American Cinematographer - December 1999 - 88

The Devil Made Flesh
into it because

we

need

to

be able

to

throw

light all the way up the
muslins. The technique that makes
all the difference is putting half Soft
Frost in front of the light and a teaser
on the top and sides to shape it a little
bit. The half Soft Frost diffuses the

light, but it doesn't bloom it because
it's

not

white, it's clear. It therefore

softens the bounce

become

light, but doesn't

itself

the

where the lights would be

able to play
people. Working the way we
did also eliminated the possibility of
backlighting anyone, so I was able to
maintain the same specific look even
within that large area. The room was
filled with tables that had practical
lamps on them, and we played some
washes of light up the pillars around
on

the

the

room

with

a

bunch of IKs."

Lost Souls does feature two

is still the bounce. If you put diffu¬
sion too close to someone's face, it

striking exorcism scenes. The first is a

can

-

look great

you can

because it blooms and
feel the falloff of the light.

However, sometimes it looks
too

lit and

feels

too

slick. That

sort

a

little

of style

contrasty and is a more
normal way to light."
more

Fiore

flashback

graphic

much

a

exor¬

more

sequence

that

serves as

the

film's finale. "The

two

exorcisms

are

the

most

stylized

movie," Kaminski

scenes

ular film, but we wanted to do

"Lost Souls has three exorcism
scenes.

The first is

a

flashback that

depicts Maya's exorcism 10 years
earlier. It's a brief scene that helps the
audience understand where the char¬
from and explains her
knowledge of the devil's
existence. Photographically, it is a
very
experimental scene that
employs handheld camerawork to
evoke the kinetic pull of the
moment. To help create a sense of

in the entire

intimate

voyeurism, various film formats and
emulsions

were

have been done many times in
movies, so I didn't want stuff coming

changes in

camera

of the characters' mouths, and I
didn't want any spinning heads - I

images, particularly in the third exor¬
cism, which we photographed with
multiple non-synchronized strobe
lights - the images would come and
go. That was a very experimental and

decision, because I felt that if we lit it
from above, I would lose control of

done

attests.

out

to stay away from what the
audience knows. The Exorcist was

brilliantly, and its imagery

"I wanted

used,

as

well

as

speed.
deconstruct the

to

1ju#lne§* like thow buiine**
no hueineci
Actually* there1n
tee
film here.
9

some¬

thing different.

"Exorcisms

wanted

to

Larkin's childhood

cism, and the second is

explains, "We naturally
constantly shift that key
depending on what we saw of the
room, but it turned out to be a good
had

to

of fear and intensity
perfectly for that partic¬

a sense

acter comes

source

a source

created

that worked

no

l-orie i. We
^Officer

(800)228-43

Fa*:(402)47l,
^■^nebraskc
E-mail:
auner@Hlmnebrask(
,
American Cinematographer - December 1999

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