American Cinematographer - June 2006 - 38

Working in the
Chicago Armory,
the production
detailed
condo
interior and used
two massive
built

a

set for the

TransLites to
create 180-

degree

panoramic
views of the

Windy City
outside the
windows. "We
could slide the
TransLites back
and forth and

position them for
each shot to get
the best

composition and
separation,"
notes

cinematographer
Eric Edwards.

adjustments for different parts of the
TransLites, especially on the nighttime
backing," says Edwards. "There would
be a bright group of buildings, a dark
group, and then another bright group.
We made up for inconsistencies in the
real scene by adjusting the balance of
the lights behind. For the first week, we
did this by using a spot meter and look¬
ing at dailies. After awhile, I could just

look at it and

was

see

the balance."

Edwards says one key to success
the very dark nighttime TransLite.

"We made it pretty

inky. I knew from

"At

night, you have a lot of expo¬
sky, and the sky usually looks
sodium-vapor in temperature," Edwards
sure

in the

continues. "In

an

urban environment,

other TransLites I've shot that when you
shoot the plates, you usually get a very

when you time-expose, the night sky is
much brighter. To get a realistic look,

full exposure.

Tod sent us e-mail
versions, and then higher-resolution

you have to knock the sky down to the
blackness of everything below the hori¬

photographic printouts, so we could see
just how dark they were.

zon.

We also put in a series of clouds to
break up and add life to the night sky,
and we printed much darker than the

original plates showed."
The daytime backing required an
entire sky replacement. "We had a twoday window to shoot the plates, and on
both days there was bright, hazy light
with very thin high-altitude clouds,"
recalls Edwards. "It
there

was

almost like

one-quarter silk over the
sky. We needed more contrast, so we
replaced the sky and got what we
wanted through compositing."
Another key to a successful
TransLite is to hang a single bobbinet, a
netted fabric of hexagonal mesh, about
5' in front of the backing. As opposed to
the sky, which required more contrast,
the buildings and other elements in the
TransLites were a bit too contrasty. "The
was a

bobbinet takes down the contrast,"
34 June 2006



American Cinematographer - June 2006

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