Decisionmaking of overhead lightingrigs

[Julius]

Dear Roger,

I’m very curious about how you decide wich kind of overhead light you are going for.

For example in the situation of Skyfall, in the casino scene when bond fights on this “bridge” you chose a 8′ ringlight to create a soft wash of light.

In the Hail Caesar, for the bar dancing scene you chose many individual fresnel lamps ganged up next to each other to create a soft top light.

 

Of course im aware that a fresnel lense gives you other possibilities of focusing or defocusing the light, but when it comes to the softness of the source is it something that you decide by the gut, or concidering the budget or is it a technical approach or did you just wanted to try a different technique?

 

Im really curious of your thoughts

 

Best wishes from Germany

 

Julius

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

Each choice is determined by the context and the scene. If I had used an eight or ten foot ring light on the dance scene in Hail Caesar the effect would have been entirely different from the array of small Fresnel lamps. I could focus the Fresnels to create entirely different patterns of light across the set as the dance progressed. A ring would have given me a soft wash, which was fine in the Casino. There the light never changed.

[Author]

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