American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 66

◗

Strife and Justice
Right: Elswit and
crew capture a
scene with
Damon and
Moore. Below:
The camera is
dollied into
position for an
exterior scene
featuring Jupe
and Tony
Espinosa, who
portrays Andy.

the things that automatically happen
when you shoot motion-picture film:
adding grain, doing all these things so it
doesn't look quite so squeaky clean.
Can you summarize Suburbicon's
lighting package?
Elswit: It's a lot of HMIs outside,
and tungsten and LEDs inside. Every
interior, with the exception of the highschool auditorium, was a set that
[production designer] Jim Bissell built,
so I could put lighting in ahead of time.
It's a lot of LED lighting - paper
66

December 2017

China balls and LitePads - and for
night exteriors as well. LED lighting is a
wonderful way to work, especially when
it's hybrid and you can change the color
temperature easily.
As the story becomes darker, so
does the lighting. Outline that
progression.
Elswit: For the first 15 minutes,
the film feels almost like a light comedy.
You don't know something is brewing
- even though you meet the black
family and see the neighbors' immediate
American Cinematographer

concern. Then you're in this scary
midnight meeting of the local citizens in
a relatively dark high-school gymnasium, plotting what to do. That presages
the dark tone.
For our day-exterior work,
George was really good about planning
it around the time of day. The backyard
location was actually a set, built in
Mystery Mesa in Santa Clarita. Jim and
I laid it out so the sun rises over the
Mayers' house and sets over the Lodges'
house, so we could organize the shooting day around time of day, and the
backyard would feel very different in
frontlight or backlight. That informed
how those scenes felt. When we first
meet Mr. Mayers (Leith M. Burke)
when he's mowing the lawn, and when
the boys first say hello to each other, it's
bright. Having it feel that way was very
important for George. He didn't want to
give anything away.
When the bad guys show up in
the middle of the night, that was still
brightly lit. We see very clearly what's
going on, though the intent of these
guys is very obscure. Then the little kid
wakes up in the hospital and the rest of
his life becomes a complicated mess. ➣



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2017

Contents
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - Intro
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 1
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 2
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 3
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 4
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - Contents
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 6
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 7
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 8
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 9
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 10
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 11
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 12
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 13
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 14
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 15
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 16
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 17
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 18
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 19
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 20
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 21
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 22
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 23
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 24
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 25
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 26
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 27
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 28
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 29
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 30
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 31
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 32
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 33
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 34
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 35
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 36
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 37
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 38
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 39
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 40
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 41
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 42
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 43
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 44
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 45
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 46
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 47
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 48
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 49
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 50
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 51
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 52
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 53
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 54
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 55
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 56
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 57
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 58
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 59
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 60
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 61
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 62
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 63
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 64
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 65
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 66
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 67
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 68
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 69
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 70
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 71
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 72
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 73
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 74
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 75
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 76
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 77
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 78
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 79
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 80
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 81
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 82
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 83
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 84
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 85
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 86
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 87
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 88
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 89
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 90
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 91
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 92
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 93
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 94
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 95
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 96
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 97
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 98
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 99
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 100
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 101
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 102
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 103
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 104
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 105
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 106
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 107
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 108
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 109
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 110
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 111
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 112
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 113
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 114
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 115
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 116
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 117
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 118
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 119
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 120
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 121
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 122
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 123
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 124
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 125
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 126
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 127
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - 128
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - December 2017 - Cover4
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