American Cinematographer - March 2009 - 32

Cutting-Edge Camerawork Left: Dexter uses a mannequin to test the bloodspattering properties of a rather blunt weapon. Right: Tirone captures the grisly scene with his camera under wraps. in the center of the room, bound with strips of plastic. Two Source Four Pars shine down from above on the plastic-wrapped victim, and that light bounces around the room. I’ll let the exposure blow out a little to obscure any nudity. There’s no separate light on Dexter; when he leans in close to the victim’s face, he’s lit by the light bouncing off the plastic encasing his prey. When he stands up, he’s in the toplight that gives him that sinister look. “We use two hardware-store clip lights as practicals in the room. One is on the display Dexter wants his victim to see — usually photos of the people that person has harmed — and the other is shining on Dexter’s tools. When he picks up a knife, he’s lit by the light reflecting off the blade. “Because HD really reads into the darkness, I can light large spaces like the kill room with small units. And because the plastic sheeting obscures whatever is behind it, I can scatter practical lights around, which enhances the depth of the set. We typically shoot kill scenes with one camera and go handheld, which, in conjunction with the overhead lighting, allows us to do 360-degree moves. “The police station is one of our permanent sets, and before they started building it, I was able to give the art department my specs for the floor. I wanted it to be smooth enough to dolly on without having to lay dolly tracks or put down a dance floor. Sometimes we’ll shoot three different scenes in one long, rolling master; depending on how far around we’re going, we’ll use either a Steadicam or a dolly. We might start on a wide shot, then move into the over of one scene, and then maybe a character will start walking away and we’ll push back and reveal the master of the next conversation. We’ll push into the over of that and then follow an extra walking in the background, then pan right and find someone else at his desk. Then we go back and pick up the other side of all the conversations. We have to get through seven to nine pages a day, and this strategy saves us a lot of time. “A 60-foot-wide day/night TransLite appears in most of the shots in the police station. For day scenes, the backing is lit from the front by Skypans and cyc strips, and for night scenes, it’s lit from behind with Skypans and Source Four Lekos that we gel with different colors to give the buildings more of a Miami flavor — whole buildings are hot pink or neon purple. To add to the realism, we poke small, single LED lights through the backdrop to suggest flashing lights on top of buildings and construction cranes. We’re always adding to the backdrop. We’ve even added rope lights programmed in a chase sequence to suggest traffic on a causeway off in the distance. “The house where Dexter’s girlfriend, Rita, lives, is also a permanent set. We put 10Ks through the windows and supplement with Source Four Pars on stands to intensify the feel of sunlight bouncing around the room. We also have 2K and 5K soft boxes above the set — using either Lee 129 or light grid cloth — and both of them give a really beautiful, soft light. Additionally, we’ll tape pieces of unbleached muslin to the floor and bounce lights off them. “Most of the sets have floating ceiling pieces that can come and go; Jason Hodges, my key grip, devised the system that has all the ceiling pieces hanging from the perms. Depending on what we’ll see in the shot, we’ll bring down half a ceiling or even something as small as a trian- 32 March 2009

American Cinematographer - March 2009

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