American Cinematographer - January 2016 - 24

With the lighting
suspended from
the ceiling,
Bigazzi and crew
prepare to roll
three cameras
simultaneously.

had production designer Ludovica Ferrario
construct a translucent stage floor with
lights placed underneath it, so his camera
could remain fixed onstage, with lighting
coming from below.
"We used very thin and powerful
LED light tubes from Viabizzuno, an interior-design Italian lighting factory," Bigazzi
explains. "[These] allowed us to shoot with
powerful lighting hidden [within the set].
We first used them on The Great Beauty,
and I really fell in love with them because
they're powerful, yet small. Throughout my
career I've always used strange or unusual
lights - anything and everything."
Another big scene that Bigazzi lit
unconventionally was the finale, in which
Ballinger conducts for the queen. It was
shot on location in a concert hall in Greenwich, England, where a translucent white
backing was placed behind the orchestra.
"Paolo had this idea for a soft-white look
for the scene," says Bigazzi. "Most of the
frame is backlit. There were some ellipsoidal spots for the violin, conductor and
singer from the top of the theater, but
mostly it was lit from the background."
Bigazzi lit the white backing from behind,
using 50 Pallas Groundrow lights - each
fitted with a 625-watt linear tungsten halogen lamp - placed on the floor backstage.
24

January 2016

The lit background simultaneously enabled
Bigazzi to illuminate the audience in the
theater without setting up additional
fixtures.
Bigazzi does make use of more traditional tools like Kino Flos and HMIs, but only
to augment natural light or to enhance his
practicals. "If you don't learn how to light in
school or from anybody else, you'll feel
more free to find unusual solutions," he
opines. "The great thing about shooting
with Paolo is that he's so flexible; he's not
rigid or conventional. If we need or want to,
we can change our ideas very quickly, and
that's a much better way to work."
The cinematographer shot Youth in
2:39:1 with a Red Epic Dragon and
Arri/Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses. Although the
Dragon is capable of 6K capture, Bigazzi
chose to shoot in 4K for day and 5K for
night. "To be honest, the images are so
sharp that I don't need [any more detail],
because I don't want to see all of the actors'
skin defects," he says. "The only problem
with digital is that it's too sharp. I like softer
images [because] our eyes are not always
super-sharp. I'm not a fanatic about lens
sharpness, either."
Bigazzi is also not romantic about
film negative, and will always opt for digital
if given the choice. "I feel more free creatAmerican Cinematographer

ing crazy kinds of lighting setups with digital because it's more sensitive in reading
into the shadows," he explains. He adds
with a laugh, "Apparently, I'm alone in this
opinion."
For high-contrast environments,
Bigazzi has also embraced Red's HDRx
technology, which records two tracks
simultaneously - a normal exposure (A
frame), and an exposure that protects your
highlights (X frame) by using an adjustable
shutter speed that is up to 6 stops faster.
When working in RedCine-X, the tonal
levels from the X frame can be blended
with the A frame to produce extended
dynamic range. "It gives you much more of
an advantage when you're shooting with
natural light, especially for interiors,"
explains Bigazzi. "If you don't need to read
into your highlights, you don't need HDR.
But if you need to, it's great to extend your
latitude while looking more realistic. I'm
sure my way of thinking about lighting on
set has changed radically since this doubleexposure technique came out. Now, I feel
freer and braver."
According to Bigazzi, 80 percent of
Youth was shot using HDRx. "For example," he says, "in the scenes shot in the
breakfast hall, [the need for] this device
was really undeniable because of the
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2016
