Revolutionary Road – Night Interior lighting

[Max A.]

Hello Mr Deakins and all the forum members. First of all, I hope you Mr. Deakins and Mrs. James are well, I really enjoyed the conversation about colors and color rendition with Mr. Fraiser, a lot of good insightful information came out, once above all is the fact that using gray as a color of walls of a set is a nightmare 😂.

I would like to ask you, if it is possible, a question about the lighting of this scene of ‘Revolutionary Road’ (I attach stills).
I know that was a long time ago. My question is more related to the technical side of lighting management over the precise fixtures that you used.

I remember this scene was discussed a time ago on the old forum, but unfortunately, I was unable to save the page. I seem to remember that you used 3 bounce reflectors (I think to remember muslin) to create a soft light and also control the spread of the bounce with the position of the bounce “sider” reflector.
What I love about this lighting (obviously in addition to the tones and mood) is the way the light hits subjects while staying controlled to the space around, especially in the medium-wide shot of ‘April’.
For this shot how do you manage your light? If it were bounce sources are they positioned over the bed or just on the side of the bed? What I saw is that if the bounce material had been on the bed there would have been a bright spot on it (due to the closeness of the source) but instead, the light on the bed sheet was even and the subject is “painted” with a brilliant soft side directional light which avoids bouncing off other surfaces distracting the viewer’s eye. Watching the reflection on the ‘April’s’ glass I seem to see a fairly vertical source, but probably is an optical distortion illusion.
To me, this shot is really brilliantly lit.

A side question that concerns the same scene that I would like to ask is whether the shot on ‘Frank’ with the hard light coming from outside in combination with the rain and the reflections of the glass is a reference to the famous shot from “In Cold Blood”.
I don’t know why but I associated the two shots not only for the technical aspects of the realization but also for the narrative moment linked to the character on stage.

I apologize for long question on a topic that was already discussed in the past, I hope this doesn’t bore you.
As always I want to thank you for your time and your patience. My admiration for you is something that goes over the imagination.

I apologize for my bad English.

I wish you a peaceful day,
Max.

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

Yes, that was a long time ago. I laugh at this scene because we had tented the whole house, so that I had room for lamps outside, but by the time we came to shoot it was dark outside.

The bounce source was an unbleached muslin and I suspect the lamps was attached to the ceiling. Otherwise, as you say, the light would have been too close. The hard light was supposed to mimic a street lamp. Just a 650 with a half blue gel on it.

The rain? Yes, the  rain felt like it mirrored the sadness of the scene. ‘In Cold Blood’ did it so much better.

[Max A.]

Thank you so much for your reply Mr. Deakins! The anecdote related to the preparation of the scene is funny.
My impostor syndrome would have made me feel guilty, for some reason, about what happened regarding the production even if so many things happen during the day on a set.

If I can ask another question about the scene, do you remember if the bounce sources were positioned next to the bed? Because I don’t see the fall-off of the light on the bed sheet. So It seems that maybe the bounce sources are on the floor next to the bed so they don’t directly affect the bed. (with lamps on the ceiling) creating an unpleasant and unnatural effect.

The effect of the rain is the icing on the cake of this scene as usual perfectly balanced in lighting and composition!

Thank you again for your reply and your time Mr. Deakins, reading from you it is priceless for me.
I wish you a peaceful day.
Max.

[Roger Deakins]

I remember the 4′ x 4′ bounce muslin was resting on the floor.

[Author]

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