American Cinematographer - September 2005 - 75

producer or studio head may
already have an existing contract
with another lab. On

rare

occasions,

there are exceptions to this

situation.

Setting Up the Lab Test
If you
exterior

have a large number of

scenes

want to

do

however,

an

film, you may

to

only exterior testing;
interior test best

exem¬

plifies the several steps to take in
preparation for the test. When you
set up, cover one section of the
frame with

a

section with

white card, the middle
a

medium-gray card

(close to 18 percent gray), and the
third section with

a

flat-black card,

all about 3'x4' in size,

available from

art-supply stores. Have the model sit
about 8' in front of the cards with

C-stand

tion slate

12"xl6"

a

nearby to hold an informa¬
[that measures] about

-

scale and

a

which includes

a

gray

color chart. It's prema¬

for any

kind of effect lighting,
so light the person normally with a
standard highlight-to-shadow ratio.
Set your exposure meter to the

ture

manufacturer's ASA, El,

or

ISO

rating. If you use a footcandle meter,
the footcandles to the film

set

manufacturer's recommendation.
As

a

control factor, use

lenses. You need to have

HGirseoccrhafuellrdfdt.esy
Phot s

a

range

and 2 to 3 stops
underexposure. Lighting for a stop
of f/5.6 usually suffices, because 3
stops overexposure requires a lens of
f/2.0, which is generally available,
and 3 stops underexposure will
bring you to f/16. To set an f-stop
accurately, experienced camera
assistants always open the lens wider
than the stop to be used, then stop it
down from there, eliminating any
"slack." This way of working is
repeated for each change of stop.
Frame the

your

scene

to

*

of 2

stops over-

*

footcandles

*

lens stop

Above: "Timed

(equal to f/ 5.6)

prints," made
from the

(f/5.6, f/4.5, f/4.0, etc.)
*

exposure

(!/2
*

2 under, etc.)
(change name if two

over,

lab

labs

are

*

*

same

processed color
negative used for
one-light prints,
can help a
cinematographer

tested)

how the

see

timing lights

12"xl6" slate:

vary

for different

This card should stay in frame
so when you look at the

only one lens

in order to eliminate mismatched

to 3

ground is even and of the same
intensity as the light on the model.
The white, gray, and black cards
should all be evenly lit. Check also
that the lens is protected from any
backlights. Now you're ready to write
the pertinent information on the

emulsion

all the time

(type and number)
exposure index
processing
(normal, force, pull, or other)

printed test, you don't have to refer to
separate pieces of paper for relevant
data. If you keep film clips of the test
for future reference, all the pertinent

exposures.

This

frame, culled
from such

a test,
shows the results

for

a

shot that

overexposed
by 1/2 stop at f/4.5

was

(R42, G42, B24).
Left: The slate for
a

LAD TEST
ASA

lab test

includes
information that

SOO fcrG-** 80

is filmed

alongside the
model in each
frame.

include

model in medium close-up,

the information slate with color
chart and gray

poster
Check

scale, and the three
cards in the background.
that the light on the back¬
American

Cinematographer 71
American Cinematographer - September 2005

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