Karl Walter Lindenlaub: Lighting Stages

From American Cinematographer, This Old House by David E. Williams (August 1999)

"I generally try to light stages to look like locations, but because time was such an issue on this film, having all of those lights burning was a bit of a trap sometimes. At certain points I got nervous, and when that happens, a cinematographer will start to play it too safe and maybe overlight things. In retrospect, I wish I’d had five extra minutes on each shot to stand back, study the lighting and figure out how to make it look more natural. Nature never looks overlit; movies do. I think the film turned out well, but everyone always wants to do better. Hopefully, it will also be believable and scary for the audience we’ll see!"

- Karl Walter Lindedlaub, ASC, BVK

Gordon Willis: Less is More

"I spent a lot of time on films taking things out. Art directors would get very cross with me. If something's not going well, my impulse is to minimalize. The impulse of most people when something's not going well is to add — too many colors, too many items on a screen, too many lights. If you're not careful, you're lighting the lighting. American films are overlit compared to European ones. I like closeups shadowy, in profile — which they never do these days... What's needed is simple symmetry, but everyone wants massive coverage these days because they don't have enough confidence in their work and there are way too many cooks in the kitchen."

-Gordon Willis, ASC