American Cinematographer - June 1995 - 30

Darkness Descends

on

The X-Files

Cinematographer John Bartley, CSC lends weekly series
an

eerie ambience.

by Chris Probst
"It has been said that the

fear of the unknown is an irrational
response to the excesses of the imagination. But our fear of the
everyday, of the lurking stranger and the sound of footfalls on
the stairs, the fear of violent death and the primitive impulse to
survive, are as frightening as any X-File - as real as the accep¬
tance that it could happen to you ..."
-

Things that go "bump" in the
night, an unseen presence around
the next corner, and a heart-stopping involuntary jump from your
seat

-

this could be

an

apt syn¬

opsis for each Friday night when
The X-Files creeps into homes and
spooks its viewers. Known for its
bold and eerie subject matter,

brooding photography and un¬
earthly characterizations, the se¬
ries follows FBI special agents
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny)
and Dana Scully (Gillian Ander¬
son) as they investigate episodes
of the paranormal and macabre.
Created by executive
producer Chris Carter as an hom¬
age to the Seventies' Night Stalker
series, The X-Files has in its
ond

as

Wiseguy, Booker, and The

m

David

Duchovny

aboard a retired

frigate for the

episode "End
Game." Note
the china-hat

practical fixture
utilizing a

spotted bulb in
upper

left.

28

photography John S. Bartley.

says

gaf-

| make it darker. It's amazing how
3

much

light you actually use to
make it dark. You put a little light
| in the background for separation,
g just to give some depth to the

I

|

room,

and then add lots of little

| lights here and there so the actors
t can walk in and out of something.
| I was at a party and people heard
z I was
working on The X-Files, so
! they asked what I did. I told them
!' I was responsible for the lack of
| lighting on the show!"
Shot with Arri 535

also been instrumental in estab¬

lishing the foreboding style

originally been a
gamble for Twentieth Television
has become a success story for
bold programming choices and
fresh storytelling.
Bartley started as a gaffer

which has become the show's
trademark.

working with cinematographers

series in the

American

June 1995

Cinematographer

enough,"

t fer David Tickell, "John will

of the show's writers. Carter

What had

tele-

on

"Just when I think I've

«

£ made it dark

also directed the

Award nomination for director of

of the darkest shows

| the lighting team's mantra.

good, tight mysteries and intelli¬
gent writing," says Carter, who is

series star

one

| vision today; "make it dark" is

the

episode "Duane
Barry," which earned an ASC

movie.

key grip A1 Campbell, operators
Rod Pridy and John Clothier, and
units and two 18K HMIs down
art director Graeme Murray have
| to Dedolights and KinoFlo's
| miniflos. Ironically, The X-Files is

sec¬

Bartley meters

episode is like shooting
Accordingly, he
uses one of the
largest lighting
packages of any television show,
ranging from two 20K tungsten
a new

Commish. Gaffer David Tickell,

pants off people every week with

one

that each

various TV movies and series

such

wide variety

USA," says Bartley, who notes

ating to director of photography
on

a

of anonymous locales can double
for "just about anywhere in the

Sven Nykvist, ASC, Frank Tidy
and John Lindley, before gradu¬

already surpassed its
predecessor, which produced
only 18 episodes before losing
scare

The show is shot in

Vancouver, where

The X-Files' Fox Mulder

season

steam. "I wanted to

by Thomas Del Ruth, ASC. "The
pilot went some distance in set¬
ting up the show, but we've re¬
ally refined it past that point.
John Bartley and his crew are pre¬
dominately responsible for that."

"We like it dark, moody,
mysterious and sometimes claus¬
trophobic," asserts Carter, who
established the visual tone of the

pilot, which was shot

eras,

cam¬

Zeiss lenses and in Super 35

a 1.78:1
aspect ratio (but cur¬
rently broadcast at 1.33:1), The XFiles balances every teaspoon of

at

light with a pound of blood-suck¬
ing darkness. Indeed, Bartley
rarely exposes faces at key, opt¬
ing instead to underexpose faces
a
stop or more to leave some de-
American Cinematographer - June 1995

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