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Wow! That is a long question.
The headlights were the primary source. I remember the shot of the group walking towards the camera was lit by the headlights with little added. I asked for vehicles with particularly good headlights but even then I needed to add a little more. That was especially true for the wide looking towards the berm. I had two or three 650 watt Tweenies for this. Not much but just enough to widen the effect. They would have been dimmed to create that warmth on the sand.
The close shot of Josh does have a deeper background as he is at that point out of the trench. Kate was lit using a little bounce and, as the headlights alone were not enough, I added a lamp here. I was never happy that I was cheating the light as much as I was but performance is important.
That room was on an upper floor and access was very restricted. I would have liked to bounce an HMI off a large white reflector but it was just impossible to position two lifts in the necessary places. Besides, there was often a strong wind blowing in off the sea and sending up a large ‘sail’ would have been problematic. This forced me to opt for an array of LED panels with a light diffusion attached in front. The rig was always just above the frame line and we did shift it a little from side to side to reach into a face.
I must add that this was a really difficult space to work in and frustrating for everyone. It also faced south, which meant the daylight would shift dramatically if there were fast moving clouds. To control the direct sunlight we had to maneuver flags on ropes from the roof above, which was a real challenge. The LED panels were sometimes 60% of the overall light and at other times they added very little.
Yes, the color was not created in the DI. The only time I have altered the color of any scene in the DI was on ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’, for the reasons that have been explained at length elsewhere. ‘O Brother’ was the first time I used the DI. At the time I vowed it would be my last but …. That didn’t last long.
Colin was moving through a darker area and that didn’t bother me. Does he have more light on him when he stops and looks back towards the stage? I probably raised the level of the overhead rig as it was important to see the character’s reaction at this moment. That is just the sort of ‘cheat’ that is done from shot to shot.
I remember using two 4′ x 4′ gold stipple reflectors. This kind of bounce can be soft – when it is 8′ in width and relatively close to the subject – as well as directional.
You are referencing a scene and film that was shot on film. The scene was shot using a tungsten balanced stock and the tungsten lights were either dimmed or warmed using a gel. As David says, the color temperature would have been between 2400 and 2800K and the film stock balanced at 3200K. There was no color grading done in post.
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.
I think the light had a wrap of silver foil around it to lessen the light hitting high on the walls. This would also have integrated the individual sources, the 7 or 8 bulbs.
Yes, the actor and the character they are playing does affect the cinematography; the lighting, camera angle, lens choice etc. Hopefully it is all of a piece.
The downside is when an actor demands a certain style of lighting or to be shot on a specific lens. But, luckily, most actor trust the crew to make the best choices for the film and, consequently, for their part in the film.
Impressive you process your color work yourself. I started in B&W photography and I have not got out of that habit. As always, I would recommend you look at the photogrsaphy of Alex Webb, Harry Gruyaert and Gueorgui Pinkhassov.
Its always more important to prioritize the fluidity of the film over any one particular shot. And film is a collaboration. I wouldn’t say it is up to one or the other.
I can’t recommend more highly The Seed of the Sacred Fig. The film will be released shortly but in the meantime you could watch any of the director’s previous films. His name is Mohammad Rasoulof and among his earlier work is Iron Island, The White Meadow, Manuscripts Don’t Burn, There is no Evil and A Man of Integrity. Mohammad Rasoulof and Andrey Zvyagintsev are making films that illustrate what power film can have.
It was a long time ago I last looked at a Hazeltine. I remember looking at the screen to judge the timing and I also remember a Synex strip. I might be spelling the word incorrectly (or have the wrong word entirely) but it was a ‘wedge’ of frames along a short strip of print film, each frame exposed to a different timing light.
