American Cinematographer - August 1987 - 74

Propmaster Jerry
Swift and his

assistant, Lee

Drugas, ready the
during actor

set

rehearsal. Wireless
transmitters
of BNCRs

top
for

on

are

headset
communication.

which
3:00
12:30

9:45

quite often shoot to 2:30 and
Our longest day went to
a.m. but we usually finish by

a.m.

10:45 p.m.
We also have

to

show,

so to

a

dog in each

those who have used ani¬

mals in films and know the

problems
normally associated with them, the
schedule isn't too bad. Rubin (the dog)
is very cooperative so we have very
little trouble with him. The trainer has
done

marvelous

job with the dog and
keeps Rubin happy all day
long and able to do his part whenever
the time arrives. From a lighting point of
view, Rubin does have one requirement:
his hair absorbs light like a sponge. I
normally give him about 50% more foota

somehow

candles than the other actors whenever
I can. Sometimes that proves impossi¬
ble, especially when the action calls for
Rubin to be in the same space as one of
his human friends. This becomes one of
those times where we have to compro¬
mise. Lighting can go on forever if you
let it. Somewhere you must stop and
say, "That's it. . . shoot the scene!"
With four cameras, you must settle for

less than perfection more
with single camera shows.

72

American

Cinematographer

often than

How does the

camera

know

the dog needs more light?
is that through experience,

The answer
I can tell by
looking. A photographer learns to bal¬
ance the lighting within a scene by
sight. Sometimes we use a viewing
glass just to look at the lights, but
usually to help "see" the contrast and
balance of the lighting. It's just a piece
of neutral density filter, which de¬
creases the overall brightness of the
scene and allows us to see the high¬
lights easier than with the naked eye.
The dark and/or absorptive areas just
naturally need more light to balance
with an area or individual having light
tones. Forget the meter at this point.
The incident light meter only tells you
how much light is falling on the subject,
not how reflective the subject is.
For Duet we have not one
mike booms moving over the
set at all times. Fortunately the booms
but

two

wood and steel beds, just
above the spot where the lights are
installed. This arrangement is far supe¬
rior to having mike booms on the floor,
which are in the way of the camera
dollies and nearly always in the lights.
This way both sound and camera have
are

placed

August 1987

on

a chance. It's always a constant jug¬
gling act with the mike boom operators
moving around over and under the
lights
just trying to keep mike shad¬
.

.

.

of the shots. Of course we try
to have most of the key lights pointing
toward either the floor or toward the
ows out

audience,
set.

so

There

the shadows fall

are

out of the
times when that's not

possible because of the requirements
for dramatic lighting and/or the direc¬
tor's blocking of the action so we all
have to be flexible. Sometimes the grip
department installs black Duvatine teas¬
ers well in front of the lights to cut off
the shadows, just over the heads of the
actors. This usually works quite well,
but requires careful grip work on each
light.
We are very fortunate to
have excellent grips and they do a mar¬
velous job for us. A careful crew is
essential. When

someone

isn't careful,

flag

or piece
front of a light

of Duvatine can fall in
and that's the end of
someone's key light! If this happens in
a

the middle of a ten minute segment, we
must either shoot the segment over or
else just live with the results of the
American Cinematographer - August 1987

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