American Cinematographer - June 1995 - 64

Post Production
made
Easier

Cheaper

Faster

had

than 25 Maxis above,

more

and 120 Mighties outside the
main cells ready for when we
looked in. And for the hero cells,
we had a
couple Mighties coming

through those windows. Outside
the large arch-windows at the
opposite end of the block in the
background we had several
Maxis and a 'Wendy' light -

large part of the lamps were in
the wings that receded away
from you, but there was also
quite a bit of light just because of
the size of the windows and the

space in the actual eating area.
For that whole setup we did a
very large scaffolding rig down
the whole side of the prison and
used an industrial forklift to lift
the lamps up - the tops of those

which contains 198 PAR 36 bulbs
broken down
"What's
into four pan¬
els of 49 bulbs
he tends to
each
coming

great about Roger is that
think like

a

-

storyteller. He's not just a guy
lights and shoots. [Roger

through those
windows."

who
the

For

viewed] the film from the

tungsten units
used outside
the

storyteller's standpoint and tried
a visual
journey that
would match the journey that the
story took."

large win¬

to create

dows and the

skylights,
Deakins used
Vi CTB correc¬

which

tion,
was

-

contrast to the dimmed

units in the

quartz

practical fixtures on

the set. "With the dimmed
sten

on

Then later

on

that

yellow light

becomes richer and nicer and the

prison itself becomes slightly less
cold.
"We

always had full

cor¬

rection between the coolest and
TS-1 Time Code Slale

Denecke, Inc*

lights," he adds. "If
you're shooting a daylight scene
and the practicals are on, I hate it
when you cut to a night scene
and the practical is suddenly very
warmest

different from what it

Manufacturers cf
time cede eciiiinment
fer film, videc,
and recording
studies
Call cr write fer cut
new, ccmnlete
catalogue and the
dealer nearest yen

Another substantial set
in the film is the

Hollywood, (A Mill USA

hall, which

were a

good 25 to 30

Deakins, who operates
his films, is

actively involved
designing the compositions,
blocking and movement of the
camera.
"Roger was diligent
about composing shots to always
remind you where you were,"
says Darabont. "If we were out in
the yard shooting dialogue, he
was
always trying to tweak the
angle just so that it would reveal
some
intriguing architectural de¬
tail looming above the characters.
He was cognizant about not let¬
ting too much sky in at the top of
the frame to give you a back¬
ground that was mostly wall -
which we had talked about doing
in prep and he was good about
maintaining as we were going
along."
on

in

For The Shawshank Re¬

demption, Deakins rarely used a
zoom lens. "I don't think
people

the windows and diffused them

think

with

enough," he admits. "That's why
I really like shooting on prime
lenses. It makes you think, 'Why
do I want to be close to somebody
on a wide lens as
opposed to be¬
ing a long way away on a long

a

couple layers of 250 [Lee

Half-White! diffusion which

staggered

away

from the

windows.
"There
12K HMIs

(SI 8) 7U6-3525 (SCO) 866-3525
66

mess

redressed location inside
the Ohio Reformatory building.
"We had 12K HMIs outside most
of those windows," Deakins re¬
calls. "We shot them straight at

was a

5317 D Cnhiienca Dlvcl
N

in the

day scene."

were

Denecke, Inc.

was

windows
feet."

tung¬

the interiors," says

Deakins, "we wanted a kind of
nasty oppressive yellow light.

lailicr lime and lilt funny Award Hiimiiu)

Director Frank Darabont

in stark

June 1995

were

about 50

burning for that set. A

about

lens

lengths
American Cinematographer - June 1995

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