American Cinematographer - June 1995 - 31

tail shrouded and to set the gen¬
eral mood of the show. "It's so

dark/' says Tickell, "that John has
nails left - he chews off all his
nails!" A running joke among the
crew is the
recurring stop of T2.8

no

f
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ftp 'W

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for all interiors and night exteri¬
ors. "We light to a T2.0 and ex¬

J

Bartley, "I find
depth of field.
It's easier to light to that, we can
light fast, and it's not tough on
the assistant (Marty Mclnally)."
In rendering the show's
dark look, Bartley has become a
pose at T2.8/' says
that it's got a nice

true believer in Eastman

5298

Kodak's

stock, although much of the

first season was shot on 5293
rated at ASA 400. Pushing the
emulsion to its limits has given
The X-Files its signature look -
almost complete darkness in the
frame and yet identifiable action
and characters. To achieve this

eye-straining feat, Bartley and
Tickell have worked out exacting
methods to lighting for darkness.
"Because we play it so
dark, we try to give it depth,"
says Tickell. "If we don't want it
going black in the background,
we'll put a blue glow in the back¬
ground, say for a night scene - a
nice ambient blue glow just so
you can see that there is some
detail in the background for sepa¬
ration. You can keep it very dark
that way and it still gives the
depth that [indicates that] you are
somewhere, rather than just on a
stage with a backdrop behind the
actor. It shows you're actually at
a

location."
A

surprising number of

full

or

double full blue into it.

Because it's

so

directional, it will

just light the area that you want
it's only got a two- to threefoot spread at the most. By put¬
ting that at a distance it picks up
their eyes."

-

Allotted the standard

eight-day shooting schedule for a
one-hour series, Bartley and his
team often pre-plan for unex¬
pected changes in blocking or
content, and will hang extra fix¬
tures in case they are needed.
Bartley also frequently uses on¬
set practicals. "We've gone to
sets and used [nothing but]
practicals," says Tickell. "We'll

thing that isn't natural," he con¬
tinues. "If you walk into a room
and see a lamp, then we'll bring
the light source from where the
lamp is. We try not to bring a
light source from out of nowhere.
A lot of times, you see a backlight
on
somebody, and even though it
does pick up nicely and bring up
their hair, giving them a nice
edge, it doesn't seem natural. We
try to find ways of putting a prac¬
tical in the background - if you
see it,
you'll understand where
the light is coming from.
"We rarely keep our
lights straight tungsten. There's
always something on them - if
it's not Va

CTS, it's Va CTB. If there

scenes

do that a lot - beef up any prac¬
tical on set. We have new Osram

rating separation lighting and sil¬
ver
"pebble" bounce (Roscoflex

quartz bulbs that we'll put in
lamps, or some very spotty prac¬
tical bulbs, and we'll light the

Lee Soft Silver Reflector) as
front fill, Bartley is able to de¬

whole set with those, just adding
a little fill. The
spotted bulbs are

episode "Irresist¬
ible," agents Mulder and Scully

fine facial features amid all the

good effect, especially when
you're using smoke. They're 75
watts, but if you're four feet from
it you can get a T22 right in the
beam. They are so hot that if

trail the handiwork of

leave characters in total
silhouette. However, by incorpo¬

SS
a

or

blackness. "If you put the light
into the pebble-bounce," Bartley

explains, "it starts to shine but it
doesn't always put out enough

a

light to light the subject. But you

someone

do get a

way,

nice kick in the eyes."
"If it's

put a blue glow
by shining a tweenie with

pands, "we'll
into it

night," Tickell ex¬
a

the

walks down

a

dark hall¬

when they're underneath

light they're just glowing, and
they're back in the darkness.
"We try not to do any¬

then

June 1995

lot of practicals in the room,
we'll add Va CTS, and if it's cooler,
like daylight, then we'll get into
are a

quarters and halves of blues."
In the

a necro¬

A

in the

scene

episode "The
Erlenmeyer
Flask,"

depicting
bodies in

suspended
animation,
involved

lighting dozens
of tanks and the
warehouse that

contained the
morbid setting.
"There

were

china-hat

practicals in
the

room

with

spotted PAR 30
bulbs in them, "
recounts

gaffer

David Tickell.
"We had two to

two-and-a-half
feet under the
tanks to

light
the

from. To get

spread,
needed

broad

we
flat,

a

source.

The tanks had

sheet-metal

philiac murderer, Donnie Pfaster

with holes in it

(Nick Chinlund), who preys

on

upon both the living and
dead to fulfill his fetishes. It

Bartley's job to make the
character

the
was

mousy

terrifying.

"We wanted to tell the

audience this
that this

American

was

weird guy,
someone to watch
was a

Cinematographer

the bottom,
underlit

so we

them with IK

nook-lights. It
gave it a nice
effect up

through the
water."

29
American Cinematographer - June 1995

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