Sicario hitman scene

[GianniRanzuglia]

Hi Roger,

I hope all’s well at your end. There’s a great scene in Sicario where Kate discovers she’s about to have sex with her hitman, and proceeds to fight him, but almost gets killed in the process before Alejandro intervenes.

In the scene, there’s a wide shot, and we can see there’s an overhead light over a table, a lamp by the sofa (on the right), and a cooler kitchen light (on the left). Was this entire scene lit through practical lights, or were there artificial lights out of frame to help enhance the scene or closeups? I’ve attached an image for reference 👍

Thanks for your time!

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

There was an additional tube on a stand to augment the cold kitchen light and I suspect I had a small Fresnel lamp adding to the warm light on the ceiling. It doesn’t look as if the hanging lamp would make that ‘pool’ of warm light behind the silhouette. This was a set and the practicals were set with all the scenes in mind but there is often a shot that needs a ‘tweak’.

[Ridgway]

I feel like the practical is doing a lot of the work there directly behind them. I feel like an additional source would look more artificial?

 

[GianniRanzuglia]

Haha yeah you’re right, on a close inspection it doesn’t look the lamp would be able to cast so much light on the ceiling, but it never bothered me while watching the film.

Thanks for the answer!

[Author]

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