American Cinematographer - April 2001 - 65

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Cynthia sit together in a corner of
as he struggles to tell her

their office

about the rather serious criminal act

he undertook to

help his drug-

addicted brother. The office is dark,
and

staff member is

leaving
the camera
pans across the room, landing on the
pair as they are engrossed in their
a

her desk for the

troubled

night

seen

as

two

★

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tete-a-tete.

The

sit in front of

a

phone

+49(0)221/1 79 26

desk,

facing each other in almost complete
silhouette, with only a broad back¬
light as the key. "We had a 4-by-4
Kino Flo that was favoring Bobby
very slightly to screen left - so
slightly that it was nearly a direct
backlight," Fortunato details. The
actors were separated from their
surroundings by a fluorescent desk
lamp directly behind them, which
was bouncing off some papers that
were
mostly obscured by their
bodies. This light also served to fill
their faces slightly.
"During the day, we lit the
A.D.A. office with Kino Flos and

practical fluorescents that are
of the real location," Fortunato
adds. "For this particular scene
between Bobby and Cynthia, the
question became what to turn off."
Fortunato opted to shut off every¬
thing except the aforementioned
backlight and desk-lamp fill, along
with a few small pools of Kino Flo
light gelled with opal or 250 diffu¬
sion, which played on the walls. To
emphasize the tension of the crucial
scene, "all of the character lighting
was edge light."
Regarding the use of one
some

part

camera

for this shot, Fortunato

"Sidney is so knowledgeable
filmmaking that he knows

notes,

about

when it is difficult

[for the cine¬
matographer] and when it isn't. If I

suggested that something would
work

[into

a

while
same

we

broke it up

shot], he knew I
just being difficult. You can't
a good close-up of a woman
doing a wide reverse at the

a one-camera

wasn't
shoot

lot better if

time! This

was

not

live TV,

so

Roy H. Wagner, ASC,
Director of

SoftSun 50K,

Photography
for CSI

featuring a

focusabie vertical beam
adjustable from 11° to 34°
new

ioy
Shooting a TV show, therms a
finite, amount of daylight soyou, have,
to make, the, most
ofit. SoftSoui has made,
huge, difference, in, the, may 1 monk,.
a,

The, scene, that sold, me, unis

a,

party on, a, large exteriorpatio. We

boxed, in on three sides, and, the
around, off the patio mas uneven. We
mere

ht me used,. Without it me
home had, to shoot an extra,
day.
Thanhs to its
me use

We

dimmingfeature
forfill and, even moonlight.

it

shot one scene in a, corridor mith

mindoms
along
to have

its 120' length. / manted
moonlight streaming through

the mindoms. It mould 've taken three

separate lights in three Condors. One
only had an hour ofdirect sunlight
due to the norrour aperture. We lost
SoftSun 50K did the trick,. When the
producers sour horn much time Sc money
daylight at 5:00 pm.
1 needed a,
large, broad source. it saved, they became instant SoftSun
We mounted
single SoftSun 50K on a, fans. Hour mhenever mego out on a
Condor and ment to morh. It mas the
standard day shoot, SoftSun is there.
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American Cinematographer - April 2001

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