I try to read it Sometimes we may run other film s, or I strictly as a 6/m viewer. Not as a cinematogra­ might refer to some films of his that I ha\'C pher. I really just sit there and say: Tell me a seen, and certain sequences that I liked. De­ story. I try to be as open as possible. And you pending on the kind of story, 1 may refer to read some scripts that are good, good movies; some painters. I did that in pictures that were you would enjoy seeing them, but would you period pieces. When working on :vtadcmoi­ enjoy shooting the movie, and would it really selle Fifi we turned to Daumier and his cari­ be fuJElling to you? What is it that you like to catures, not only for the cameraman but also do? Sometimes it is the subject that just for the clothes and the props. In current films strikes you, that you would like to say some­ you might look at photographs of contempo­ thing about. So I look on the basis of an over­ rary things, of something with a striking look a// thing: How would I enjoy seeing this 5Jm? to it. Would I enjoy having my name connected

THE CI~"E:\IATOGRAPHER AS COLLABORATOR 3 with it? Would I be proud being part of this STYLE film? The second time through, reading as a cinematographer, I ask myself: What are the Once a cameraman has committed himself to problems here? What are the cha.llenges? a project, he and the director have to agree on What are the things that I would really enjoy the style of the film. Describing a visual style working on in this picture? Does it offer me a with words is no small task. Directors and cin­ unique challenge? Someone said, The day ematographers have developed many ways to you go to work and you are not slightly reach an understanding with each other. A scared, is the day you better get out of this creative cinematographer will analyze the business, because there is no challenge left foe structure of the script and will try to see it you. If you really know all the answers going from the audience's point of view. At this in, then I do not think that you will do very early stage much time will be devoted to dis­ good work on the picture. Because you should cussions concerning the concept. never stop having that fear of the unknown. The right atmosphere, style and visual in­ And I think that is one of the things in the terpretation will evolve from this process. The script: Does it offer me something I haven't cameraman and director will discuss the phil­ done before? Maybe it offers me something I osophical premise of the movie; how it should have done before and I know I can do better look, what structure it should have, what style than I did last time, and that is intriguing to of framing, lighting and color. me. But perhaps it is truly the unknown. Maybe it is something that I don't really like Caleb Deschanel, ASC to do, and maybe I can get past that. I know Style starts to emerge when reading the script. that I do not like to shoot dialogue scenes ii"J I always read the script three or four or five cars. And I read a script that was an excellent, times. Generally, along the way, I discuss it very funny script, and 25 percent of the movie with the director, and the11 start to come up is four guys running around in a car on real with an overa.ll visual concept that I seek for location. When you think that for that much the film . It does not mean that this concept is time the camera is basically rigged on the car ironclad. Just the way an actor comes up with when you can never really see what is going his character, I think, the cameraman comes on and you are lighting people in the back up witl1 his way of seeing a movie. Then seat as well as in the front seat, and you are hopefully you are in sync with the director. lt balancing all different times of a da y. Well, it is important to develop an idea about the is a real challenge if you like to do that sort of story early enough, so that at least you will thing. But I don't know anybody wlw likes to find out whether you think the same way as shoot dialogue scenes inside cars. the director. Othenvise you get yoursel f in a situation where you are at odds with each In this case Daviau turned down the job al­ other all the time. You use whatever method though he liked the script. Since one fourth you can. With Hal Ashby we started out on of the film took place inside a car there \vas Being There by looking at a lot of mO\'ies to­ no chance that the car scenes could be elimi­ gether and discussing the script, and then I nated. In situations that are not so extreme it would also take a lot of still photographs of is better to hold off final judgment on a locations and look at them with Nlike Haller project until you meet with the director. who was an art director and with Hal.

FILM LIGHTING Viewing movies together is the most immedi­ wander around tbe set and a lot of tbem don 't ate way of having some common points of ref­ pretend, and then some of them pretend. It erence when discussing style. Good depends on the director you get. Others are knowledge of a wide range of painters and people who are knowledgeable visual artists as photographers is the next important step in well as artists in every otber sense. You work facilitating the communication between the 1vith them differently. They know exactly director and the cinematographer. Being able what they want. They need you less. to describe a certain style as one resembling a given painter, or knowing where to look for The directors who require the most from cin­ examples of a palette of desired colors helps ematographers are the first-time directors. immensely in arriving at the mutually under­ Adam Holcndcr (ASC), who often works standable visual look of the film. with first-time directors, puts them in two basic categories. The literary ones who write John Alonzo, ASC their own scripts and often do not quite know Every situation is different. For pictures like how to translate their ideas into a visual form Sounder or Conrack or for a picture like and the new directors who come from other Norma Rae 1 did look at some paintings and technical positions such as assistant directors, some books and drawings of the South to get producers or editors. People in this second an idea of a kind of look. I would show them group are usually more experienced techni­ to the director and I would say, "\1\!hat do Cians. you think of this Andrew Wyeth or these Sbrimpton paintings, does this give you any Adam Bolender, ASC thoughts, is this the kind of look that you are Uke every other collaboration, working with thinking about?" He says yes or no. So l use first-time directors depends a lot on tbe per­ those. In pictures like Blue Thunder or Black sonalities involved. But one typical problem Sunday there is really no artistic or aesthetic to be aware of is the degree to which tbe cam­ design to those pictures. It is a matter of eraman assists tbe director in matters other recording what actually happens. than cinematography. At a certain point in the production the invitation to offer sugges­ There is a wide spectrum of directors with di­ tions may not exist anymore, but the cam­ verse background and experience. Therefore eraman may not know when to stop. The the collaboration with the cameraman will director grows weary of advice and such help take various forms. Some directors will need may start to annoy him. more help in developing the visual sense of a Another potential problem lies in the scene. director not understanding that certain visual concepts require certain disciplines, bring Conrad HaU, ASC certain limitations. The first-time director So many directors don't know anything about may see these limitations as shackles. He may film. They are wonderful writers, they kn ow a also have to be convinced tbat certain risks lot about life and tbe human equation and should be shared. If the director does not take people have given them the opportunity to advantage of the cinematographer's knowl­ translate that into a film. And thev don't edge and judgment, the result may be a medi­ know what to do. They are so insecur~. They ocre product. This is sometimes referred to as

TilE CI'\E\lATOGRAPHER AS COLLABORATOR "television mentality", where the range of ar­ things at your disposal as a cameraman. Your tistic possibilities on the scale of one to ten, 6rst impression should be that it is real for the becomes, say, four to six. story. But you can get away with an awful lot. \Vhat Vittorio Storaro did in One from the Most cinematographers are very much Heart with colored light was incredible. To aware of the creative discipline necessary to an extent, it was a reality but it really was hy­ maintain the established style and to serve the perreality. It carried beyond conventional re­ story in the best possible way. ality, but you accept it because of the nature of the story. There is no reason why you can­ SERVING 1HE STORY not carry that sort of thinking to even more Serving the story usually comes down to serv­ realistic settings. Obviously as an audience ing the director's concept. Though the cine­ you do not want to be taken out of a scene by matographer has an important role in the some extreme photographic element, but you production, the principal storyteller at this certainly want it to carry you along. There are stage is the director. things you can do, where you exaggerate real­ ity and create a sense of life which, if you fohn Alonzo, ASC would truly study it, you would realize that it is not real and yet your mind accepts it as I make it a rule of thumb that I am to inter­ being real. I think that is really what you are pret the director's concept. It is a very strict going for. You are going for a way of taking rule with me that I do not allow myself to get the greatest advantage of all the tools that you so in lo ve with the frame and the lighting, have at your disposal to create the drama, to that it subordinates what the director is trying amplify the drama. Sometimes it means exag­ to do. And if I spend six hours lighting a set gerating things enormously and getting away that looks beautiful to another cameraman with it because the audience is carried away but does not mean anything to the story, then by the scene. You can switch key lights and I am not doing my job for the director. you can change the level of lights and you can dial one light oH and one light on when some­ The power of cinematography lies in the im­ one moves and you can do things that if you mense possibilities of interpreting reality even were to analyze them you would realize they within a given concept. The cinematogra­ don 't make sense at all. But if you are telling a pher's function is to transform an artificial story and you are in sync with the story, then environment into film reality. Lighting, opti­ you can get away with an awful lot. I think cal image manipulation, choice of film emul­ that the best camerawork does that. It will sion, film manipulation in the laboratory, make these judgments, it will stretch its 'real­ color manipulation at various stages are all tools the cameraman uses to create the pho­ ity' for the sake of telling the story. tographed reality. Often the sets or the location wi ll dictate the visual approach to the story. Or it may even Caleb Deschanel, ASC come from the cinematographer's aesthetic You need a certain sense of reality, but in fact taste at the given time. you are doing a movie and you are making a Haskell Wexler, ASC statement with the light and with the compo­ What happens photographically springs a lot sition and camera movements and all those from what is demanded of the photographer:

6 FILM LICHTI!'\C W1Jat kind of films are being made, ho11· You approach every project from the spirit much time it takes to make them, what the of the film . Once you get the spirit of the sets look like, what the subject matter is. Elm, then that determines everything for me. Style comes from where you are personally. On The Day of the Locust the decision to Right now as I am talking to you ]would love have it all shot in a warm, golden tone was to shoot a scene where there is a real brigh t made right away. Those are the broad strokes. hard sunlight just cutting through on the fur­ You decide whether you are going to make niture and on the clothes. The faces are al­ this a gritty, documentary kind of look for the most dark. Jf }'OU are in this kind of mood film about ninety percent of failed people in when you read a script, you may actually talk Hollywood, which is what The Day of the yourself into believing that this particular Locust is about: people who approach the script would look best this way. It may or may flame and never get anything to do but get not coincide. }/ou have to bear in mind that burned by it occasionally. Just ten percent are you are not the total maker of the film . You working and doing good and thriving in the will have to talk to the director and the art heat of the flame. So that is a hard story. You director, and anyone else who has invested could do it gritty. Black and white would be in it. wonderful, because it is a period piece. Some­ times I think that is what we should bave Cinematographer Conrad Hall dealt with two done, now that I look at it. That is not what very different visual concepts when photo­ we decided to do. The decision to make it graphing Fat City directed by John Huston golden was to create not their reality but their and The Day of the Locust directed by John dream. In other words I wanted to posture Schlesinger. (sic] their dream upon their reality. So you saw them living in their little apartments and they were happy living in their golden dream Conrad Hall, ASC of maybe making it one da y.

In Fat City the idea of extraordinary tonal John Alonzo describes another example of va riations was like a style for a picture. The lighting in opposition to the subject matter, interiors, bars and places like that were very, for stronger impact. very dark, so you have a sense of blackness. And then when you come outside 1 made the exteriors all very bright and glaring, like a liz­ fohn Alonzo, ASC ard who comes from underneath a rock, a sal­ amander that is blond because it has been We are going to try to do Scarface in soft hiding underneath a rock, it bas not seen the light bee<~use Brian (De Palma) wants it this light of day. 1 wanted it to be harsh and way. It is a dra ma, a melodrama. It is violent strong and abusive. And so, you go for the and very dramatic, but he does not want to range, you go for the contrast. You go for the light it that way. He wants to light it soft and soft, dark, muted effect inside and then when pretty. As he said to me, 1 don't want to tele­ you come outside you go for the bright, bril­ graph that I am going to do something vio­ liant harsh tones. And when those things are lent. 1 want the frame to look pretty, and the cut together they create a kind of emotional people to look pretty. And then we see that sense which is productive for the storytelling. they are violent people.

THE CL niATOCRAPHER AS COLLABORATOR 7 Another extremely important aspect which Through the film stock he is using, through Alonzo brings up is the consistency of a visual the filters on lights and lenses, and through look. the printing in the lab, he cooperates with the art director in the orchestration of colors or in John Alonzo, ASC the modulation of the gray scale in the black­ You have an overall picture, an overall script and-white films. and then you go from A to Z. Very few pic­ tures are shot in chronological order. The Alexander Mackendrick hardest thing is for you to keep a certain style going, so that when you put the picture in I've always felt that melodrama and satire chronological order it has a nice even flow, in have characteristics in common. Ideally, 1 lighting, in composition and in the camera would prefer to shoot both of these genres in moves. This is my realm, my jurisdiction. If black and white. Distributors nowadays de­ you do not pay attention to that, if you are clare that black-and-white movies are unsal­ just lighting each scene as if you are lighting a able. A compromise may be the kind of Rembrandt each time, you are going to have a cinematography where there is a very em­ checkerboard effect. You will not have a con­ phatic range of tonal values, black to white, at sistently smooth picture. It may be totally ac­ the expense of hue values; strong directional ceptable but it definitely influences the lighting of chiaroscuro which underlines the audiences. The audience will think that some­ architectural structures at the expense of the thing is not quite right. This is a brightly lit local colors of the surfaces. shot, this a soft light and this is harsh light, \Vhcn the first Japanese color features ar­ this is Bat light and so on. Every scene should rived in Britain, I remember well their impact be approached as to what part it plays overa11. on British filmmakers. Accustomed to the Simple things- you are inside a room and the brilliance of Californian light, the bright hues sunlight is coming from a certain side, over and crisp shadows, we marvelled at the sub­ this man's shoulder. If you take him outside, tleties of shade and tone produced by the three, four days later and the sun happens to mists of the Japanese scenery. With the com­ be on the other side and it is a direct cut, then ing of color and more sensitive film stocks the you say, wait a minute, what do I do? Now sunlight which was the original incentive for a you have to work with the director and the migration to the Californian West Coast is no opera tor, try to angle him so that the sun longer quite such an essential. comes from the correct side, or you duplicate the sunlight from another direction. Put a silk There are personal idiosyncrasies when it over the scene and shove in an arc to make comes to particular colors, for both aesthetic the sun come hom the side that will match and practical reasons. the previous shot. These are the things that sometimes people do not think about and you C onrad Hall, ASC have an amateurish way of handling it. I used to hate blue on tbe screen, but I am changing my mind a little about that. There BLACK-AND-WHITE AND COLOR is a new wave of colors that you see on televi­ A cinematographer cannot separate the prob­ sion, tl1at sort of thirties blue like those real lem of light from the problem of color. strong colors used on the orange crate labels.

8 FILM LIGHTING The vibrru1t blues and pinks and oranges to­ the color scheme. In such a conceptual state­ gether whicl1 is tbe new thing that I begin to ment prepared for One from the Heart see happening a Jot nowadays. (American Cinematographer, January 1982), In certain kinds of stories these colors caJJ he approaches this film as a conflict of colors be effective, although it is not a realistic look representing certain states of the human ner­ on life by any means. I basically hated blue vous system aJJd metabolism during the day because I shot so many exterior pictures in and night. In his concept the green and blue which the sky must match from scene to are the colors of dusk and night. They repre­ scene and I hated it because it became almost sent the regenerative need for rest. Yet this like an enemy to me, confusing my attempts natural rhythm is violated by the aggressive to match the scenes. And to cut from one reds, oranges and yellows of the Las Vegas blue to another blue is terribly distracting. night. These colors stimulate the nervous sys­ That is why by overexposure I eliminated the tem and raise the heartbeat. Storaro's concep­ blue to make it easier for the cutter to match tual conclusion is that through the desire for shots. And the fact that I appreciated bow love, the opposites in the human nature, the white or gray reveals color. Color is so exqui­ distinction between man and woman, like the site against a neutral backgroun d. \Vhereas complementary colors and like the opposites color against another color creates an emo­ of light and shadow, all unite in one energy of tional equation. Colors are terribly emotional light " ... that comprises them all." kinds of clements. It is not often that the cameraman would prepare such a highly conceptual approach to The emotional meaning of colors became an his visual understanding of the script. But it object of in-depth study by the Italian cine­ certainly points toward the potential depth of matographer, Vittorio Storaro. Earlier in this the intellectual penetration of the material. chapter Caleb Deschanel discussed Storaro's And the consistently high quality of Vittorio use of color in One from the Heart. When Storaro's work tells us that this method serves beginning work on a film, Storaro writes a him well. treatment on the psychological meaning of

WORKING WITH THE ART DIRECTOR

Ideally all the major contributing people relationship with the art director cannot be should be brought in early on the project. stressed too much. He is an invaluable part­ Those fortunate enough to work on lngmar ner because he supervises the designers of sets Bergman's films have the lu.xury of a two­ and costumes. month intensive dialogue with the director, The positioning and intensity of the practi­ actors and other members of the crew. As well cals on the set is something the cinematogra­ as watching rehearsals, Bergman 's cam­ pher should establish with the art director. eraman Sven Nyhist (ASC) has the opportu­ These visible light sources of various kinds nity to shoot extensive tests and discuss the serve to visually enrich the scene, to justify sets and costumes with the art director. This the directions of studio lighting and to con-

T He CI:"'E.\1:\TOGR. \PHER A.S COLLABORATOR 9 tribute to the level of illumination on the set. Conrad Hall, ASC They may even serve as the ma jor modelling lights for the scene. HopefulJy you work a lot with the art direc­ The shape of the set and certain architec­ tor. There are very many producers who try to tural components such as beams or moldings keep the two of you separated; for finan cial help the cinematographer to hide his lamps, reasons, they say. '\Vhat a mistake! We should stands and cables. The shape, texture and be the closest of collaborators. After we hear color of the walls and furniture have under­ what the director has to say, the two of us standable impact on the visual organization should colla borate very strongly to provide of the frame. The way in which the set is po­ what be wants. sitioned on the studio floor, for example, how much space there is outside the windows, will This unfortunately is not alwa ys the case. also influence the lighting directions and angles. For these reasons the production de­ Robert Wise signer, art director and all the people involved in shaping and dressing the sets, or in choos­ I found that some cinematographers are not ing locations should work hand-i n-hand wi th too inclined to be overly receptive to design­ the cinematographer. He, in tmn, can either ers' set sketches that might indicate certain enhance their efforts or diminish them with kind of lighting, sources of lighting. I had one his lighting. cinematographer on a major film, and the de­ signer would come up and show the sketch of Haskell Wexler, ASC the set coming down the line and the cam­ Any work which the cameraman can do with eraman would look at it and go his own way. an art director is money in the bank, because He would never really tum to the designer for basica1Jy an art director is giving you what any thoughts that he had in his head about you photograph. You wili be asking for prac­ how it might look. And a few years later I l1 ad ticals, you two will be deciding wbere the just the opposite experience with Ted windows arc, whether certain walis are wild, McCord on Sound of Music. whether ceDings are wild, how high the walis are, and what color they are painted. Much depends upon the personalities in· Toda y's sets, particularly in the special ef­ valved and also on how much the cinematog­ fects 6lms, have very intricate lighting built rapher is in tune with the aesthetics of the art into the set, like lighting through the frosted director. Avoiding personality clashes saves glass Boors or iliuminated table tops. Some­ both the producer's and director's sanity. times the instrument panels will practically light the set for you. On ocCphotography. An assertive designer may the cinematographer and the art director to­ hanker after lighting that is diffused, general gether as early as possible. However, some and unobtrusive, so that tone and color values producers do not see it this wa}'· in the settings and costumes retain their pic-

10 FIL~I LIGHTING torial values. An equally asserti\'e cinematog­ artistic decisions, but like being in tbe army rapher may prefer the set, costumes and there is definitely a law of involvement that furniture to be neutral in color and tone so should be respected. When it is maligned br that the scene is left for him to "paint with the ego it destroys the chemistry by which the light." [f there is discord between the prodoc­ film can be made. The director should direct, tion designer and director of photography, the cameraman should shoot. the art director the director and producer should resolve the should art direct. As soon as we start intro­ disagreement at the earliest stage of produc­ ducing our egos to ta ke over our jobs from tion planning. one another, we malign the chemistry by which the film s arc made. The ego out of line Filmmaking is not only teamwork but the is a bad ingredient, but a strong ego is a won­ team is composed of people with strong crea­ derful thing for an artist to have. ti ve egos. This makes it doubly difficul t to Richard Brooks once said to me, "Would keep on an even keel. you ever like to direct, Conrad?'' I was just a brand ne11' cinematographer at the time and I Conrad Hall, ASC said, "'Veil, [ think so, but I am not sure yet, You have to get the right chemistry of the I will see, " and he said, "Everybody should people im·olved. One important ingredient to direct a film . You probably want to direct the filming chemistry by which it will succeed one, but, direct your own damn film, don't di­ or fail is the handling of ego. When ego gets rect mine!" And I respect that attitude and I ir1volved it destroys. 'ow, that does not mean want it respected \\'hen I am directing. I am that you do not ha\'C an ego. And it does not an aide to that man. I am not anybody who is mean that your ego is not manifesting rom trying to take anything away from him.

WORKING WITH THE DESIGl\TERS

The costume designer and the makeup artist in a low-key lighting situation they will look should also consult closelv with the cinema­ black. Makeup artists will consult the cinema­ tographer. It is particularly essential in black­ tographer about the red sensitivi ty of a given and-white film where two colors, like certain black-and-white emulsion. With color stock hues of red and green, may look exactJy the they may be more interested in skin textures. same on the screen, or where a light blue shirt At the preproduction stage many of these may be preferable to a white one that could elements will be examined in a series of tests. create too much contrast. For the same rea­ John Alonzo describes them as helping him to son light blue or green bedsheets will be more establish the visual character of the picture. suitable than white. In color fi lm production, white fabrics mav John Alonzo, ASC still need to be ''techcd" down. This is ofte~ accomplished by ri nsing them in weak tea. I do a lot of tests in diJiercnt kinds of lighting. Certain dark velvets may be avoided because Makeup and hair tests, wardrobe tests, and so

T Ht. CINEMATOCRAPI IFR AS COLLABORATOR 11 forth. In those tests I have them moving Robert Wise around in five or six different types of light­ If you get into any kind of special shows, you ing, so that the director can look at it and say, make endless tests. You test the sets for color, I like that, I don't like that. We try different you test your costumes and you test the labs. lenses, different sizes for close-ups; a 50mm or You get a difference in the values of your a 150mm, to see how the perspective colors from the diJierent labs. You have to changes. We don't just stand an actor and test aJI the way around. And sometimes if you say, tum three different ways and that's it. have a big set and you are going to have some We choreograph moves for aJI these tests. prelighting, try to have it done while you are shooting something else. You will test the For more elaborate productions these tests lighting of the set and you will see bow it is will also include sets. coming off. On anything other than a subject that is simple and straightforward, it is very advisable to test to the extent that you can.

REHEARSALS

Once the production starts the relationship A storyboard provides a good frame of ref­ between the director and his cinematographer erence and indicates the coverage needed for becomes almost symbiotic. There are many the given scene. It can be an important time­ variations of this relationship. On one end of saving device. The cameraman should treat the spectrum you will have veteran directors the storyboard for what it is: a guide to the who know exactly what type of staging and scenes, only a guide useful in prerigging the what camera moves they want. On the other lights. end there will be newcomers, perhaps from the theater or from screenwriting, who will Robert Wise depend on the cinematographer in these areas. Even the most experienced directors I storyboard most of the time. The storyboard are usually open to suggestions. They recog­ usually starts before the cameraman is on. Of nize that staging and camera movements are course you discuss it with him when he is inherently connected with lighting and that around. Before we start to shoot be is in­ all these elements create the picture. volved in the storvboard. I like to have a The first days of shooting are crucial. You storyboard so that ~hen you walk on the set almost have to read the director's mind. You you know where you are going to start, where have to be physically close to him during the you want to start, where you will put the cam­ rehearsals, especially if he is not too good at era, and where the actors are going to make expressing his ideas. Production time on the an entrance. You discuss it with your cam­ set is so expensive that you do not want to eraman in advance. I think that you must spend too much time on theoretical discus­ know where you are going. But, in developing sions. You try to discuss the scene early in the the scene with the actors, in getting the scene morning or after watching the dailies the on its feet, if it wants to move away from the night before. storyboard, if the actors find additional things

12 FILM LIGHTING that you cannot anticipate sitting in your of­ the whole scene from beginning to end before fice, if you find new values, new dimensions, you start shooting. Some directors don't like and if that means moving away from the to work that way and inevitably you wJ11 get storyboard, you make the adjustments. into a situation where you carry the scene halfway through and you are in a position On the set, staying close to the director and where you have to make certain compromises watching rehearsals allows the cinematogra­ because you have not figured the whole thing pher to understand what the director is trying out. Compromises in lighting, in camera to do with the scene in terms of the dramatic moves, in positions where you wm put the rhythm of punches and pauses. Only then camera, etc. I like to figure out how the scene does it become apparent how the composi­ should play all by itself, which usually means tion, the camera movements, and the lighting that you have to make a judgment about what can visually emphasize the dramatic struc­ the rhythm of a scene is, while you are filming ture. At this point a cinematographer's in­ it. And where the camera should be. And stinct comes into play. He will be influenced then usually everything will fall into place. by his own background, consciousness and subconscious. Films and paintings he's seen, Planning scene coverage in advance is the music he's heard, books he's read will all have most essential element in an effective lighting an effect on his visual interpretation of the design. scene. This is how several cameramen see what is happening on the set at this stage. Allen Daviau, ASC

Caleb Deschanel, ASC A big thing for a cinematographer is to get into the habit of asking, "How are you going An ideal situation is one where the camera to cover the situation?" Work with your angle or movement never becomes a matter of director on the coverage because we all can discussion, when you and the director are very Ea11 into the trap of making a beautiful master much in sync and he suggests something and scene that is absolutely horrible for the cover­ you concur, or you suggest something and he age. Particularly when you are working on a says, "Yes, of course," or you both say, TV movie, where you are really moving fast, "What if we did this?" At its best it is a pro­ you better be able to get in there, get your cess that evolves. Hopefully no one's ego be­ master shot and know exactly how you are comes involved and you say, "Gee, that was going to proceed with your coverage. my idea and that was someone else's idea. " All too often we fall in love with our master I believe in waiting for a scene to develop. and then we find that in editing the scene When you start to see a scene evolve, when plays mostly in the close-ups. It will happen actors are rehearsing, there is a point early on that way and it is terrible if you have sloughed when it seems very chaotic and it seems al­ off the detail in your close-up. most impossible to put on film. But even­ You get to know how a director Ukes to tually tbe scene starts to have a certain work. Many times you get the basic gist of it continuity to it, you eventually start discov­ and you start lighting before the rehearsal is ering that there is a \vay to put it on 5lm. And even completed. The official procedure is to the way I really like to work is that you resolve have tbe rehearsal, mark the positions without

THE CI:Sl:.~lt\TOCRAPHl:.R AS COLL'\BORt\TOR 13 the camera, then start lighting the scene. The your belly full. And then you pick a nice tree operator starts working with the camera and to sit under and you burp the grass up again. we have full rehearsal before shooting. What It is like that when you are working. You di­ happens more and more is that if I wait till gest the scene with the director, imbuing the director stops staging a complicated mas­ yourself with every possible rhythm and every ter I will be out of time. So often I have to piece of information that you possibly can, to start lighting when he is blocking. U suddenly be ready for the moment. Filming is the mo­ he says, "This does not work, let's go over ment of many factors coming together in that here and change it all"-well I have to tear it special way which at another moment would out and it is gone. But more often than not I be di!Ierent. will be well ahead of the game by starting to light during the blocking of the scene. Other cinematographers prefer to have only the essential people present during the re­ Sometimes the scene is so sensitive that only hearsals. essential people are presenl But most of the time it is desirable for the whole crew to Richllrd Kline, ASC watch the rehearsal. The way I like to work on the set is to have it Conrad Hall, ASC cleared at the beginning of all but just a few necessary people. And I have a complete re­ I try to get the director to rehearse the whole hearsal of the scene, to see where we arc. Prior scene. I like to have everybody connected to that I have a rough idea of how the scene with the scene: props, wardrobe, everybody, might look, and I might prerig some lights watching at that time. Camera, ligh ting, just to set a mood. After rehearsing the entire grips, the whole lot just sitting around, scene we may find that the mood is not right watching the director work with the actors, and might be totally changed. and the cinematographer kind of tagging When the director works with actors I along behind. hover and observe and I walk various posi­ And sometimes directors like to have the tions and see what the sets are. It will proba­ editor on the scene at that point. Schlesinger bly take only 15 minutes but ;t is well worth is a man like that. He loves to have his editor it. It also gives the actors a chance to develop down there, because eventuaJJy the editor is in the scene and to discuss it. Then after that going to have to put it together. So he likes to reh earsal the director and 1 decide how we are have the whole team down there. And you re­ going to attack it. hearse the whole scene, ten pages, five pages, There is no rule with which shot we will three pages, whatever. It might be several start fi rst. We may start with a close-up first. days' or weeks' work, depending on the sched­ It is possible. And work your way back to a ule you have. That way everybody knows long shot. It is a rarity when someone will go what is to be expected and can contribute for tf1at, but there could be an emotional im­ more e!Iectively. pact which you will lose going from a long Men working with the director on a scene shot and a medium shot to a close-up. You you digest like a cow. You chew all day long, might drain the actor of the key moment you go out and graze in the fields and you get which you would need in a close·up. So there

H FILM LICHTNC would be this rare case when you may want to way to the net basically. You have better con­ start with a close-up and work your way back. trol if you work your way to the net. I compare filming setups to tennis. You have a serve which could be a long shot that gets Rehearsals add another dynamic to the evolu­ you into play. Usually you start with a long tion of a scene from the script and storyboard shot and in a serve you have maybe an ace, stage. The action has become three dimen­ wbich is an equivalent to staying on long sional and this quality must be captured now shot. But the idea in tennis is to work your on @m.

COMPOSITION

The basic need to represent a three dimen­ Illilker's use of these dark and light areas for sional reality on a two dimensional surface is "designing in depth." certainly not new in the visual arts. What sep­ The figurative painters and engravers of arates @m from the other visual arts is that it graphic illustrations in the nineteenth century is kinetic. The filmmaker is composing mo­ are worth study by filmmakers. Gustav Dare's tion. work is an example. He used a formula enor­ Composition of movement in time can be mously effective in emphasizing design in broken down into several dynamics. Move­ depth. In the foreground a subject might be ment of the camera and/ or of subjects in lit strongly, with an emphatic key light and front of the camera is called intraframe move­ strong modelling. But behind this would be ment. Screen sizes and angles of view can be Egures more or less in silhouette, in shadow manipulated in this way. lnterframe move­ and two-dimensional. These, in turn, would ment is created by editing, cutting from one be outlined against a brighter area in middle angle to another or from long shot to close­ distance, a part of light j]Juminating features up. The combination of camera movements of architecture or 5gures in an area of light. and editing becomes a truly powedul system These were again silhouetted, light against for manipulating the @m reality. Whether dark, against a further background of shadow, static or moving, the frame represents spatial gray but still dark. Each recessive plane con­ depth, or three dimensions, on a two dimen­ trasts with the one beyond it or in front. sional screen. The Spanish painter Francisco Goya wrote Alexander Mackendrick some 200 years ago, "I see (in nature) only iorms that advance, forms that recede, masses We're told by those who have studied the in light and shadow." psychology of perception that shadows are one of the clues by which the brain recognizes Conrad HaD, ASC spatial depth. The fact that the projected image is always seen as a window into a three­ In soft lighting you build depth by contrast. dimensional world is one reason for the 61m- In other words you put the person in light and

THE CLNEMA.TOCRAPHER AS COLLABORATOR 15 you take the light off the background. Or you Jordan Cronenweth, ASC put the light on the background and you take the light off the person. Or you do it with First of all, the composition bas to tell the color like for example, putting a person story and create the mood. If there are a lot of against a blue wall. Creating the reality re­ elements in the composition besides the sub­ quires a sense of everything--of movement, ject, you may need to lead the eye to the sub­ of color, of value in terms of contrast, of ject. You can do that with light. You can drama, of cutting. To be good you better create certain selectivity within the composi­ know everything. tion with lighting or as an element of the composition. A lot of composition is just It becomes obvious that a thorough knowl­ plain feel-how you feel. edge of composition is an absolutely essentiaJ The criterion is really the story. lf you ha ve skill for a cinematographer. He needs it not somebody coming out of a dark building only to create meaningful visuals on the through the doorway you can have the cam­ screen but also to communicate with the era way back and show the whole building director. and a little bit of the sky, you can have that camera closer to the door and show nothing Alen1nder Mackendrick but black and then a sliver of sky, and you can have the camera move with the guy from the Composing in depth isn't simply a matter of door back, or you can l1ave a close-up of him. pictorial richness. It has value in the narrative I mean, you can interpret it in a thousand of the action, the pacing of the scene. Within ways. But if you are just going for the compo­ the same frame, the director can organize the sition, you are abandoning the story. action so that preparation for what will hap­ pen next is seen in the background of what is happening now. While our attention is con­ Lighting composition not only directs the au­ centrated on what we see nearest to us, we are dience's attention to the particular subject, simultaneously aware of secondary activities but it also brings certain emotionaJ responses that lie beyond, and sometimes even of a to a scene. third plane of distant activity: the dramatic density of the scene is much greater. Design tbe blocking of the actors, the Haskell Wexler, ASC framing of the shot, with this sort of thing in mind and the cinematographer with a grain of I do not think that the director and the cam­ sense will instantly realize your intention. He eraman should be at odds as far as framing is will use light to assist the eye path of the audi­ concerned. They are two creative people ence and to give dramatic depth to the scene. looking at the scene. And part of the framing Most cameramen I've worked with have been is where the ligh t is in the frame. If, for ex­ very intelligent, quick to pick up on the direc­ ample, a person seated at a table ha s a little tor's intentions without the need for explana­ bright window sharply behind the right ear it tion. would tell a different story than if that bright window were more over his right shoulder, Composition, both in framing and lighting, out a little bit. It has a different emotional re­ directs the viewer's eye to the appropriate part sponse, and so where this little window in the of the scene. background appears in the frame, is part of

16 FILM U CHTI:-.IC the framing. So the lighting and the framing cinema screen or for television? VVhen the are the same thing a.nd they have to be joint. framing bas to be a compromise the result is often disastrous. There are basically four popular screen ratios: When any of my films were reframed-the Academy (1. 33:1), Wide Screen (1.85:1 and film image rephotographed for television 1.65:1), and Anamorphic (2.35:1). With such broadcast-/ could not help feeling a sense of a variety of screen ratios, in the words of Rob­ outrage. If I remember rightly, Augustus ert Wise, "You cast your screen size to the John, a well-known British portrait painter, subject matter." discovered that after he had sold a portrait, the new owner cut nine inches off the bottom Robert Wise of the painting so that it would 6t a space on his wall. John sued for damages, even though When I did The Hindenberg a few years ago, the painting was no longer his, and, as I re­ it was perfect for the anamorphic format. But call, won his case. I feel the same way about one thing that I deplore about the anamor­ screen images. And it's not just aesthetics; it phic is its lack of depth. I love to be able to affects the narrative. In A High Wind in Ja­ rake the foreground and to carry somebody maica one of the key shots was a wide screen back in the distance and keep that in focus. shot of seven children sitting in a row as they Split diopters help in these situations. are interrogated by the lawyer; the point of the scene was the silent reaction of two chil­ Among the visual artists the filmmaker has a dren who happened to be on each end; nei­ rather unenviable position of not being in full ther of them appeared in the television control when his work is being presented to verswn. the audience. For people who rel y heavily on composition to tell their stories this can be It is the unfortunate lot of filmmakers that very frustrating. they are not in charge when their work is being projected. A visit to a local theater can Alemnder Mackendrick at times be a heartbreaking experience, let alone seeing one's film on television. In the 19 SOs a real problem cropped up when In spite of this uncertain future, the film the framing of the image became ambiguous, crew puts all its talents and skills into produc­ unpredictable. Were we working just for the ing a weD-composed picture.

WORKING WITH THE CREW

There are three people on the crew ultimately matter or genre of the story, the individual concerned with the composition of the frame: background and national tradition. An the director, the cinematographer, and the American cinematographer who also directs camera operator. The balance of power discusses his interpretation of the balance of among these three individuals is affected by power. many factors: personal experience, the subject

THE Cl:-.JEMATOCRAPHER AS COLLABORATOR 17 Haskell Wexler, ASC of it. However, my temperament has been to feel that I have to design every camera angle, I do not think of tbe director of photography every screen size, every camera move. I have as only the lighting cameraman. I think of to work directly with the can1era operator on bim as the cameraman who sets tbe frame, this and caJmot afford to go through the the camera movement and the lighting. J:/e Director of Photography, though, of course, does it in service to the director. lf the direc­ be will be present as the decisions are made. tor says, "I want to play this scene very This is because, as director, I an1, above all static," then the cameraman does it this way. things, concerned wit!J narrative content, the The cameraman may suggest, "I understand story. Other values are very inlpoctant, but wbat you me.an but I think that if we make a they come later. Since the story is told very smaJJ move toward her when she says through the positioning of the actors in rela­ such and sucb line we w111 be on the medium tion to the camera, since the blocking of shot. It will keep the static quality and maybe actors' moves witllin the scene is inseparable help what you are trying to say." And the £rom the design of camera moves in relation director may say, "I said I want this thing to the performer, the camera operator and I static, I don't want any dolly move." At this are concerned with narrative. He is t!Je direc­ point you may doubt the aesthetic wisdom of tor's right hand and be is my man. his judgment, but you do the static shot. Mat I am saying is that a good director of Mackendrick's description of the role of the photography feeds the director what be thinks operator stems from the heyday of the British about the scene after be gets the idea from studio system. ln this tradition the cinema­ the director what the scene is all about. If be tographer is )mown as the Lighting Cam­ is just trying to make wt1at he calls a good eraman and his role is predominantly to light shot, then be has no right to say anything be­ the set. The operator is more concerned with cause making films is not just making good the narrative. Hollywood tradition is differ­ shots. Making films is making film s. The best ent. world is one where there is mutual respect and there is a give and take; an acceptance of Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC the fact that the director is tbe boss but rec­ Sometimes tbe director will set up the com­ ognizing that he is just a human being who position but be will leave it up to me to final­ sometimes can be right and sometimes can be ize it. IE my operator is very good I will give wrong. him a lot of freedom, I will let him decide Traditionally, the cinematographer's role is certain things, let him be involved with it. But I certainly will work wit!J the operator a perceived differently in Britain. lot because I have certain compositional feel­ Alexander Mackendrick ings which the operator has to learn. For ex­ ample I do not like too much headroom. It I distinguish between the way I work witb tbe depends on the picture, but I usually like lighting cameraman and the way I work witb tight composition. IE an operator that I work the operator. As Director of Photography, wit/1 does not bave tbe same taste, then he and boss of the whole camera crew, some cin­ has to learn to please my taste. That takes a ematographers will probably challenge me on little time but usually by the middle of the this, insisting that they are responsible for all picture be can guess bow I would compose it.

18 FILM LICHTI~G Since the operator is the link between the I like all my key people reading the script. cameraman's visual concept and the composi­ Like the operator, the first assistant, the gaf­ tion on the screen, this relationship is very fer, the key grip, and others as well, if possi­ symbiotic. An operator should read the script ble. Tt is absolutely essential that they all read and understand the style worked out by the it. I like everybody to know the story they are director and the cinematographer. te/L.ng. So they are not just showing up in the morning as mechanics. Because the more Allen Daviau, ASC people on the crew are involved in te//ing the This relation depends on where one's story and coming up with ideas, the better off strengths Jje. 1 always would have something you are and the more sense of participation to say about the composition. Operators 1 like they have. 1 like everybody to come to the to work with are very good detail people in dailies. I do not believe in closed dailies. 1 just terms of moving props and setting things think that people should see the fruit of the around to make the frame really work. And work they are doing. And many times you wi// they have to do it in concert with continuity get tremendous ideas from somebody who is people and the prop department, so that the third grip or the second electrician be­ everybody is aware when you are cheating cause they are looking at it from an unpreju­ something on the mantelpiece or over on the diced point of view. It is also the sense of bookcase, just to make a better composition. involvement of the unit. It is one of the best You get very good in doing this and in terms things about filmmaking and it is particularly of knowing what will get by. true of a film that shoots on location; the You need to know whether for the next sense of family that fo rms in the 6/m crew. piece of coverage it should go back or should You are living in the same crummy motel and you move it even more this way. These are all you are eating in the same restaurants every details dealt with principally by the camera night and when you see these dailies together operator. I like to see what they are doing, I in some little room or in the neighborh ood like to ride the rehearsal if it is possible time­ theater, it provides a reason for all tbcse peo­ wise, so I can see tbat the composition is ple with these diverse backgrounds being out working, that the shot is working. There is in some strange place shooting a movie. It is this need of having the picture in my mind all one of the best things about it. At the end of a day long, particularly in a scene I kn ow that I long shoot, when people are saying good-bye will be coming back to. just having looked in to each other, it is very touching a lot of times the Iinder makes a great difference for me, because you have been through many diffi­ particularly if I have been able to ride the re­ culties together. hearsal. Of course some directors, like Steve Spielberg, like to ride tbc rehearsal too. Spiel­ The collaborative effort, often under adverse berg loves to stage the scene through the cam­ conditions, creates intense relationships era. And you see it happening, and it is among crew members. In a very natural way marvellous because he has the sense of mov­ the cinematographer often becomes the nu­ ing camera to people and people to camera cleus of this instant famil y with crew mem­ that is just priceless. He comes into a room bers looking to his leadership. and many times before he even starts the re­ Hjs second-in-command in the area of hearsal he will say, Camera bere, 29mm, and lighting is the gaffer. He is not only the chief he will start blocking the scene that way. electrician but also a close collaborator with

THE Cl):E IATOGRAPHER AS COLL'\BORATOR 19 the cinematographer in shaping the look of When the gaffer and his electricians are set­ the film. ting the lights, the chief grip with his crew is responsible for handling all the reflective boards and the diffusion materials used in James Crabe, ASC front of the lamps. They also set all the black gobos, flags and teasers to control the light 1 worked with several gaffers who had deci­ spread. dedly distinctive style in tbcmsdves. }'ou often learn from the people that are working James Crabe, ASC for you. I worked witb Aggie Aguilar quite often. He works a Jot with those soft lights It takes a new kll1d of grip nowadays. In tbe with the egg crate grid and then he has that old da ys the grip was always there with a C­ honeycomb that he puts on lamps, so you get stand and a little flag, but when you deal with tbe directionality of light and you arc able to large sources you have to be quite ingenious control the soft light. in stringing up black cloth to keep ligbt out of the lens. Gaffer Richmond ("Aggie'') Aguilar, whom James Crabe mentions, feels that the cam­ A person who should become the cinematog­ eraman and the gaffer work as a team. With rapher's close ally is the script supervisor. today's complicated camera movements occu­ Some cinematographers plan their lighting of pying cinematographer's attention, lighting a given scene on the basis of the script. becomes too much work for one person. The Others consider that yo u can bury your in­ gaffer communicates with the operator as stincts by preconceiving the shots. They rely weU, regarding the frame lines of the shot. on their gut feeling. Conrad Hall confesses The Best Boy, who is next in line on the elec­ that he "attacks each day with absolutely no trical team, runs the crew, takes care of foreknowledge of what he is going to do." He equipment and makes the power connections. knows the script, but asks the script supervi­ Most often cameramen leave it to the gaffer sor to read the scenes for a given day, to hear to decide on the particular lighting instru­ it coming from somebody else. Often this ments to be used. reading gives him an idea. Hall also believes that the script supervisor is his ally when it comes to matching the shots. Michael D. Margulies, ASC Conrad Hall, ASC 1 will discuss with the gaffer what I want, where I want the light coming from, what 1 It is very important to pay attentioo to want the light to hit, and usually Jet bim de­ matching, and it is one of the things where cide on the units be uses. Nine out of ten you work most closely with a script supervi­ times be will make the decision on the unit. If sor. You ha ve to get together beforehand and 1 want something specific I will ask for a spe­ come up with a system by which to remember cific unit, but generally that is his depart­ how to reproduce weeks later wbat you had ment. 1 want the set looking in a certain way started out weeks before. You make notes on and 1 want so many footcandles and that is your lighting, you make notes that a given what be gives me. scene which was incomplete was shot at a

20 FILM LIGHTIJ\C certain time of day, what type of light there ality. Some directors think that they will was, what kind of weather. W'hen you arc reach some pinnacle of honesty if indeed they dealing with close-ups, there are means to re­ will bit an actor with a real hunk of wood and produce the atmosphere, but if it is a large bruise bim. And that psychology taken one scope then only nature can reproduce atmo­ step further has to do with how risky a place sphere effectively and you have to let the pro­ we will put a camera in. If the camera and the duction department know that this cannot be camera crew are lying on the ground in front done at this time. of a skidding automobile and it is going to be dangerous, some directors believe that the The problem of matching constitutes the image is going to be that much more exciting. major difference between still photography Tbat the adrenalin that will come From the and film. It is one of the most difficult and camera crew, will somehow spread itself onto demanding tasks for the cinematographer; the emulsion of the film and make the direc­ matching from shot to shot and from scene to tor a better shot. Some directors feel that they scene. It requires the ability to constantly are gods and forget that they are engaged in think in terms of three consecutive shots: the making theater, that they are engaged in one we are lighting, the one before it and the making drama, that they are making images one after it. Of course, the final editing will which in a manner are used to sell Coca-Cola not necessarily follow the same order and this and automobiles, and that to risk the crew has to be taken into consideration as well. members' lives under those conditions is Within one shot, lighting balance is the chief folly. And that is why I see the use of toxic objective. smoke as endangering people's lives not as im­ l started this chapter by stabng that film­ mediately as being run over by a car or making is a collaborative art. The members of dropped out of a helicopter, but as hurting the crew contribute their skills to translate the their health. Because this smoke is toXJ'c. I story from the script onto the screen. But no think that these are moral, ethical issues one should forget that this is a make-believe which people who are making films should world and that the safety of the crew is of think about. paramount importance. As Haskell Wexler (ASC) eloquently states: A cinematographer on the job is engaged in a complex venture involving several key figures , The problem of the bealtb and safety of the usually with well-developed egos. It is there­ crew as it relates to tbe quality of the image is fore small wonder that one of the talents an important issue for the filmmakers to ad­ often mentioned as absolutely necessary for a dress themselves to. There is a tendency cinematographer to have is the ability to get among some new filmmakers to forget that we along with other people. Without this quality are indeed in a make-believe business, that we even an otherwise brilliant cinematographer are creating dreams and not dealing in true re- can, and will, remain unemployable.

THE CI:\E~IATOCRAPHER AS COLLABORATOR 21 CHAPTER W©lYJ«

Strategy of Lighting

T HE VLSUAL style the director seeks for a film or soft? Will it be high- or low-key? Will it he will influence the decisions the cinematogra­ li t to a great e:dent with practicals or from pher makes about lighting the scenes. There so Uices outside the fram e? Each of these are several general choices he must make basic decisions will greatly affect the look of about his lighting technique. Will it be hard the film.

l-IARD VERSUS SOFT

Before we go deeper into the subject of corn­ Over the years lighting designers, cinema­ posing with lights we have to look at the char­ tographers, and ga ffers have designed a vast acter of light itself. Light can be hard, soft or array of lighting instruments to produce both gradations in between. Hard light casts strong hard and soft lights. shadows and the softest light is sbadowless. The hardest light in general use is the arc. Hard light is generated from a small source Its light, created between two carbon elec­ whereas soft light comes from a large one. trodes, is smaller and brighter than the fila­ The hardest source of light known in na­ ment of an incandescent bulb. A Fresnel lens ture is the noonday sun; an overcast sky is the is used with an arc to bring the light into a softest source known. It is as if a diffusion ma­ narrow beam. Incandescent lights with Fres­ terial has been stretched from horizon to nel lenses also fall in the range of hard lights. horizon. The illumination comes from all di­ Open-ended lights can be hard or soft de­ rections and car1cels out the shadows. pending on the size of the reflector and on the

83 type and positioning of the bulb. The softest wide angle shot when a large area of the set is are boxlike soft lights and a variety of lighting in the frame. instruments made in the studio that consist of rows of bulbs behind a diffusion screen. Even softer sources can be created by placing very Jordan C ronenweth, ASC large diffusion screens in front of conven­ Soft ligh ting is much more cli.11icult to control tional lights or by bouncing light off large re­ tban hard lighting. It is not what you light flective screens onto the subject. that counts but what you don 't light. Any­ Soft light produces much lower light levels body ca1J go back there and tum on a beauti­ for the same wattage used than hard light and ful soft light; take a light and bounce it off a it falls off with distance much faster. In the wbite card and get 10 footcandles or 15 foot­ days of slow emulsions, its use was limited candles and say, Ready. But to control it you mainly to a general fill function. With the ad­ have to do many tbings. You can take it off vent of fast color fil m stocks, however, soft tbe actor and just hit tbe back wall and sJJ­ light sources became adequate as the main houette him, or you can take it off the back modelling light. Many leading cameramen wall. You can make a shadow. You can put a developed a style of lighting that utilizes soft bottomer on it, or a topper, or a sider. light as the chief light source in a majority of scenes. Other equally distinguished cinema­ Soft lighting gained its popu.l arity because it tographers continue to favor the predomi­ gives the scene a more natural, less " filmic" nantly directional focusable key lights; these look than hard lighting. At the same time it should be chosen carefully for a particular has a danger of lacking character. In the final area and function. There is, of course, a mid· analysis, it is just another "brush" to paint die ground, which might be to use predomi­ with, but not the only one. nantly soft light but accentuate modelling with some harder sources. Soft light technique is basically area light­ Caleb DescluJne~ ASC ing, which creates a more natural look. Since less equipment is involved it actually helps to 1 think that soft lighting is very limiting. J

84 FILM LICI-ITI;-.JC Caleb Deschanel, ASC "sourcy" light, meaning that it is well defined in its origin. Practicals, or lights visible in the The argument between hard and soft light is scene, are also sourcy. kind of ll'e.~k because in a sense you really make your judgment based upon whate1•er the story is. There is a tendency to think that Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC or in the philosophy is soft hard lighting, but Lighting depends on the picture. T really be­ reality the philosophy is what film I am doing. liC\'e that daylight scenes should be lit softly Basically you should have at your disposal any except for harsh sunlight coming through the range of lighting styles. window, 1\'bich is sourcy. But most daylight scenes are very soft and hould be handled One bas to have practical experience in both like a bounced light, uo sl1adows and all that. styles of lighting to be able to mix and match But night interiors and night exteriors arc, in them effectively. real life verr sourcv. Sometimes you have hard li;ht ,,;itl1 pra~ticals. Candlelight is a Haskell Wexler, ASC somcy light. You really try to follow reality as much as possible. 1 do not like to light with Everybody should still work in hard light as hard sources anymore unless that is the way it well. Not to do it and to say that it has to be is ii1 real life. Almost everything nowadays is all soft light is like throwing away part of the done through some diffusion materia/, unless 1 artist's palette. think that the more va riety vou elect to be sourcy. you it can have, the better will look. To be · If you go too soft in the ligh ting, it just be­ able to light well in hard light makes the soft comes boring. The difficult thing is really to lighting a piece of ca ke, because a soft light is ligbt softly but to create a contrast at the very forgiving. Soft light, uncontrol7ed, is stJ11 same time. This is a difficult thing to do. Soft acceptable photographically. It is real1y hard lighting can be more or less directional dc.:­ for soft light to look bad, but it is not hard for pending on the mood of a scene and the kind bard light to look bad. of set.

\Vexler has hit on an important point here. Directional light can be made soft through He continues: diffusing and bouncing. Soft light can only become partially directional with the use of One reason why soft lighting is so popular is flags, grids and teasers. Creating varying de­ due to the fact that there is more imprOI·isa­ grees of softness and directionality becomes tion today which is tolerated by the soft light. one of the important methods used to create It is possible to utilize in soft lighting what we mood through lighting. have /earned from hard lighting and a lot of good cameramen actually do that. Richard Kline, ASC tn immediate and practical terms, the charac­ In directional lighting we will take a unit and ter of light will be initially designated hy the we can slip in a soft material like a spun glass time of day. Day interiors are affected by sun­ a diffusion material which softens the light. lit windows. Manv cinematographers call You can use frosts a11d you car1 also bounce sunlight coming . through the windows the directional light, which 1 do quite often.

STRI\TECY OF LICIITI:'-IC 85 Take a very strong light and bounce it off the and soft lighting, too. I certainly think that card and then box it in with gobos, rather today the tendency is to use more soft sources than [using) the generality of the overall soft that are more akin to what we experience in ligb t. 1t all depends on a scene. Wl1en I do a life, except in a tungsten situation at night Elm I try to get a variety of looks because if where light bulbs and small sources are cast­ the whole pictme is soft-lit it becomes boring, ing bard shadows. Much of what we see is and I have seen that quite often. Yes, it is bounced light and with the fa ster film it can pretty; each frame is gorgeous; but after a be done. while it is meaningless because it is repeti­ I think the pendulum always swings {first] tious. It is a question of the overall picture so one way and [then] the other when you think you bave the variety of looks, and not just for that at the very beginning of motion pictures, the sake of van"ety. Most of the time in a story the first studios were covered with muslin tllat there is generally a night and a da y, which re­ would allow only soft light to come through. quire different looks. There are different times But, of course, tllere are many possibilities of a day and there are different rooms, which and effects available to soft lighting. Anyone could dictate a different look. Sometimes you who dismisses it as being easier to do or just a achieve it strictly through a bounce light. A cheap shot is not really thinking about it. It is bathroom or a kitchen, which are usually soft difficult with soft lighting to keep the sources during the day, are ideal places. This might out of the shot, usually because you often be a place to use the overall soft light, I think, want them around a little bit. You can always but then again you come into a living room put a Junior up, out of the set, or a Baby, or and it is usually down a bit, moodier, even if something, but to have a large radiating it is very soft. There are usua/ly darker areas; source like a bounce card from an interesting you can make a set look soft and still go angle, particularly on real locations, quite directional. often takes a lot of effort and thought.

Experienced cinematographers see soft and Although cinematography began with soft hard light as two extremes in the whole range lighting, for a good fifty years hard lighting of light characteristics, each useful for certain predominated. The slow emulsions required ~pplications . lights with a "kick" to them. The resulting style was characterized by sharp shadows and James Crabe, ASC well-defined areas of light. This created a rather dramatic, stylized quality. Since the To try to dilierentiate lighting generally by sixties the trend toward more realistic treat­ saying that there is bard lighting and there is ment of the story has led the way to soft soft lighting, one has to remember that there lighting. But the pendulum continues to are a mmion variations between hard lighting swing.

LOW KEY, HIGH KEY

One of the most decisive factors creating the of contrast and light distribution known as visual mood through lighting is the question the Low Key and High Key styles. These

86 FILM LIGHTING Low key effect is created by the use of one hard light source and predominant shadows. The lighter part of the face is played against a dark background. Sophie's Choice, estor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer.

The candle scene is in low key but with an upbeat mood. Lighting comes at an angle approximating the candle light. Street light patterns outside the windows provide more depth and separation of the planes. Sophie's Choice, Nestor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer. The same room as in the candle scene is lit to a high key effect with strong daylight outside the windows and rather Rat lighting of the actors. Sophie's Choice, estor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer. stvles should not be confused with hard and Underexposing all the areas would lead to a soft lighting, though there are many parallels murky picture without sufficient contrast and and similarities. visual impact. We have to remember that it is In a Low Key scene the majority of the pic­ by comparison of brightnesses and shadows ture is underlit, but some parts are correctly that our eyes comprehend the lighting values ex-posed or even overexposed. If, for example, in the frame. As many cinematographers there is a shot of a prisoner m a dark ccll, per­ state: "\Vhat you do not light is often more haps a small window in the upper comer will important than what you do light." [o black­ be quite bright and one quarter of his face and-white pictures the brightness range is all wiJJ be correctly exposed, but the remainder there is. ln color, the hues and saturation wiJJ of the frame will be a fe" stops undere>.1>osed also contribute to the overall gradation. and rt~ fill light will be used. The result IS an High Key represents the opposite concept. overall impression of Lo"' Key because the Here most of the frame IS well lit with a lot of eye compares the dark areas with the few that soft fill light. Sets are rather light in color. If are well lit. the heavy shadows of Low Key are intended

88 FlL'vt LJCHTI~C The SS officer is crosslit and well 6lled in to give him a more self-assured and domineering character. Sophie's Choice, Nestor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer.

Lighting a night scene from the camera side rather than from three-quarters back is not typical, but is very effective here. The actress looks drab against the dark background, which is in keeping with the mood of the scene. Sophie's Choice, estor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer.

to introduce an element of suspense, the ter and the functions performed by the key, shadowless High Key leaves nothing to the Eil1 and back lights. audience's imagination. In the hard, directional lighting style, the To understand High and Low Key styles traditional concept of ker light, fill Hght and better we should take a closer look at charac- back light was clearly defined. Today, a soft

STRATEGY OF LIGHTING 89 In this scene, Oat lighting, together with a high camera angle, helps to create the mood of · dejection and a11enation. The reverse shot shows the unfriendly library clerk looking down at Sophie (Meryl Strecp). H is lighting includes a kicker which gives him a more self-assured look. The light re8cctions in his eyeglasses add to the ominous effect. Sophie's Choice, Nestor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer. ::~ ,_~ ~--; ~..!: =<:Ju ~>­ ~"e c: :: ;o .2 ~E 30 -"' Strong backlight is logicall)' motivated by the street lamp. The ambient room light justifies the soft front light. Sophie's Choice, estor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer.

light, enveloping objects and bouncing off soft. Although with softer keys the fill light surfaces creates a seemingly less clear distinc­ is not always needed, it remains an impor­ tion, and yet with a little bit of common sense tant light when the key light comes as cross­ we can always analyze the sources. The mam lighting, for example, from the side (half source of light, which gives character to the light) or even from three-

STRATEGY OF LICHTL'\C 91 Richmond Aguilar subject, in line with the lens. A back light that does not indicate the source but JUSt Fill light is a \ ery important light. It is taken lights the hatr is appropriately called the hair for granted, but it sets the mood and it can light Also from the back comes the rim light save your life in exposure. It starts picking up or rimmer, which gives just a thin rim of light details in the background, things that you to the subject. The next light farther to the would not see otherwise. side is the kicker, which gives a certain sheen to the cheek as seen from the camera-posi­ In terms of placement, fill light can be de­ tion. Farther yet to the side is a liner, which scribed as being rather close to the lens axis, could be defined as a kicker, but is forward for example, slightly above the lens or oppo­ enough so that it does not produce any sheen. site the key light, or both. Glow light comes more &om the side and ba­ Back light traditionafly fulfilled the func­ sically creates a little glow on the shadowy tion of separating people from the back­ side of the face but does not produce any ground. This function was necessary in shadows of its own: it has no "kick" to it. For black-and-white photography. It became less the sake of clarity T have tried to systematize important with color, where the elements in all these terms, but in practice they are used the frame are separated from each other by less precisely and sometimes interchangeably. their hue. Some more radical cinematogra­ The liner may mean the rimmer, or the phers reject back light altogether as artificial kicker. Various cinematographers and gaffers but with the advent of softer key light the ma­ develop their own nomenclature over the jority of cinematographers find back lights years. useful. This \'ariety of light directions represents Depending on the angle these accentuat­ part of the "palette" of the cinematographer, ing, textural lights have many names. Back to be used judiciously when and where it is light usually means a light directly behind the needed. IncidentaJly, back lighting need not

The actress' profile is delineated by a rim light. Her key ]jght comes from the right. Sophie's Choice, Nestor Almendros (ASC), cinematographer. be a hard, directional light. Many people use line out the profile, like a kicker. W'hen some­ soft light to create the effects of separation one says "I want a real kicker in there," they and light rim on a sub1ect. don't necessarily mean kicker in the terms that we used to use them. Kicker was the Richmond Aguilar three-fourth back light. Now lots of times it is a term used for just a real hard punch from I use almost exclusively soft light for back some direction. It may be a total half light light. It gives a little bit more area of high­ that someone steps into at a point. "Give me light and tbe ligbt is less harsh, so you see the a real punch right tbere, " "real kicker," outline but you are not conscious of the light "zinger"; they all mean the same thing. being there. On a location interior you arc limited by the height of the cCJling. Under We will conclude this review of back lights these circumstances your back lights are low. and kickers with a few words of caution. Tf you are shooting a party with a lot of people milling around, it is quite disturbing when Jordan Crorumweth, ASC people block the back ligbt. But if you use a soft light up there, or more than one, then In lighting, time is a big factor. A trend in when someone is blocked from one light he lighting is to get more and more simple, the still gets some from another back light It is a judicious use of back lights and rim lights and very soft, easy change; you do not have that kick lights. It stems from the fact that they all harsh on and off shadows. take time, so you put them where you abso­ lutely have to have separation. You see tmnec­ A harder light that gives a real punch may be essary kickers every night on evClJ' channel on referred to as a zinger. television. Lots of guys put them in out of habit, I guess, because of the "key light, back Riclulrd Hart light, fi111ight" principle. Sometimes it is nice to have a face that is just almost melting into A Jot of cinematographers like that "zing." It the background; it depends on what you are usually gives a rim-hot back light on hair to doing.

SOURCES OF UGHT

Once the character of light is decided for a Therefore most cinematographers insist on given scene, the cinematographer's task is to seeing the run-through of the whole scene be­ decide the practical and bypotheticaJ sources fore lighting it. of light and the direction of lighting. These choices will be influenced by the script and V ilmos Zsigmond, ASC the director's concept of covering the scene. The more camera setups you can get from the The sequence of lighting a scene depends director in advance, the less danger of "paint­ upon how a director works with actors. Unfor­ ing yourself into a corner" with lighting. tunately, many times actors have a late call,

STRATEGY OF LIGHTING 93 so usually you will talk to the director the luxury that cannot be afforded. Gaffer Rich­ night before or that morning. You ask him mond ("Aggie") Aguilar who frequently what he will do in that scene. He "'ill rehearse works with cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, with the stand-ins, walk it through, and he discusses ways to work around more restric­ will establish a few things. For example, let's tive budgets. say somebody walks in through the door and sits down in a certain place. I pcerig the light­ Richmond Aguilar ing for this move. When the actors arrive, even if I am not Enished, 1 will ask the direc­ To a certain extent, it is dictated by how tor to have a rehearsal to 5nalize the action, much time you have and what you are al­ because many times it ,.,.j1J change. The actor lowed to work with. When I started working will come in with a different idea, and they with Laszlo Kovacs, I would be roughing-in will change the whole thing. Ma ybe he won't when l1e was working with the director block­ come through the door anymore; maybe he ing the scene. 1 would be lighting the set from will come from the other side of the room and the background, or maybe outside, working that means that you would end up doing your toward the foreground, to the principals in job twice. I don't want to do that, so I liXe to front of the camera. By that time he wifl get a rehearsal as soon as possible. When know where they will be on their marks and everything is locked in, the stand-ins will walk whether he wil1 want to key the scene from it for me; then I light the stand-ins. When the window or not. So, essentially, we would this is done, usually you can shoot the scene. be working in the same time without too Most of the set can be prerigged to a certain much coordination. I got very familiar with degree. what he likes so it would work out very well without talking back and forth. In those early Cinematographer Allen Daviau suggests pictures, there was not a lot of time to release lighting the windows on the set even before the set to the crew. We were lighting when the rehearsal begins. ln this way the light they were rehearsing. Now in a major produc· sources are suggested to the director and may, tion you will have a rehearsal and a scene will in tum, influence his staging of the scene. be blocked out by a director, and we will be excused from. the set. But on a very pressured Haskell Wexler, ASC schedule, we may have to work simultane­ ously, witb tbe director rehearsing. It depends When lighting a set, prenggmg is a time­ a lot upon a director and the people around saving practice, and it allows you to see the him if they can work in this situation. Some lighting problems in advance. The sooner you want absolute quiet and privacy. That is a will get something lit, the sooner you can see luxury wbich you cannot aflord in a television whether you bave made a mistake or not. schedule. This way it will not happen when everyone is I start lighting from the background be­ waiting and when for reasons of time econ­ cause we do not reafly know what the actors omy you would bave to live with your wrong will do in front. When the director is working decisions. on that, I will go and do the windows outside and we will talk and establish, for example, Although prerigging may save time in a long that perhaps the sun comes through the win­ run, on fast schedules it may be considered a dow back there, so we have something to

94 FILM LJGHTING work from. The other school is to light the John Alonz.o, ASC foreground action and to cut it o/I from where you don 't want it, and then work vour back­ Jimmy Wong Howe once told me: Start with ground. The basic question is: Wb~re the hell the source as the premise, but if the source as will you start lighting the scene? Every scene the premise does not work and does not look has a key to it, something that will work for right, then change the source, just make up a you. You see the light through a window or source. And that IS the best way because in from a chandelier; those are obvious things. the end result, you do not know bow they are But, there are other scenes that are Jess obvi­ going to cut the picture. No director will start ous; a stained glass window perhaps, or with the shot of a window and say, "Here is maybe a plain room with one door open and a the light coming from this direction," and shaft of light coming down the hallway; some­ then cut to the actor. You may never see the thjng that would be appropriate for the dra­ window in the entire scene. matics. You 6nd this one key, and if you like It is the overaJI character of the light direction it you work from there. Many times it is a\\·­ that matters. The exact angle of light will fully hard to get that one thing. never be scrutinized by the audience as long as it is not disorienting. Deciding on light sources involves the aes­ thetic philosophy of the cinematographer. Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC The two basic orientations are sometimes re­ ferred to as "Naturalism" and "Pietorialism." It is good to follow practicals but I am not The naturalistic school of lighting would fol­ dogmatic. \Vhen you see that a person needs low the natural, logically established sources another key, you can either start putting light of light in the scene. The pictorialists on the somces on the other side and change every­ other hand would use light angles that violate thing around, which becomes ricliculous this logic if they achieve a more pleasing pic­ eventually because you will change the look ture as a result. Of course, there is no cut­ of the room, or you can cheat Now, bow do and-dried division between these two ap­ you cheat? You can always cheat with light proaches. It is more a matter of give-and-take sources and the audience will never catch between the logic of the source and the com­ you. "Who says that there cannot be a light positional requirement of the frame. Gen­ source outside the frame? If 1 never shoot in erally, most cinematographers believe in that direction, I never reveal the cheat. You justifying the source of light. can get away with many things. If I was forced to cheat during the day, I n·ould tum on some lights and use mixed light But I like Riclutrd Kline, ASC to JUstify the lighting. It is ,·cry Important that people are lit realistically from existing I estabfjsh a source. The position of light can light sources. And if you cheat, you cheat change in various setups but the general char­ with light sources that you do not see but you acter of the source will still look the same on fed that they could be there. the screen. You just need to enhance the source. Now, whether it needs more light or Sometimes the light direction is established stronger light, it will still be the same in char­ by what "feels right" even if the logic of acter. soruee is violated.

STRATEGY OF LICHTI~C 95 fames Plannette of light established. If it came from tbe same direction, but a new source of light m1s visi­ If you are photographing a scene and there is ble, it would be distracting. Tbe audience a light source in the picture, even 50 feet may not be able to verbalize what bothers away, tbe direction of light should come from them, but something would be bothering tl1is source, even if in the previous shot an­ them. other source was visible and another direction

LONG SHOT AND CLOSE-UP

Once the light directions are established, the level of the performance. Many times a direc­ time comes to execute the lighting strategy tor wilJ set up h\'O cameras and get a master for the master shot and the CO\'erage of the and a close-up at the same time. Of course, 1 scene in closer shots. The extent to which the don't like to use tbis technique too much be­ lighting will have to change from a long shot cause you end up doing the close-up with a to a close-up really depends on many aspects long lens, in a lighting set for a master shot. of a scene. With predominantly overhead soft This is sometimes limiting, especially when lighting for a master shot, the eye sockets can working on location. In case u·here I cannot look cavernous. Close-ups will most likely re­ light the master right, I will correct it in tbe quire some "cleaning of the eyes," ,.. .hich close-up. I always try to bnng the light means filling them in with lower angle light through windows or from light sources, so it to get rid of the shadows. In hard, directional looks right and it can be used for the master lighting, the changes will often depend upon and the close-up as well. the individual features of the person in close­ up and on the composition of the frame, Coming closer to a close-up may require a which tends to be affected more by hard change in the lighting raho to better match directional light. Many cinematographers feel these two shots. that if they spend more time and care on lighting the long shot, then there will be Caleb Deschane~ ASC fewer delays and problems when they move into close-up coverage. You have to make certain adjustments for close-ups. You can generally use a higher Vu~s~mond,ASC lighting ratio in a close-up then you do in a long shot. Some of it depends on how hot the I usually spend a lot of time lighting a master background is and many other things, but if and I usually do the rest of tbe shooting with you are in a setting, generall}' you get farther very few changes. r prefer to spend twenty- back and details that you would pick up in a 6ve percent more time to light a master than close-up get lost and just become totally black an average cameraman would do, but then 1 or e:ttrcmely dark, so that you don't sec any use much less time on tbe close-ups. Direc­ deta1ls. It is not an absolute rule because each tors do not like to wait too long after the mas­ scene is different. If you have a very bot back­ ter for tbe close-ups because they lose tbe ground, then that rule changes, but if it 1s a

96 FlL~I UCHTr:-:C dark background, then when you are getting in a scene. They put their hands on the switch closer, when the image becomes large in and we switch them off. You might have a frame, you start seeing details in shadows small "coffin box" or a small square soft light even at the same lighting ratio as when the on top of a set, so that there is an ambient ex­ object was farther away. There is also more posure light, so to speak. grain there to create the detail. Sometimes you 1ust light the room. You tal

IN THE STUDIO AND ON LOCATION

The actual painting with light, creating the metaphor of what all life should be like. It is three-dimensional composition to be ulti­ as if you are coming into a problem that you mately recorded on the two-dimensional @m, ha,'e to face and there it is, like a life to live. has to be approached differently in the studio Mat are you going to do? You have choices and on location. The challenge of a dark stage to mal

STRATEGY OF LICHTI'-:C 97 bon. So, the concept has to be spoken, articu­ where you cannot. You are affected psycholo­ lated, and everyone on the crew has to be gically by the lighting of the place when you imbued with that concept. Now we are all sec it in the natural situation. You ma}' try to working with one concept instead of every­ emulate that. It is a lot different from coming body working with his own idea. And, I am to a studio where the grips can tell you, any working with the director's concept, and then wall can come out, everything is wild, you can {come] a lot of discussions, because some­ shoot anything you want to shoot. Some times you know just ho"' to do it and some­ directors like tlJC control, being able to design times you don't. el'el)'thing, and a lot of directors are terri6ed of that aspect and prefer to let the natural as­ In the past, the total control in the studio set­ pects of the location dictate the staging. ting was often blamed for an unrealistic treat­ ment of the story material. There is no question that the studio allows for much more precise and sophisticated light­ James Pumnette ing. \1\!hen you are shooting a night street scene on a back lot everything looks too perfect. Conrad Hall, ASC You get on a back lot of some studio, and you have arcs and towers, and you ha\·e e\·erything In the studio you ha\'c total control. I lo1•e the you want and so you end up shooting at f/ -1 distance that you can have from your lights instead of at fj 2.8, and so the headligf1ts do because I hate to sec somebody walking close not look the same and the neon signs in the to a wall with a larger-than-life shadow of windows don't look so bnght as they look himself. That means that the light source is when you shoot real exterior, and e\'erybody very' close. But in the studio, when you can has a perfect key light, because you ha\'e ha1•e your light source thirty or forty feet lights on top of the buildmgs and you'\'e got away, an actor can walk any place in the room the towers and all of a sudden it is the studio. and he does not burn up when he walks to a So even if you are shooting on a back lot, pre­ window. tend that you are not. That is the problem in the stucho with scaffolds and lights on them. Of course some location interiors are so vast that everybody has a backlight: that says, Stu­ that they combine the best of both worlds: dio. space and authenticity. Irrespective of the type of interior where the scene takes place, Some filmmakers find the limitations of loca­ the cinematographer has to decide on the tion shooting more reassuring. look of 1t. All the lighting strategies should serve only James Crabe, ASC one thing· The story. It is the mark of a good cinematographer that he is not creating beau­ lVben workmg in sets you are creating every·­ tiful pictures for their own sake but that his thing yourself from the ground up. It is all ar­ vision helps to tell the story in the most effec­ t:iiicial. \V1'1en you arc going to a natural tive way. And we can only hope that the location, walking through the door, you are stories that come our way will be worth tell­ aware of where you can put the camera, and ing in the first place.

98 FIL\tl UCHTii:\C UGIITING FACES

The human face is the most studied subject face and augmenting others. The genera] di­ that ever appeared before the lens or on the rection and angle of the key light will estab­ painter's canvas. Still photographers and lish the mood in which the face is lit. Over painters before them worked out several ways the years we have seen countless angelic of minimizing certain features of the human maidens haloed by light from above as wel1 as

A close-up lit by a soft light key which is also bounced off the foam-core board to provide the fill. Bacldigbt comes from a hard Fresnel source. The same lighting design with additional kicker and eydight. The same lighting design, but the white foam-core board is replaced by a black gobo. This close~up is lit by two soft lights further diffused through Tough Frost plastic material. Backlight remains hard as in the previous etups.

132 FID1 LIClffi'lC Jezebels who are always lit from a low angle. time when they are drinking coliee, talking to As the saying goes, good people are lit from anybody else, moving around. I try to imbue heaven and the bad people are lit from hell. myself with the qualities that 1 lind and the These cliches are not as obvious in today's things that happen by accident in nature that more natural and often softer lighting, yet the appeal to me and apply to the type of lighting angles of light and the composition of light in used for the story. the frame remain as the most powerful tools for the creation of mood and for the shaping Actors are often sensitive about particular of the actor's face. features. Any of these "flaws" can be dimin" Many techniques employed in the past are ished or accentuated to serve the story. still useful to the cinematographer who has a more clifficult problem to solve than the still John Alonza, ASC photographer. His subject moves. If a person has a double chin and is conscious Conrad Hall, ASC about it and doesn't want to show it, you raise the key up higher and put a dark shadow We are dealing with moving pictures and under the chin. If they have a bump on one people are in various positions and in many side of the nose, you try to keep the key on different kinds of light. They cannot be in the the other side. If they llave a large nose, you same type of light unless you soft light them. try to shoot them straight on. There are a lot Then there is no problem. But if you have a of different little tricks, but the actor has to be person by a window in bright light and then cooperative to do that. The.v have to be aware you take him to a corner in dim light, and you of that. make him tum on the light, then you have those three different equations to deal with. One mle of thumb is to position the light side You might have a hard half-light on him and of the face against the darker background to then you might have a no-light look when you define the shape of the face and to create sep­ see his face in a soft dimness and then be aration and depth. Wall color and brightness comes in and turns on the light and he is very can cause the face to blend into the wall. brightly lit. Rarely is this a desired effect Should you wish to deemphasize a bald head or large ears, The best way to learn how to light the human the above may be useful. When lighting an face, whether it is stationary or moving, is actor with these features, be careful with the through ex'Perimentation. The still camera, back light, or avoid it altogether. You can also Super 8 film or video are all affordable tools use nets to keep them in shadow. Sometimes for such studies. Even careful observation of a round face needs extra attention. people in everyday light can be helpful. IUchmond Aguilar Conrad Hall, ASC Men you deal with a round face and you do I work with the person. If a person is meant to not want to accentuate it, usually you will go be unattractive, then you are lighting for un­ bigh with your light wbich brings up the top attractiveness. I study the actors' faces very of the face and the light falls olE at tl1c cheek­ carefully. I watch them like a hawk all the bones giving you a longer shape of the face.

UGHTING A SCE~E 133 The key light, eyelight, kicker and backlight are all Fresnel lights io this setup. The floor angle key and h.igh angle kicker are positioned on the same axis. A soft light is bung from above as a key. Additional eyeHght i.s used on the stand to accentuate the eyes.

136 FILM LICHTI:"C You would not come up from the front with a might be annoying in a close-up. By having a soft light, because that makes the face even person tum slightly, you sometimes get a nice Batter and rounder with the light clear back line along the length of the nose, and if to the ears. straight it looks okay. But to avoid that one little angle that might look bad during the ac­ One soon learns that deep-set eyes and large tion, you work to get the light around to a noses are usually the main problems to deal better position. Fortunately, women often with and these are the features most com­ have enough hair to keep us out of trouble mented on by the cinematographers inter­ with nose kicks. But since performers do viewed. move in movies, we can't Jock them in one gorgeous angle anyway; however we do relight Ralph W oolsey, ASC For close-ups and try to restrict movement in these. In films of the twenties and thirties, Sometimes you get problems like deep-set actors were often fixed in beautifully lit posi­ eyes, or heavy eyebrows. Some performers tions, and cinematographers even used cannot stand light very well, particularly out· burned-out gauzes which would diffuse the doors, and they squint, and need help in image around a person, which would greatly opening their eyes. You may have to set up an restrict movement. The wide screen and free­ overhead butterfly or other scrim, or take the dom to move around have required more flex­ sun off and replace it with another source. ibility in lighting, and some compromise. ReBectors are impossible for some to face, especially if such persons are not used to Richmond Aguilar them. Generally you are concerned about the eyes, Once on a western, we had a leading actor how to get the light into the eyes most effec­ wbo wore one of those hats with a straight tively. For deeply set eyes, you have to light brim, pulled down right over his eyes. To fill fairly low and to the front. You cannot go the eyes in the outdoor scenes 1 started to use around to the side with your light and very a small hand-held reflector, down under the high, because the eyes will be shadowed. The camera lens. And he said, "No, no, you can­ bridge of tbe nose is also a feature to be care· not use that. I can't stand it." I was a little ful about because you might be able to get surprised because he was an experienced the light into the eyes from a certain position, actor, but I replied, "OK, but you'D look like only to see that it gives a bad nose shadow. a raccoon if I don't." ' Ve then agreed not to Then you have to compromise with that. use it, and look at the dailies for proof. Of GeneralJy, you try to avoid the kicker hitting course nobody could see his eyes on the the tip of the nose at all costs. It is this hot screen, and he agreed to the reBector right spot in the middle of the face and we are not away. We could not always get the best angle used to it. A long diagonal nose shadow is also for using that reflector directly from the sun, not too Battering. Soft light softens the prom­ so once in a while we directed a mirror into it inence of that shadow. We do an awful Jot of The reflector was small and soft, and T would lighting with a soft light. Even at night we ease it on gradually for comfort. have been doing more soft light work than so­ Try to prevent a kicker light from hitting cailed hard night scenes. We would use soft the nose. 1£ the light is just hitting tbc tip of a light on the principal actors and hard light nose that has some irreguJarity, the result maybe on the walls to control the set. Soft

LIGHTING A SCE:-\E 137 l!ghtmg the action, cl1mmates the obtrusive of one. For an cyelight, I just use an lnh with shadows when actors mO\e, so that you do bamdoors closed and taped on the edge and not ba1 e shadows busli_l' pla} wg around in n·ith some diffusion. tbe picture. \Vhcn dealing with older, more difficult to Michael D. Margulies, ASC light female faces, it ts wise to make tests in advance. i\ nose shadou docs uot sta.1 the same be­ cause the actor or actress JS not long enough m that pos1hon to put that shado\\ m a spe­ Philip Lathrop, ASC cJ6c place. Sc1eral times I have asked an actor or actress to look on I} m a certam directwn so l'ou generally do it when you make a hair test that the shadou would sta} at a certain angle. or a wardrobe test You do a makeup test at Man} times 1 ha1·c gotten cooperation and the same time. The makeup test is reallr For a then many times 1 ha1·e not. They do not cameraman. One way to light a close-up of a woman urant to be tJed down . The nc11 school of con­ temporary actors docs not want to be re­ with many wrinkles, is to ta.ke a I OK Far awaj, stricted. In the early days of Hollywood, frontal and up, and cover it witll diffusion on the light and then a few feet away put another bdore the development of the soft light as we know it, in the dramatic, directional style of diffusion in front of it. /t gives a good model­ By I OK, I lighting, the actors were much more re­ ing and soft shadows. using a get stricted in their morements and head posi­ the light wluch goes right around the face. tJons When a kicker catches the tip of the nose it There are times when the mood of the scene is always brought to my attention b) the gaf­ does not allow for a full frontal lighting. ln fer or the grip. Usuall} it docs not bother me, such circumstances, Lathrop suggests mini­ in Fact it is a little sparkle, a little highlight, mizing wrinkles by lighting the face at a half­ that looks mce. \,ou, th1s Js bas1callr on men key )e,el and adding a kicker at full ke} value. I do take more care of the lad.Jes and 1 try to He also uses lots of shadows on faces like that, a1'01d that Another thmg to watch out for such as putting a net across a part of the face. ''hen l!ghtmg \\'Omen from a side with a hard light, is the shado11 from long eyelashes. To fames Crabe, t\SC me it 1s an ugly lme on the bridge of her nose and that bothers me. Then I will go n ith m.v To help the problem of aging actresses, you key up and fuller. It is hard to sidelight a lady do it the old way: you put the kc.1 light over with long eyelashes without getting that line. the lens, maybe you soften it a little bit, but The only anatomy of tbe Face that is a not too much because you still want maybe problem for the cmematographer 1s the eye the underside of the chin to go dark. Some­ socket. \Vhen the eyes are deep set, then vel}' times using soft light is not tile most glamor­ often you have to come up with an eyelig!Jt. ous wa,v of lighting women. At least on Mae The top l1ght or a ceiling bounced light will \Vest, in Sextet, we tried to usc a rather bard give you dark "wells." Some actors with expe­ frontal key and some Mitchell-type diffusion rience kno11 that ther have that type of an eye on the lens. 1 shot some test shots with 1\Jae. and they \nll be aware of an eyelight or a lack \\'ben she sail' them, she said, I need more

138 FlL\1 LICHTI:-.:C For this night interior Jjghting, a soft 4K light was used to create a soft, yet quite directional lighting. Jessica Lange in Frances, Laszlo Kovacs (ASC), cinematographer.

light on my eyes and m} teeth. \\'hen you below and they will say, "Ob, put the camera think about eyes and teetb rou realize that up." No11 mavbe a cameraman will say, "So, you can lose them if you bave key lights too this is \'CT}' good, we are going to relight this," high. We all knon that a real high ke} bgbt or the director w11l say, "Believe me, Betty, it makes dark sockets but in older people, some­ looks great"; but generally speaking they get times the1r teeth are withdrawn back behind \'ery nervous when the camera is down, be­ the lip. If you do not get the light lo\~, you do cause whenever they look down, their jowls not see t/1e teeth. It is hard to beat that rule: come out and the fold-up double chins and all To keep the light low, keep it over the lens, that stuff. Whereas in the traditional movie maybe slightl} in the direction the person is two-shot, a man and a woman standing to­ looking-the old Hollywood kind of lighting, gether, the woman is always looking up, the w1tb some nice fill coming from the camera man is always looking down and be bas a little side. more rugged key light This is Holl;"-\'Ood Another kind of Hollyn·ood ed1ct about lighting. So already the face is pulled to a close-ups of women is that you DC\ er shoot good position. The key light is \.oery dose to them lookmg down, you never shoot with a the lens and abo,·e it usually with some mce low camera, not to say that 1 haven't. You Jill coming tl1rough. That is how the}' often l1ave people sitting around a table; )'OU want a like to see themselves, and often maybe re­ dynamic shot so maybe you have a low cam­ member themselves. It must be very tough on era and you are looking up slightly \ 'ery some of these ladies to see themselves on the often these ladies who are camerawise gel reruns on television and tben look in the \'ery nen·ous when they see a camera down m1rror.

UCHTI'-C A SCE~'E 139 Von Sternberg claimed to ha\'C invented a phantom reRcchon O\'er much of the face. everything including Marlene Dietrich and Instead of getting a snappy, more concise Marlene Dietrich lighting. He used a \'ery ex­ shadow, such a reflector can produce a skele­ otic effect achieved by putting a very sharp, tal effect. unfiltered light up high in Front to bring out the cheekbones and the nose shadow, some­ There is a peculiar problem when lighting times called the butterfly shadow some leading actresses that has more to do In the old close-ups you see the shadow of with psychology than with lighting. each individual eyelash. It was really sharp, and of course being sharp the light could be cut off the hair and off the clothing and Just Jordan Cronenweth, ASC have that wonderful glowine madonna bght There ha,·e been leading ladies down through coming at you. Jt is just a matter of putting the years that ha,·c been told b} directors the light in precisely the eight positiOn, but andj or cameramen tbat they look better from the higher a key goes, the more accurately the this side tban the other and when they get head has to be placed to keep that effect on. power, they end up insisting that they should Tradih'onally it seems that the most inter­ be photographed from that side. 1 would hate esting placement of key lights fo r defining the to work with someone like that. That would planes of the face is rather like architectural be a terrible pain in the neck for a cameraman lighting on the building. Usually you see a and a horrible problem for a director, always building in three-quarters w1th the one side having to stage for that, to make people walk diminishing sharply. The key light, or the around in a funny way in order to end up with sun, wil1 hit from outside and will leave the her on the right and him on the left. shadow side toward the camera. Of course. this is a type of light that painters usc a lot in Of course, some leading men are just as diffi­ their effects and it delineates the planes of the cult to work with. face. However, with some women you cannot Beware also of actors who put on their own go that far. You suddenly realize that even makeup. They're not as consistent as the pro­ though it is aesthetically correct and renders fessionals. The makeup artist is the cinema­ the subJect in the way you like to see them, tographer's allv. It is important to coordinate there is a scar that shows now, or something the makeup of the actors appearing 1n the that was not visible before, so you cheat it same scene to avoid lighting problems. around to the front. Of course a Jot of old mo\.ies would pretty much disregard the lighting continuity and people never even knew it. The key light would be one wa\' for LIGHTING FOR SKIN TONES the master shot or the two-shot and then you cut in and the key is now on the other side. 1 The true test of a cinematographer's lighting am not quite sure if you can get away with skills comes when he or she bas to deal with that today. lf the key ligbt is a small Fresnel actors vastly differing in their skin tones. light, it is going to cast a different kind of \Vhen a multiracial cast appears in one scene, highlight on the face rather than a big one. If the brightness range considerations are tre­ there is any moisture on the face and you arc mendous. On top of that, different skin tex­ using a \'ery· large reJJector, it can cast kwd of tures require different amounts of light.

140 FIL'vf UGHTT:\C fames Crabe, ASC denly there is a massive reflection in the glasses and the director wants to shoot. With It is really tricky. 1 think it is really important Marlon Branda on The Formula, John Avild­ that the cameraman on the movie makes sure sen, who directed the picture and who was a that he sees the glasses people are going to cameraman himsdf in the past, had Marlon wear before the picture starts. Maybe be Branda there bending his glasses. Marlon was could drop in a couple of words about hair­ very cooperative about the glasses problem, styles, too. Lots of times the hairstyle is so but he asked Avildsen, How does Woody daborate or wild that you cannot see the ac­ Allen make a movie? If you arc working with tress from a profile position. a specular light, bard ligbt, and the key is very Glasses can be a problem, particularly with high up or very far to the side, then you get big soft sources that arc low and close to tl1e shadows of the glasses itself on the eyes. You lens. Almost all of these glasses are convex. I try to add eyeligbt and then, of course, it is End that sometimes you can bend the glasses right in the middle of the glass if it is near the a tiny bit forward, or sometimes lift them off camera lens. So I think that it is important to tbe ear just a little bit. It is of course a big check those things in advance. ln the old days pain to the actor and nobody has much sym­ you would take the glass out of the lens but pathy with you at these moments when sud- nobody believes that anymore. Sometimes we To create the harsh sunlight penetrating this darkish room, an arc was pointed through the window. A soft light was used as the key. Frances, Laszlo Kovacs (ASC), cinematographer.

142 FIL\ I LICHTmG use flat glass. It gives you a little bit of a break tie, anything that comes within close proxim­ because it does not reflect as large an area, but ity is very important to deal with. So often in if you do go through the light then you really films now the wardrobe person wiD come to a see it. The whole surface Bashes on and off. It cameraman and say, \Vell, these new nurses' can be interesting. lt is a di!Jicult problem. uniforms are all polyester and we cannot tech The best that you can do is to get the key them down, we cannot gray them down. Tbis light as Ear up or as far around as you can get happens all the time, so you say, okay, but it it without creating other problems. Some­ can be difficult, particularly if it encroaches times glasses have to be pushed up to the face on the face. a little more or bent or played around 'lvith a One solution to the problem is cutting a little bit. I never tried anything like a Pola hole in the diffusion material to let more light screen on the source and a Pola screen on the through the middle. This brings up the face a lens. You might be able to totally eliminate little more than the L'ght-colored dress. the reflections but of course that is not being realistic. Nobody has that kind of time any­ way. EYELIGHT

When a best compromise between the nse of The eyes are the windows of the sou1, as the glasses and the most advantageous lighting saying goes, and great care is taken to show has to be worked out, the production com­ the eyes of the protagonists. It is often neces­ pany will go to great lengths to provide the sary for the dramatics of the scene. right glasses. Anything around the face can distract the eye. Caleb Deschane~ ASC Richmond Aguikr Sometimes you may not need to sec the eyes to tell the story and then you may have other On the last picture we had a glasses specialist. actors like the one I remember on The Black He had a kit full of glasses and be would Stallion. We had this Italian actor in the shape them and bend them. They were Bat poker game scene who came up to me and and curved and bad matching frames to work told me that be acted with his eyes. It was with. It may be as critical as that. If you are very important that we see }lis eyes. You do trying to make an actress look as pretty as alter things to some extent based on the possible, you want to put light in the most things you need to see. It is possible to use a advantageous places. Glasses re$trict the actor hard light JUSt to create a little dot in some­ in relation to lighting because of all the re­ one's eye, whicb brings out the eyes even if it flections. But it gets to a point where worry­ does not create any exposure. You can bring ing about glasses is not worth it if it restricts the eye out of the darkness without increasing the actor too much. After three or four re­ the exposure on the eye itself, because of the takes of light reflections in tbe glasses, the reflecting property of the eye. actor loses his patience with it. fames Crabe, ASC Some lighting styles, like the overall soft light from above, will generally require eyelights VVben you are doing close-ups of people, you more often. To obtain a clear sparkle in the see their hat, you see their collar, you see their eye, such light will usually be situated very

UGHTING A SCEJ\1E 113 close to the lens. But due to the curvature of A sophisticated Panalite is often used. It IS an the eye, some people's eyes w11l pick up an eyelight made b} Panavision with a 1000-watt eyehght from the side as well And some quartz bulb. The intensity of Panalite can be actors have to blink JUSt before a take for varied bv an mgemous reflector system wh1ch more mo1sture in their eyes. is made of metal rods half black and half A small light mounted on the camera ts white. \Vhen these rods are rotated, the traditionally known as an "Obie" hght, be­ amount of reflected light changes without af­ cause it was originally des1gned by the cine­ fecting the color temperature which is the matographer Lucien Ballard for his actress chief drawback with dimmers. This svstem is wife, Merle Oberon. When this light is particularly useful when dollying in to a stronger, 1t can serve as a general fillltght for a close-up and graduall} d!mimshing the eye­ close-up, but often it is used at a ver) low in­ light intensit} The only problem with Pans­ tensity Just to create glints in the eyes. ~lan} lite is 1ts tendency to Jam when it overheats. It times it will be a little Baby or an Inky Dink, needs to be oiled. For an effect like eat's eves with a lot of d1ffusion or scnms, or both. in headlights. we can mount a 50 perc~nt transmiSSIOn front mirror at 45 degrees in front of the lens and shme a lamp into 1L Pltilip Lathrop, ASC Light reflected by the mirror will b1t the eye on the lens aXis. By rigicl1y mounting the mir­ For an eyelight I use a little Inl'}' Dmk with a ror and the lamp to the camera, we can exe­ snoot on it. It IS vc.ry soft It does not Ell the cute pans and tilts with the light always face. All 1t does is to reflect in the eve staying on the optical axis of the lens This

Panalitc. A sophisticated on-the-camera light with mechanical dimming which does not affect the color temperature of the light.

144 PIL\11 UGHTtr-.C To create a very accentuated light reflection in the eye, the light must come on the optica.J axis of the lens. To obtain this condition a 50 percent surface minor is mounted at a 45 o ang]e in front of the lens, and an In1cy lamp is pointed into it A one-foot-square mirror and the lamp are rigidly mounted to the camera to remain in alignment during the camera moves. method was used effectively by Jordan Cron­ Richmond Aguilar enweth in Blade Runner. The eyelight does not have to be circular. When you use a 51llight close to the lens, it Using snoots and black masking tape, we can becomes your eyelight at the same time. create other geometrical shapes. A strangely With Laszlo Kovacs, we usually use a good shaped eye light can add a bizarre feeling to size 5lllight. Usually a 2K, roughly 24 inches the scene. A special eyelight is of course su­ square, behind the camera and pretty close to perfluous if there is already a frontal 611 light the lens level. It puts a glint in the center of employed. the eye.

UCHTI:-.C A SCE"E HS Some cinematographers like to hand hold a days often modified by the conceptual re­ reflector bulb with a barndoor attached to it quirements of the story. It was rather as a lillj eyelight. This way they can obtain revolutionary at the time to have Marlon the exact position and angle and are able to Brando very dimly lit in some key scenes of move the light during the shot. The Godfather, photographed by Gordon The traditional attitude of the Hollywood Willis (ASC). Nevertheless, it became one of producers used to be that if you pay an actor the cinematographic classics of our time. big money, you want to see his eyes. Follow­ Once again, the thought expressed by many ing this reasoning, the most expensive actors great cameramen comes to mind: \.Vbat you would be given the most elaborate eyelights. don't light is often more important than what Happily this rather naive approach is nowa- yo u do light.

146 FfLM LIGHTING