American Cinematographer - November 1997 - 36

Kino tubes

on a dimmer channel,
but we'd sometimes throw some

neutral-density gel on them or use
streaks and tips to knock them
down

a

bit."
With the

majority of the
lighting provided by these built-in
practicals, Khondji would then
supplement light on the actors with
more

controlled, modeled

sources,

using individually set Kino Flo
units. "The whole look of the film

be viewed as a blending of
design and lighting," expounds
the cameraman. "The production
thought we were spending too
much money building the lighting
into the sets. Perhaps it was un¬
usual to work that way, but it gave
can

lot of freedom to move about
and work very quickly between
us a

setups. In fact, we could make a set
look like a completely different set

just by
Above: A clear
view of

grated] lighting made it appear as
if it were a living, breathing crea¬

Khondji's

ture. On

wide

intricate, built-

looked

if

in

lighting
approach. He
notes his

aversion to fill

lighting.
"Rather than

adding fill, I
would light
various parts of
the set - due
to

the ENR

process -
closer to key;

maybe a stop or
a stop-and-ahalf under

helped Khondji illuminate
see and pho¬
tograph the sets, the majority of the

or

smoke; it would be¬

floors were made of metal grating
backed with Lee 129 Heavy Frost
diffusion and quarter CTB, with 2K
nook lights hidden underneath.

different place, but
with an almost sub¬

We had about 250 of them

on

been before.

main set

a

turning a
high-key set into a
low-key set. We'd

we were

alone, all tied into

then wet the set

down, make it oily

bat

the

"We came up
with a lot of differ¬

dim¬

ent

had hundreds of

that viewers
wouldn't be able to

-

tell that

which were also tied to the dim¬
mer. For high
ceilings, we used
chicken coops and 10-light cyc-

Says

they were
building the
gymnasium set,
we

worked out

our

lighting so

that

we

had

enough ambient
light to enable
Jean-Pierre to

show the entire
set in frame."

strips for

punch. The set
periodic
panels behind the grating - that
-

went around some

of the hall¬

paper out from un¬
der the floor at the

edges,

so we'd get
hard shafts going

ways, which were lit from behind
with 211s on bat strips. We also

light was individually dimmable,

had clear 60-watt Lumaline bulbs

and

[16" clear tubes

visibly mounted
on the walls]
periodically built
into the set walls down the big

dimmer leads

corridors.

we

They were dimmed
way down to just a glowing fila¬
ment

34

15

as a

American

design element. Every

Cinematographer

same

details. "We'd often
take the diffusion

more

walls also had ribs

they'd been
hallway
times," Strong

in the

-

Rawlins, "As

lighting schemes

so

strips of wood with
porcelain sockets and 211 PH bulbs
strips

completely

conscious sugges¬
tion of a place we've

ceiling was also
grating backed with diffusion, be¬
we

gritty, and add

come a

board. The

out."

court.

the dim¬

Seven, "To be able to

hind which

basketball

on

who

wanted to draw

the rec-room's

nels

shots, it almost

mers,

depending

Right: Ripley on

change in the built-in
lighting scheme.
Chris Strong would
adjust a few chan¬

inside some
cavernous animal or dinosaur.
The sets became characters in
themselves."
Adds gaffer Chris Strong,
as

mer

upon
the details I

a

we

way set

had about 550 different
on

the main hall¬

alone.
"In

some

video
room

of the

had Kino Flo tubes

derneath the base

hallways,

running

un¬

edges of the
grated floors. We didn't dim the

November 1997

up the walls and
underneath the

could

still have soft light
actors. We had

a

tap monitor in the dimmer
so that the dimmer
operator

exactly what was hap¬
on the set. Then, for every
slate number shot, he'd enter the
exact lighting settings for each take
see

pening
American Cinematographer - November 1997

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