Owen Roizman: Candle Light Strategies

From American Cinematographer, Demonic Convergence by David E. Williams (August 1998)

A sudden change in lighting strategies made a scene set in the home’s attic unexpectedly difficult. As staged, Chris was to search the spooky space by candlelight, seeking out the source of some strange and disturbing sounds. Suddenly, her candle erupts in a burst of flame.

"In preproduction, we hollowed out a candle and built in a little gas flame that would create that effect. Inside, near the top, we cut out a space for a little peanut bulb, which we would control on a dimmer for a nicely fluctuating light on Ellen’s face. By holding the candle correctly, she would be lighting her own face. Well, we got ready to do the shot, running a wire down the sleeve of her nightgown, and I said to Billy, ’Please just ask Ellen not to turn the candle, so we won’t see the bulb in there.’ He said, ’I can’t ask the actor to do that! We have to light the scene in some different way.’ We were just about to roll, but he insisted, although I knew Ellen would have done it. Besides her wonderful acting talent, she was very good about the technical side of filmmaking."

As a result, Roizman and his crew began quickly rigging the attic set with inky-dinks on dimmers, setting up a choreography to simulate the traveling candlelight effect.

"Every time I’d seen that technique used in a movie I thought it looked phony and I hated it... I hated it in this picture too. But I was caught by surprise and we had to do it in a hurry."

- Owen Roizman, ASC

Janusz Kaminski: Candle Light & China Balls

From American Cinematographer, The Last Great War by Christopher Probst (August 1998)

As the soldiers continue their quest for Private Ryan, they take shelter for the night in a bombed-out church. Illuminated by candlelight, the...

"soldiers are sitting and analyzing what has happened and what is ahead of them. It’s a very beautiful, underlit scene about three stops underexposed that has a painterly feel, as if it was lit only by the candles. There’s a very nice section of dialogue between Tom Sizemore and Tom Hanks. I wanted to create the sense that the light was coming from the candles below them, but I didn’t want to get big shadows. I ended up lighting them with China balls fitted with 1/2 CTO and 1/2 CTS. I then used a flag just outside of frame to take a little of that soft light off Sizemore, so his face was a little brighter on the bottom and then dropped off. I don’t like candle flicker effects very much, so the key was a normal [non-flickering] light, but I did have a little flicker on the fill to give it some movement. I’d tested China balls in the past and never liked their effect, but I’m learning more about how to use them now. The key is to underexpose by 11/2 stops. You also have to keep them just outside of frame but away from the walls, so you get that nice falloff in the light. Philippe Rousselot [AFC] has been using them for years, but if you look at his films, you’ll notice that the people are always positioned away from any walls. He may have a very soft China ball a few feet away from the actors, but everything falls dark behind them. Because there no other light reference in the frame, their faces still glow even if the shot is 11/2 to 21/2 stops underexposed."

- Janusz Kaminski

Steven Poster: Making Chilly Look Warm

From American Cinematographer, A Midwife's Tale, Now and Then by Brooke Comer (Jan. 1998)

The first scene of the production, filmed on Staten Island and shot by Poster, involved an epidemic in the sweltering summer of 1787. It sounds straight forward enough, except for the fact that the filmmakers had to shoot the sequence in frigid December weather.

"This segment of the film is where most of the intertwining of past and present takes place. But Staten Island was freezing, and the actors were wearing summer clothes; we had to spray them with fake sweat, which made them even colder. We wrapped them in blankets as soon as they came off set."
- Kahn-Leavitt (Director of A Midwife's Tale)

It was Poster's job to transform the chilly December location into a summer heat wave.

"Most of the light sources for our day interiors scenes came from windows, and there weren't many windows in those houses. This afforded us the opportunity to be very directional with the light."

- Steven Poster, ASC

The cinematographer used HMI Pars equipped with 1/2 to full Rosco straw gels to create a hot, sunny look for daytime scenes. Night lighting was somewhat easier, since Poster's candlelight and firelight sources already glowed with warmth.