American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 39

wireless control. Wireless DMX has
become a workhorse technology on the
Empire set - I can't live without it at
this point. That special rig I built has
Wireless Solution's W-DMX ProBox
F-2500 G4S transmitters - powered
by a 24-port PoE Ethernet switch as
well as two High End Systems DP8K
processors - and about 40 F1/F2
receivers."
Sommers credits Production
Resource Group, which provides
Empire with the vast majority of its
lighting equipment, as a trusted partner.
"PRG has been really wonderful about
getting lights for us to try out and play
with, and helping us build that lush
look while making it look different
every week," the cinematographer
enthuses. "I can see something online
- maybe a video wall behind the
performers - and decide to try it, and
the people at PRG have experience
with that kind of lighting. They've run
into any potential problems - maybe
it's flicker, or color fidelity, or how an
instrument interacts with a camera.
When we ask for something, we're not
the first, and that's an advantage. They
understand our world, and they're a
good bridge into the world of performance lighting.
"It's a team sport," Sommers
continues. "I may be talking to Jared
about programming for one episode
while Gino is prelighting a set for me. I
can't do this alone. I need a good gaffer,
a good key grip, a good dimmer-board
operator and good vendors. If I don't
get that support from everybody, it's not
as good a show."
Sommers says that Keslow
Camera - which maintains a rental
office on site at Cinespace - has also
been a key ally for the Empire crew. "We
had a sequence in a strip joint with all
these moving lights," he recalls. "I
wanted a star-filter effect, but I wanted
it to rotate so that all the highlights
spun in the frame. I'd done this once
before, on an episode of Cold Case about
15 years ago. I mentioned it to Keslow,
and they had a working prototype for
me in two days. Whenever I come up

with that kind of crazy idea, they get
just as excited as I do, and they're
immediately trying to figure out how to
make it work. I can't say enough about
how wonderful they have been."
Fox's budget for Empire does not
cover a digital-imaging technician, so
Sommers instead utilizes a hybrid
system whereby he builds custom lookup tables on a Blackmagic Design
DaVinci Resolve system that's set up at

the download station, and then loads
them into a Convergent Design
Odyssey7Q+ that serves as a combination LUT box and scope for viewing on
the set. "I can build a LUT in about a
minute and a half," he says. "I have lift,
gamma, gain and RGB, and then overall contrast - I'm not getting into
secondaries. I preload how I want it to
look, and from there it's relatively small
tweaks."
➣



http://mactechled.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - October 2016

Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 5
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 86
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 87
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - 88
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - October 2016 - Cover4
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