Mixing warm and cool LEDs on Empire boardwalk night scene

[orsini1138]

Hi there Roger, love the podcast and really appreciate the forums, thanks for everything.

Reading through the ‘looking at lighting’ for Empire of Light, you write that for the boardwalk scene at night, you installed some light fixtures and set the nearest lamp to a cool temp whereas the rest, as well as the building in the distance/back of the shot, are all warm. I’m curious why this was, and I’m guessing it was probably instinctual. But was there a purpose? What I came to was that it keeps the shot from being entirely darkness and warm tones, it puts a subtle variety of colors into the frame, but again- very curious to know what you thought. Thanks to anyone who answers!

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[Roger Deakins]

I wanted to feel express the bleakness of the sea front at night and in winter. The cold light is less ‘comfortable’ and contrasts with the apartment building towards which Hilary is walking. From a naturalistic point, these kinds of practical lights often emit different colors depending on the life of the bulbs and the type of bulbs used. Not so much with LEDs but in the 1980s, for sure.

[Author]

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