American Cinematographer - January 2008 - (Page 62) Very Close Shaves Right: Todd ushers his next victim up to his barbershop. The space was too tight for the production’s SuperTechnocrane, so for closer shots tracking the actors up the steps, the grip department devised a pulley system to lift the camera. Below: Lovett watches the future ingredients of her meat pies stroll by. was able to rise vertically up the wall.” Attached to this rig, Flemming and camera operator Whelan used Loumasystems’ Key Head remote camera support. Ferretti’s designs for the barbershop interior, with steep angles matching the contours of the building’s roof, evoke the sets often seen in German Expressionist films, in which the sets mirror the troubled psychological states of their inhabitants. Central to Todd’s barbershop is a huge window. “Tim requested that window, and it pays off — it’s fantastic,” says Wolski. In addition to its graphic appeal, the window’s position along the outer wall offered a natural source from which to motivate lighting. “Outside the window, the art department painted a sky backing on projection material,” says Higgins. “It wasn’t a TransLite, but it operated like one, and we had 96 space lights wired behind it.” However, unlike the space lights over the rest of the set, these fixtures contained three 800-watt bulbs and three 300-watt bulbs, and each bulb was wired independently, giving Higgins and Wolski an even broader range of lighting levels, again without compromising color temperature. The backing “was on a big frame that was about 90 by 30 feet,” says Higgins. “We had it rigged at an angle of 45 degrees, but it could be moved from a vertical position to almost flat above the set. Because of the projection material’s consistency, at different angles we needed different light levels [behind it]. If we did an extreme angle looking at the backing, we needed to increase the light level, but if we looked straight 62 January 2008
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