American Cinematographer - December 2007 - (Page 56)

Blood on the Streets non-essential and keep it simple, clean and elegant.” One of the few sets built for the production was the interrogation room where Roberts squares off with Lucas toward the end of the film. This set was built on a soundstage, and Savides chose to light the scene with Kino Flos flush to the ceiling going through light gridcloth; a small Duvatyn skirt kept light off the walls. One long sequence takes place in Lucas’ apartment, a location that featured a narrow alley outside the window. Savides knew natural daylight in the tight alleyway would change significantly throughout the shoot and would have to be controlled, but getting a lift above the window was nearly impossible, and there was no angle to light from the neighboring rooftop. So key grip Tommy Prate rigged an 8'x8' sheet of Ultrabounce on an angle one floor up, outside above the apartment window, and O’Leary shot a 12K HMI Par into the sheet from the street. That soft source became the key light through the window for the entire sequence. Savides extended the light into the room with a Kino Flo over the window and augmented Lucas’ desk lamp with a muslin China ball. “It comes down to solving problems quickly,” Savides says. “We knew we were going to be in that apartment all day, so I had to find a way to have consistent light through the window. And actually, putting that Ultrabounce over the window was one of our bigger setups!” The biggest, he adds, was the setup at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which was standing in for Madison Square Garden. At the peak of his power, Lucas obtains ringside seats for a Muhammad Ali fight at the Garden, where Roberts first spots him. “We created a really large toplight for the ring with a rock ’n’ roll truss [Par cans] made into a 20-by-20-foot box, skirted and on a dimmer,” recalls O’Leary. “To give the audience rim light, we rigged some Maxi-Brutes Right: Lucas draws the attention — and ire — of corrupt Det. Trupo (Josh Brolin). Below: At the peak of his power, Lucas cuts a deal with Mafia chieftain Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante). batten strips with several medium base sockets that are often filled with standard household bulbs and covered in muslin. His muslin balls are mostly 36" China balls, which he wraps in black to control spill. “I love Kino Flos, too,” he adds. “I love to bounce them, because that creates incredibly soft light. It becomes flat, dead light that’s almost shadowless, yet there’s great falloff. Basically I’m a fan of non-lighting lighting. I love using the edge of lights. With a film like American Gangster, things happen so fast you’re just reacting as best as you can to where the actors move.” “Working with Ridley and multiple cameras means being able to respond and change quickly,” agrees Bill O’Leary, Savides’ gaffer on the film. “It can be quite challenging at times. Over the years I’ve discovered that it’s velocity and not mass that makes a job difficult, and this movie had velocity! I think it was 130-plus locations and 150-plus scenes in half as many days. That translates into keeping it simple; sources were often off the floor and out of the actors’ way, and many times we lit through the windows with just a bit of fill inside. A naturalistic approach was best in conditions like that, and Harris got that. He has the ability to strip away the 56 December 2007

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American Cinematgrapher - December 2007 Contents Editor's Note DVD Playback Production Slate Irretrievable Deeds Blood on the Streets Fantastic Voyage Promise Fulfilled Short Takes Post Focus Tomorrow's Technology New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index 2007 AC Index ASC Membership Roster Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up

American Cinematographer - December 2007

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