American Cinematographer - December 2006 - 91

Motown Hitmakers
Right: In the
number "And I
Am

Telling You
Going,"

I'm Not

Effie argues
with Curtis
about his

decision to
fire her.
Below: Deena

confronts Curtis
about his
for her

plans

career.

light he's standing underneath goes
off and the screen goes black, and
then we cut to a spotlight on Curtis
as he
gets out of a car at a big concert
in the next

scene.

There
we

wanted

are

to

also several

shoot in such

that it would introduce

feel,

so

a

scenes
a

way

theatrical

that when the actors transi¬

tioned from

speaking to each other
singing to each other, it wouldn't
be jarring to the audience. It's tricky
to make that work. For example,
'Steppin' to the Bad Side' begins with
dialogue as Curtis, C.C. and Wayne
[Hinton Battle] walk down an alley,
then they begin singing. I played
very strong toplight, clean 5Ks spot¬
to

ted in,

over the length of the alley,
played with silhouettes and
lower angles. We also had a single
red light in the alley, a bulb over a
doorway that we augmented with a
2K Fresnel spotted in and gelled a
matching red. Throughout that

and

number, which includes

a

montage

that shows Curtis
and
a

paying off DJs
doing illegal gambling, we kept

monochromatic

of red; all the
there

are

tone

with

a

hint

lighting is clean, but
throughout

touches of red

the set, whether it's the

bulb in the

alley or a red suitcase used as a prop.
When the action

moves

into

a

for a big dance number, our
light comes from practical heat¬
ing lamps, the kind used to dry
freshly painted cars; we positioned

garage

red

some

of those red

welders'

screens

used in

goggles in front of them. It
light that was
also theatrical. We were trying to
find some way to incorporate the
sets, lighting and camera that would
remind you of a theatrical piece.
How did your ideas for the
look of the film evolve during

was

motivated red

prep?
82 December 2006



American Cinematographer - December 2006

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