American Cinematographer - November 2007 - (Page 64)

Night Terrors creatures are visible only as dark silhouettes against moonlit snow, with the beam of a victim’s torch providing an occasional horrifying glimpse of them. “I didn’t give the vampires much detail, especially in action sequences,” says Willems. “When Marlow first appears, his skin tone is 4 stops under key. Danny Huston was then able to play the backlight on his skin to reveal or hide detail. Every once in awhile I gave the vampires a bit more detail, just to remind the audience how scary they are! “When shooting actors this dark, eyelights assume increased importance,” he continues. “As long as there’s a ‘ping’ in the eyes, the character is alive. Eyelights were my saving grace on this film — for both human and vampire characters.” The actors playing the vampires wore black contact lenses, giving Willems the opportunity to use a specific style of eyelight. “I put Dinos through 8-by-12-foot frames to light the vampires very softly and provide a large, soft eyelight rather than a pinpoint of light. With the contact lenses they’re wearing, it gives them an unnatural, off-kilter look.” Principal photography for 30 Days of Night took place on New Zealand’s North and South islands. Interior and exterior sets were shot at the Henderson Valley Studios and Hobsonville Aerodrome. The Waitakere Ranges Regional Park and the Waiorau Snow Farm were used for Barrow exteriors. “There were 220 scenes to shoot in 70 days, so the schedule was pretty quick,” says Willems. “Locations were used sparingly for wide shots at the beginning of the film, while the majority of our time was spent on set.” Base lighting for exteriors was provided by “Moon Pods,” upsidedown half-spheres containing 200 1,000-watt Par cans that were purpose-built by gaffer Sean O’Neill. All exterior lighting was tungsten, Willems’ preferred source. “HMI lights can give skin tones a certain Above: Eben (right) and his estranged wife, Stella (Melissa George), try to protect the town’s rapidly dwindling population from the vampires. Below: Stella has her husband’s back. tion of white snow, dark-gray buildings and dark, often black, vampire wardrobe,” says the cinematographer. “Knowing that I would be printing down in the DI, I needed to shift the tonal values of the buildings up the gray scale, closer to the value of the snow, so I asked [production designer] Paul Austerberry to keep some of the buildings in the midtone range. I also made sure we kept the chroma in the buildings, because the image was going to be desaturated in the DI, and I didn’t want it to go black-and-white.” While the denser tones of the vampire’s costumes provide natural contrast against the snow, highlights were created by ensuring the constant presence of snowflakes on the fabric, and the blood makeup gave parts of the fabric a sheen. To light the vampires, Willems adopted a less-is-more approach, keeping them down in exposure. Early in the film, when a group of vampires attacks the communications station outside of Barrow, the 64 November 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2007

American Cinematographer - November 2007 Contents Editor’s Note Global Village DVD Playback Production Slate Deconstructing Bob Dylan Honoring a Lost Friend Night Terrors Losing Control TV’s Top-Rated Short Takes Post Focus New Products & Services Points East International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up

American Cinematographer - November 2007

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