Empire of Light – Changeable British Weather!

[DuncanM]

Hi Roger and James,

Big fan of your work, and thanks so much for giving back to the filmmaking community by sharing your wisdom!

When filming the exteriors for Empire of Light, what planning went into working in the changeable British coastal weather?

What adaptations did you have to make, and how much of a struggle did continuity become as weather and lighting conditions shifted?

Any items of kit that proved particularly useful?

Thanks!

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

There is little alternative to building some flexibility within a schedule. That said, doing so is difficult given actors availability and the difficulties of gaining permission to shoot in places where there is a lot of public traffic. Our AD, Michael Lerman, managed some skillful shifts of schedule when the weather didn’t look like it was going to cooperate and we also relied a lot on luck. Other than that, it is a case of choosing a time of day for both the scene and/or individual camera angles, to take as much advantage of the light direction as possible. Naturally, that is always a balancing act with the desires of the director and actors but everyone was very understanding of the problem on ‘Empire’.

[Author]

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