American Cinematographer - September 2000 - 98

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Crimes Against

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Director Yves Simoneau, left, and

cinematographer Alain Dostie take

a

break between

setups.

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through the windows, but we had no
way of putting up a photograph or
set," he recalls with a sigh. "We had to
burn the windows so you couldn't
see anything outside, which to me
always says 'set.'" The only changes he
could make

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color

were a

subtle shift in the

brightness coming through

the windows and the

use

of small,

practical lamps on various
tables in the courtroom, which were
green

sometimes

on

and sometimes off.

Other than

bit of fill

light,
lamps when
shooting day exteriors, explaining
Dostie almost

that he likes

a

never uses

scenes

to

look

as

natural

possible. Interiors are equally
simple: light through windows and
provide a bit of fill. He tries to avoid
hanging lights from the ceiling. "I
as

have

never

admits.

worked like that," he

"Lights from the top is the

old way of lighting on a stage, and it
looks like a movie to me. You usually
have to

[do it on TV projects]
quick and easy, but I

because it's

don't like the look and try to avoid it.
"I am not puritanical, but there
is

a

certain

logic to lighting," he

continues. "You can cheat a lot, as long
as

it makes

sense.

I

prefer a very small

of light that comes from only
one direction. If it's physically possible

amount

for

96

come from the right
that's all I do."

light to just

spot, then

In order to

help give the woodpaneled courtroom a warm feeling,
production designer Guy Lalande
stained the wood brown with a slight
hint of red. Simply lighting that
setting produced the desired
warmth, and Dostie
any

never

had to

use

filtration in front of the bulbs. In

addition to the courtroom, Dostie

wanted the prosecution
and houses

team's offices

(most of which

were

also

wood-paneled) to have a warm feel,
more yellow than red.
By contrast, scenes involving
the Nazi defendants were kept very
cold. "The jail cells, the prisoners'
dorm and dining areas, and all of the
scenes with Goering [played
by Brian
Cox] were cold," confirms Dostie.
"That look came almost naturally
because the sets

-

the cells, the

corridors, the dining area

- as well
guys' wardrobe were all
bluish-gray. I just went with that and
made it even colder by using
and
Vi blue gels, which helped make the
skin tones quite whitish."
as

the bad

Dostie

and

director

Yves

Simoneau, who have made three
features and numerous commercials

together, watched hours of archival
footage to get a feel for the period.
Dostie admits that he would have

preferred shooting the film in blackand-white, but that was impossible.
American Cinematographer - September 2000

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