American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 14

Top: Miah's parents, Joe (Joseph Bottoms) and Emma (Lisa Roumain), bicker yet again. Bottom:
Cinematographer Michael Helenek (far right) checks the lighting and composition on a rehearsal day.

ing," says Helenek, who thanks Cinelease
for providing more than 50 lights, nearly all
of which were rigged. The primary overhead units were Arrilite 750s. "Since it's an
open-face fixture, it has a beam spread that
fills its attached Chimera," he says.
Lighting from above prompted
Helenek to frame for a 2.39:1 aspect ratio.
"The ratio was chosen for stylistic and
compositional reasons," he says, "but also
out of necessity. Because of the lights in the
ceiling, we needed a very horizontal aspect
ratio."
14

July 2016

Necessity also drove Helenek to
shoot at a T5.6. "Miah was running and our
blocking marks couldn't always be placed or
seen very well," he explains. "Oftentimes
there was a wall between the Teradek transmitter [on the camera] and the receiver that
our first AC, Alex Grossfeld, was using. The
T5.6 didn't make [maintaining focus] easy,
but it gave us a cushion in some tight spots
- and the greater depth of field worked
stylistically, as well. We had a few compositions with Miah's parents [Joseph Bottoms
and Lisa Roumain], where the greater depth
American Cinematographer

of field allowed us to see both of them
clearly."
Helenek and his crew blacked and
tented the windows, where a few moonlight and streetlamp units were placed.
"Inside the tents that covered our downstairs windows, we placed Kino Flos to
create moonlight glow, a Martin Atomic
3000 to create lightning effects, and a 1K
Fresnel with yellow gel to create an abstract
streetlight," Helenek relates. Inside the
house, for the scene when Miah descends
the stairs, the production utilized fabric
grids of 20, 30 and 40 degrees on the
Chimeras for light control and to create a
dark, moody feeling. "These grids also
prevented Eddie and Slim Jim from having
to rig solids off the wall spreaders, which
were already near capacity in terms of
weight," the cinematographer adds.
The fantasy element of Monster in a
House takes flight in scenes set in the
garage and kitchen, the latter of which Dias
describes as "a nighttime jungle." For the
kitchen, Helenek and his crew built a large
soft box over the area that Miah explores;
three 8' single 5,500K Kino Flo tubes
filtered with 1⁄2 CTO were rigged above an
8'x8' skirted Full Grid frame set 2' over the
girl's head. "The massive source wrapped
beautifully around Miah's face, since she
was so close to it," says Helenek. "It also
provided a general ambient light." A K5600
Joker 800 through a cucoloris and Half
White diffusion provided the backlight.
In the garage, Helenek wanted a



American Cinematographer - July 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2016

Contents
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Intro
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 1
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 2
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 3
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 4
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Contents
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 6
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 7
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 8
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 9
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 10
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 11
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 12
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 13
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 14
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 15
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 16
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 17
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 18
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 19
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 20
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 21
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 22
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 23
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 24
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 25
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 26
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 27
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 28
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 29
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 30
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 31
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 32
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 33
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 34
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 35
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 36
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 37
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 38
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 39
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 40
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 41
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 42
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 43
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 44
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 45
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 46
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 47
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 48
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 49
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 50
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 51
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 52
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 53
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 54
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 55
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 56
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 57
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 58
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 59
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 60
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 61
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 62
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 63
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 64
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 65
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 66
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 67
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 68
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 69
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 70
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 71
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 72
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 73
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 74
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 75
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 76
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 77
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 78
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 79
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 80
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 81
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 82
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 83
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 84
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 85
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 86
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 87
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - 88
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - July 2016 - Cover4
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