American Cinematographer - December 1999 - 128

"second-unit" shots taken

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by Krane,
including one in which an elevated
subway screeches past the protagonists
battered old wood-frame house. The

setting

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hits the top part of the house
with a golden-orange light before the
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this glorious, optimistic glow. "We
noticed the shadow effect one day and
had to go back two more times to get the
shot," says Krane, who adds that
sun

"second unit

can

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allowed director Sergio and Krane to
spend two weeks blocking out camera

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124

Krane

tends

to

choose

soft

bounced

light

sources,

it always looks to me as if an

as

his key. "With direct

actor is

walking into a 'movie light,'" the
cinematographer says. He favors
bouncing small, open-faced lights,
ranging from 750Ws to 2Ks, into pairs of
concave show cards, an assembly often
called a book light. "The light bounces in
all directions, and it looks as if the actors

minutes

detail to the shadows. "I'll often bounce

several

times

on

many

production days," Sergio explains.
A former actor and television

producer/director, Sergio had previously
a
relationship with
Panavision New York, which helped the

established

crew

obtain

a

Golden Panaflex Gil and

are

from

something like a 750W into a 4' by 8', or
even an 8' by 8', placed behind the
camera, getting a footcandle of fill or
less with a 24 footcandle key light. I like
fill to be faint and spread out."
For hard edges and backlight,
Krane favors small instruments such

Ultra-Speed Z-series lenses (which
glass and Panavision

tweenies, inkies

mechanics) at

some

feature Zeiss

an

affordable

"Panavision New York

rate.

or peppers,

color added to

often with

create

more

separation. He notes that "a hard, sharp
edge light always seems to indicate to
me that something bad is coming" -

The director also credits Jim

which is true most of the time for the

Sergio attests.
Jackson of

Pittsburgh's Performance
Lighting for providing an affordable truck
full of lights. Kodak also helped
tremendously, making 100,000 feet of
"non-conforming" Vision 500T 5279
stock available to the production at an
affordable price. "'Non-conforming'

characters in Under Hellgate

stock either has incorrect

released in

keycode or
precisely meet
Kodak's specifications," Krane explains.

other flaws that don't

"This batch tested at around 400 ISO,

and it

as

absolutely
getting this film made,"

instrumental in

was

was a

bit bluer than 79 should be.

It worked well with the

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also blue-tinged;
fortunately, that was a look we were

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of working
independent features into Hellgates
lively and compelling visual scheme. He
submits, "While working on various films
over the years, I've seen how low-budget
people can get a bounce light into a tight
corner of a room without the luxury of
moving a wall. I used a lot of those
lessons on Hellgate."

savings on the set. "The precise
pre-blocking saved us a half-hour to 40

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info@porta-jib.com

Krane distilled years

on

walking past actual lamps. They go
light to dark in a smooth transition."
Krane similarly likes to use big,
bounced fill sources to add just a bit of

which resulted in tremendous

time

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Sergio explains that "we wanted
a chilly, sort of

'outdoor' feel."

say

Made for under $1 million and

cameras

after."

this world to have

lenses, which

are

Ultra-Speed

Bridge.
destined for
the film itself, however. Sergio reports
that the positive buzz from the IFFM led
directly to three offers of domestic
theatrical distribution, with more pouring
in. The director expects to see Hellgate
Good

things

seem

early- to mid-2000.

■
American Cinematographer - December 1999

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 1999
