American Cinematographer - January 2000 - 78

sion and lA CTB, while the other was

Right: Director
of photography
David Tattersall
on location in

covered with 250. That way, one side
denser and colder than other.

was

Tennessee while

Above these frames,

shooting one of

gantries that supported lines of
nine-light Mini-Brutes. All of those
lamps were on separate dimmer
channels and could be easily

the film's
exterior

scenes.

Below:

Bookended
with

present-

could easily simulate dull to quitebright overcast light. Above all of
that was a third gantry that
supported half-corrected 4K Xenon
spotlights that occasionally allowed

residence

home, The
uses

flashbacks to
recount the
character's
tenure as head

guard

on

death

row.

An

elaborate Akela
crane shot
introduces the
film's fictional

setting, Cold
Mountain

Penitentiary.

us

feel for

some

of the film's

magic'

moments.

Tattersall shot the film almost

entirely

on

Eastman Kodak Vision

320T 5277,

employing the softerday and
night sequences. However, the film's
exterior day sequences were shot on
daylight-balanced EXR 5245.
The company began the shoot
at
Warner
Hollywood Center
Studios, where production designer
contrast

stock for all interior

Terence Marsh

(who had collabo¬
on Shawshank)

corridor.

"We

the

for all occasions.

depicting the Green

as a

as

warehouse that is converted

by the film's characters into

a

detail

was

says.

scary -

walking down the set really gave you
the impression of 80 years of flaky
paint, crude Victorian-era plumbing,
frayed Edison-style wiring and rusty
iron bars. Early on, Frank had a back¬
ground in the art department, which
has no doubt influenced the carefully
thought-out set details and dressing.
The

set

itself consisted of nine cells,

little office space

a

[at the end of the

corridor] and a small execution
chamber [that doubles as a ratty stor¬
age room when not in use]. It had a
tin [A-frame style] roof that featured

the look of direct

sunlight - we'd just slide the diffu¬
sion frames out to get crisper sense
of the light. There was enough kilowattage up there to melt the roof!"
Gaffer Bobby Burton, who
worked with

Tattersall

"David likes

was

covered with 129 diffu¬

both

to use

Mini- and Maxi-

Brutes because if

soften

you're going to
them, you have a lot more

control

[beyond just

them]. You

globes,

dimming

can turn on one or two

or go

all the

way up to

nine.

For the main window at the end of

the Green Mile corridor, [which is
often featured in-shot], we experi¬
mented with several different units,

Brutes dead-center

on

on

Soldier and Con Air, notes that

both sides. One of the

percent of the film takes place on the
Green Mile, and the set Terence built
to

create

skylights,
hung 60' by 8' wooden diffusion
frames that ran the length of the

we

frames

awe-inspiring," Tattersall

to

but David decided

corridor

"The attention

set

"Above the series of

makeshift movie theater. "About 50

was

to

from all directions and

constructed

sets

all keen

keep the
practical as possible," the cine¬
matographer continues. "In my
quest for a natural look, I strove to
light the entire set from outside,
without having to float the roof or
the walls. That may have been an
optimistic or even naive idea, but the
plan was to build a lighting rig with
enough firepower and versatility to
were

set as

cover

well

January 2000

series of

skylights in two rows
running down each side of the main
a

rated with Darabont

Mile and several home interiors,

76

had two

controlled from the floor box. We

day sequences
depicting an
elderly
Edgecomb
living a
Green Mile

we

mainly to use a
Mini- and

combination of nine-light

Maxi-Brutes. We had the Maxi-

and then

came

on

the window,

in from each side

on
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