American Cinematographer - April 2018 - 102

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Daring Operation

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Gear Spotlight:
Using Tungsten for
Daylight
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"W

hen lighting, I always look
for the drama," says Lula
Carvalho, ASC, ABC. "As cinematographers, we have to be part of
the story, helping the characters and
the script to become alive. In this
case, we were talking about a real
story that happened in a certain
period in history. On the one hand,
we used practical lighting fixtures so
people could see the story as a real
one. On the other, we mixed those
elements with the narrative and
mood so we could help the director
build the drama of these characters."
To emulate daylight for the
movie's interiors - and especially for
scenes set inside the Entebbe airport
terminal - Carvalho and gaffer
Shawn White deployed tungsten
fixtures such as Dinos and 20Ks
rather than LEDs or HMIs. "Even
though HMIs would have given us
more strength, which could have
helped, I decided to go with tungsten
because of the color and the natural
feeling of it," Carvalho explains.
"Tungsten's rays gave us a 'deepness,'
with texture on the faces - and this
added to the drama of the story. It
would have been an easier path to go
with HMIs, but it would not have
created such a tense and dramatic
environment.
"It's a very tough decision for
the cinematographer, which kind of
light you're going to use to play [as]
the sun," Carvalho adds. "HMIs are
stronger, but they have a certain
color, texture and feeling that is not
necessarily the most beautiful. The
choice of tungsten meant we were
not going with the easiest path, and I
think it made a huge difference for
the movie."
- MK
102

April 2018

Ugandan President Idi Amin (Nonso Anozie) supports the hijackers and
allows them to land at Entebbe Airport.

American Cinematographer were cherished objects. "I grew up with the ASC
magazine, started learning English with
it, studied the cinematographers in it,
and translated it to my father," Lula
Carvalho remembers.
By the time he was eight, he
would spend his summer break with his
father on location. "After a while, I
really started to enjoy being on a set.
Then, I began to learn the camera-crew
craft, as I started helping the ACs and
clapper loaders. At 10, I was loading
film magazines. The whole process of
filmmaking completely thrilled me.
When I became a teenager, I was
already a professional. In high school, I
worked as a second assistant camera.
Because of that, I ended up not attending university - although I was
enrolled as a history major."
For nearly a decade, Carvalho
worked as a camera assistant and operator, taking on director of photography
jobs on music videos and short films. It
was Padilha who gave Carvalho his first
big break, hiring him to shoot two
documentaries: one unfinished, and the
other Secrets of the Tribe, about the
indigenous Yanomami tribes in the
American Cinematographer

Amazon rainforest. Discovering that
they spoke the same cinematic
language, the director and cinematographer formed a lasting friendship.
During breaks on Secrets of the
Tribe, Padilha pitched Carvalho the
crime drama he wanted to make, Elite
Squad, and they discussed potential
shooting techniques. What resulted was
a fast-moving, handheld style inspired
by cinema-verité filmmaking and
intensified by scripted action. "When I
block the scene, I'm not going to block
the actors rigidly," Padilha explains. "I'm
going to let them move in the set freely
between certain constraints, but I will
never give them precise marks. Instead,
I will give marks to the camera" - and
the camera operator must follow the
action as if shooting a documentary.
This kinetic approach to Elite Squad
garnered critical praise around the
globe.
Producer Kate Solomon enlisted
Padilha to direct 7 Days in Entebbe, and
the director in turn asked Carvalho to
photograph the feature. Reading the
screenplay by Gregory Burke, the cinematographer became excited about
shooting a thriller involving a plane
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2018
