American Cinematographer - July 2008 - 65

Don Scardino was pondering a more stylized visual approach that would subtly sell some of the wilder gags. “All you have to do is follow the writing,” ˇ says Cernjul. “We don’t have one formula for the whole show because the look is really based on the storylines. Even within an episode, we can be very realistic for one storyline and extremely stylized for another.” ˇ To illustrate this point, Cernjul cites the episode “Rosemary’s Baby,” whose main plot concerns an aging comedy writer, Rosemary (Carrie Fisher), whose early work was inspirational to Lemon but whose life has become rather desperate. To help out her onetime idol, Lemon recruits Rosemary for her own writing staff, with unfortunate results. “We did a lot of location work with Carrie Fisher in her character’s run-down neighborhood and in a bookstore, and we lit those scenes very realistically, respecting all the natural sources,” ˇ says Cernjul. Scenes in Rosemary’s apartment, a set built at Silvercup, were shot in a similar style. By the time Liz visits the apartment, she no longer sees Rosemary as a hero, but as a cautionary figure. “The story becomes almost tragic at a point, which is what great comedy is able to do — be tragic and make you laugh at the same time,” says the cinematographer. “We lit the apartment with some big lights through the windows and just a little bit of light inside. It was all meant to look very real. “In the same episode, there is another storyline about the ‘page-off,’ which is a big battle of the NBC pages. For those scenes, we used colorful mixed lighting that was inspired by the look of Fight Club, shot by Jeff Cronenweth [ASC]. I thought the styles of the two stories worked very well together dramatically and stylistically, even though the approaches were so different.” Much of the action in 30 Rock involves the back-and-forth between Lemon and Donaghy in the latter’s plush office. This set offers the opportunity to alter the lighting based on the time of day, and ˇ Cernjul’s approach to the space helps compensate for the stars’ significantly different skin tones. “Tina is fairskinned and Alec is very tan,” he notes, adding that the primary issue is not exposure, but rendering realistic color for each actor. Near the end of the last season, the series began shooting on Fuji Eterna 400T 8583, switching from Kodak Vision2 Expression ˇ 500T 5229, and Cernjul notes that although both emulsions have more than enough latitude to handle a variety of skin tones, he still finds it challenging to make the actors’ very different complexions read naturally onscreen. “We try to even that out with lighting so they don’t have to use heavy makeup,” he remarks. Baldwin is frequently positioned in or near the chair at his character’s desk, which allows ˇ Cernjul to light with 5K and 10K tungsten units through the windows; these units, as well as the lights illuminating the backdrop outside, are often gelled with 1⁄2 CTB. Fey, on the other hand, is usually placed in front of the desk or in the doorway, and her lighting is motivated more by warmer fixtures in night scenes and warm sunlight for day scenes. Gaffer Kenneth Dodd creates this look with 4'x8' book lights, 2K Blondes gelled with CTO (1⁄2 for the fill and 1⁄4 for the key), bounced into beadboard and then softened with 216 diffusion. Dodd explains, “The fall-off is ˇ 30 Rock photos courtesy of NBC. Cernjul photo by Ron Baldwin. faster using book lights than it is when you just put light through diffusion. That approach helps us control the look in small sets.” “We light Jack’s office primarily with the big soft lights through the window and the book lights ˇ inside,” says Cernjul. “Everything else is practicals on the set, and we use a lot of flags to shape that light.” ˇ (In a friendly jab at Cernjul’s ethnicity, Baldwin refers to this setup as “the Croatian forest,” according to the cameraman.) The less luxurious sets — the writers’ room, other offices and dressing rooms — are motivated by fluorescent lights, but the illumination for several of these areas is actually provided by diffused tungsten lights. “We have real Kino Flo fluorescents in the hallway, in the writers’ room and over the writers’ table, but in some of the offices and dressing rooms, we have Redheads clamped above a 12-by-12 gridcloth overhead coming down through diffusion like a big bay light,” says Dodd. “We popped out ceiling tiles and installed the kind of grate peo- Opposite page: Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) enjoy a tony gathering in an episode of 30 Rock, which goes behind the scenes on a popular comedy series. This page, top: Comedian Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) performs in a skit. Bottom: Cinematographer ˇ Vanja Cernjul at work on another project. American Cinematographer 65

American Cinematographer - July 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2008