American Cinematographer - September 2008 - (Page 48) A Frightening Fable These frames illustrate the extremely milked-out look Charlone devised to suggest the victims’ perspectives. He used MiniDV for this material. conventional Kino Flos that we strapped to the ceiling. We also threw a few Kino Flo Image 80s up on stands. That enabled us to capture as much picture information as possible for manipulation in post.” Night interiors at the asylum presented Charlone with a special challenge in that he not only wanted them to be very dark, but also to retain the washed-out feel of the day scenes. “The only way I could do that was to wash out parts of the frame and create strong, black shadows [in other areas of] the frame.” He points to a scene dubbed “the Rembrandt” because it was based on one of the artist’s paintings: four women are tenderly washing the body of a woman who has committed suicide. “The light hitting the dead woman, from a couple of Par 64s, makes the body so washed-out that you can’t really even see it,” says Charlone. “The other women are actually lit by the bounce off the body. On the other side of the frame, the walls are black.” Some scenes are lit with practicals, and Davidson notes that “seeing the actual units provides a kind of violent visual image.” He explains, “We constructed 15 hanging fixtures, each consisting of three strips with eight sockets per strip. The bulbs were 75-watt Par 30s with Edison bases. We left one socket empty in the center strip so as not to overload a 20-amp circuit. It was all wired so that we could use one, two or three strips at a time. Spot and medium-flood bulbs also were used, depending on the desired beam pattern. All this was enclosed in a fireproofed MDF housing with a hinged metal grid. The grids were played both open and closed, and we hung the fixtures throughout the institution. Usually the lights were pointed straight down, creating a very hot, overexposed area below.” One of the film’s most harrowing sequences shows the men of one ward raping the women of another at night. A few lightbulbs dangling from chains send beams of light bouncing around the room, and off-camera, additional identical bulbs were hung lower and tied off to one side of the room to help create an eerie feel. Another rape sequence occurs during the day, and Charlone lit this with Par 64s shining in from a tent set up in the next room, creating just enough light to silhouette the action. The cinematographer theorizes that the blind have a different consciousness about space than sighted people. He experienced this firsthand while participating in a “blind workshop” organized by Meirelles, during which cast and key department heads donned blindfolds and ventured outside. He also examined many works of great art. “I was very interested in Degas’ framing, just to give one example,” he says. “It was kind of off-center, with characters looking out of frame. I wanted my framing to give that same slight sense of disorientation.” An even bigger influence on Charlone was a documentary called Black Sun, which chronicles the experiences of French artist and filmmaker Hughes de Montalembert, who lost his eyesight and then traveled the world, rediscovering life through his other senses. ¢ 48 September 2008
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