American Cinematographer - April 2011 - 32

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Wicked World

In this frame grab, Hanna emerges from the tunnel and finds herself in the Moroccan desert, where she falls into step with two young English tourists.

Throughout the shot, Hanna carries a kerosene lamp that was created by Nickel. “The actual wick was replaced by two thinner ones, and between the wicks we attached a socket for a 12-volt bulb,” explains the gaffer. “In the bottom of the lamp, we had to design a new kerosene tank to allow for the remote-control receiver, a dimmer and a 12-volt battery.” The crew built three of these lamps in order to avoid waiting between takes for battery replacement or wick adjustment during a long scene. To create soft “no-light” fill for 360-degree Steadicam shots in the cabin, Nickel’s crew taped tungstenbalanced LED rope lights on 4'x4' polys covered with silk and mounted under the ceiling. The two fireplaces were lit with gas and augmented by 1' and 3' flame bars with E14 or E27 frosted bulbs. Movie Intercom’s LFX Hub gave the gaslight a natural-looking flicker. The modern world intrudes on Erik and Hanna’s safe haven when the CIA launches a night raid on the cottage, complete with a helicopter. “That’s the first time we see artificial light,” notes Küchler. “Joe and I loved the idea of this fairytale cottage in the
32 April 2011

forest suddenly overwhelmed by noise and searchlights. Our keylights were two SX-16 Night Suns, 1,600-watt Xenons used for military and rescue work, that were mounted to the helicopter.”

“We wanted things to change as Hanna’s view of the world shifts from naive to nuanced.”

To create soft ambient light in the wooded, snow-covered location, Küchler’s crew set a 210' Condor about 500' from the cottage and a 150' Condor about 250' from the cottage and placed three ArriMax 18Ks through 8'x20' frames of Light Grid on
American Cinematographer

each. “We did a test/pre-light with one Condor and found we needed a bit of direct ‘spill’ from the 18Ks for the upper part of the trees, while the main part of the light had to be softened by the frames,” explains Nickel. “My guys were able to move the frames up or down, depending on the shot, using a system of ropes. “For the backgrounds, the special-effects team surrounded the cabin with a huge ring of fog tubes, and we backlit the fog with 6K HMIs hidden behind little hills or placed in holes we dug,” he continues. “For shots that didn’t include the helicopters, we also floated three 4.8K HMI balloon lights for ambience. The overall effect looks amazing.” The filmmakers had just five hours to shoot the raid, and Küchler added Sony HXR-MC1P cameras to the mix to simulate night-vision footage and maximize coverage options. (Three 35mm cameras were also used on the scene.) The digital material was later graded to resemble night-vision footage by colorist Paul Ensby at Technicolor London. Once the CIA captures Hanna, she is taken to a facility in Morocco and

American Cinematographer - April 2011

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