American Cinematographer - September 2008 - (Page 34) Portrait of a Lady the location windows was therefore augmented with diffused 12K Arrisun Pars and 18Ks, usually on 10'x10' scaffold towers. During the first few weeks of filming, these towers had to be erected and dismantled for different scenes at various locations with tremendous speed. “Vince Madden was the rigging gaffer, and he did a fantastic job,” says Colley. “His guys worked harder than I’ve seen anybody work before.” At Holkham Hall in Norfolk, a total of 18 scaffold towers were erected at the same time to light a labyrinth of connecting rooms, allowing Dibb to move freely between them. “It was really important for Saul to have that freedom,” asserts Pados. “At Holkham Hall, he wanted to show how Keira’s character is really lost in this huge place by filming her walking through all these unbelievable rooms in a Steadicam shot that was almost 200 meters long.” Once the towers were up, they stayed up, so rooms and scenes could be revisited at a moment’s Above: Georgina enjoys a picnic on the royal grounds with one of her daughters. The production shot at a number of historic homes across England, where they confronted the National Trust’s strict limitations on filming. Right: Dibb (gesturing at right) blocks out a Steadicam move during filming of the scene, while Pados (crouching just left of camera) studies the bounce lighting. free of clutter. Dibb wanted the lighting to feel natural and was accustomed to shooting with available light, but the rooms were often extremely large and lined with dark wood paneling, so exposure readings varied wildly inside. “You might have a reading of T11 by the window and T2 in the corner,” says Pados. “I had to get more light in there so Saul could have the freedom to say, ‘Okay, let’s shoot in this corner and then over there,’ in the same way he had on his previous projects.” Daylight coming through 34 September 2008
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