American Cinematographer - April 2018 - 72

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The Never-Ending Story
Right: Sitting on
the couch in her
townhouse, Anna
catches up with
her daughter, Dr.
Robin ScorpioDrake (Kimberly
McCullough), who
is in town for a
funeral. Below: In
1985, Robert
Scorpio (Tristan
Rogers, right)
learns from his
ex-wife, Anna,
that Robin is his
daughter.

over again until all the sets are done."
The nurses' station is the only
permanent set on stage. There is an estimated total of 200 sets that rotate in and
out of the stage's remaining space.
Depending on the scenes planned, the
number of sets prepared for a single day
of shooting range from two or three to
12 or 13.
Three days a week, construction
crews come in at night, along with the
electrical crew. Some of the sets, like
Kelly's Diner and the Quartermaine
mansion, have been a part of the show
for decades - and have been built to be
reassembled quickly - while others are
created for limited-time use. The latter
72

April 2018

tend to incorporate materials repurposed
from previous sets, and might only stick
around long enough to complete a storyline. The location of each set is arranged
to maximize stage space. Sets are sometimes built in a condensed version.
"Shooting order is determined by degree
of difficulty of scenes and cast requirements," Barrows notes.
For each set, "the head electrician
draws a lighting plot as instructed and
designed by the lighting director of the
day," Steib says. This plot notes the
channel of each fixture, and is later
referenced during recording. There are
no permanent lighting designs for the
individual sets because they are continAmerican Cinematographer

uously placed in different areas on the
stage and are subject to varying storybased requirements.
"All standard rotating sets have a
basic 'look,'" Bessoir says, "but that can
change [based on] the type of story we
are telling - time of day, dramatic situation, or camera or actor movement. If
[the script calls for a] blackout on the
show - or a fire! - the source will
change."
Since the job requires a 20-hour
workday, the lighting directors rotate, but
they do communicate with each other
when necessary.
"Communication between the
lighting directors is important for continuity, especially when we are establishing
a new set," Mohr says. "The lighting and
colors on a set can look vastly different in
person than they do on camera, and since
we set up the lights hours before the
cameras are brought in, it is important
that we communicate with each other in
regard to what we tried out, so together
we can produce the right look and feel
for a set."
When Mohr has the opportunity
to establish a set, she uses her background in theatrical lighting as her main
inspiration. Her love of horror, science
fiction and silent films influence her
lighting designs as well. "I borrow a lot of
lighting looks from The X-Files," Mohr
relates. "When we had to light the set of
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2018
