American Cinematographer - August 2017 - 46

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Classic Hollywood

A Steadicam is employed for a musical sequence.

many of our other lighting instruments
were LED. We had everything from
Arri SkyPanel S60s and S30s to
LiteGear LiteTile LiteBoxes rigged on
our sets, and our floor package was
mostly SkyPanels, LiteMats, Arri LSeries Fresnels and ETC Source Four
LEDs. We chose those instruments not
only for their quality of light, but also
their ability to quickly adjust color and
intensity. All of these fixtures are bicolor, if not also RGB mixing. As much
as possible, we gave control of all these
fixtures to our lighting-console
programmer, Richard Rasmussen, via
wireless DMX Cintennas."
Kaat adds that the tools the crew
employed aided Moder in his desire to
bring more nuanced lighting than a TV
schedule might ordinarily permit.
"These choices allowed us to work
quickly and precisely," the gaffer notes.
"We could have an average-sized crew
working quickly on a very detailed lighting setup, knowing that Danny and I
could make our final adjustments to
color and intensity from the monitor,
without needing electricians and grips
to add gel or scrims in the final
moments before the cameras rolled."
Moder shares Kaat's enthusiasm
for LED equipment, adding that his
favorite piece of gear is the LED Jem
Ball. "It's just a nice, soft orb that can go
in a lot of places," he says. "It really
46

August 2017

allows people to get in and out of the
space, and not have a push of light in
one direction. It comes on and hauls off
easily, and actors - especially the ones
who aren't that young anymore - love
how it makes them look."
Moder and Kaat both note the
contributions of the grip and electric
rigging crews, whose system for
prelighting the sets provided an infrastructure for expansion. "I can't say
enough about the confidence and security I had with my riggers, Mike
Bonnaud for gaffing and Larry
Edwards as rigging grip," Moder
enthuses. "They had intuition for my
style and gave us great options and an
excellent foundation to keep moving
forward."
The trickiest part, from Kaat's
point of view, came when the production left the lot for sensitive location
work. "Many of our locations were
protected because of their history and
age," Kaat explains. "That made rigging
and prelighting more difficult, but our
production designer and set dressers
helped us when they could - and
Danny, our directors and camera operators helped us when we couldn't find any
places to hide our equipment."
Moder notes, "Adding to the
sensitivity of the historic locations was
our need for visual effects to simplify the
landscapes back to 1936. John Heller at
American Cinematographer

[FuseFX] had a growing list every day
and the results are gorgeous. He was onset whenever we needed a bit of guidance to make both of our jobs easier, or
on the phone if something came up."
Key grip Pat O'Mara recalls a
party scene shot at Greystone Mansion
in Beverly Hills, Calif. "No rigging
could touch any part of the ceiling or
walls," he describes. "My key rigger,
Larry Edwards, installed a freestanding
truss that spanned the enormous room,
enabling us to light from above."
O'Mara adds that Max Menace Arms
were a frequently used tool for difficultto-reach lighting. "I also introduced
Danny to 6-by-8 and 8-by-8 frameless
Wag Flags we've had made in every
diffusion possible," he says. "It's a very
unobtrusive way to diffuse light without
all of the extra hardware and stands."
O'Mara notes that Moder and
the rest of the crew developed a shorthand on set. "It's always important for
me to stay 10 steps ahead of the game
plan, especially when dealing with a new
set, a new location or a major rig," he
says. "The working relationship with
Danny and Nick, whom I worked with
closely on each lighting setup, was pretty
seamless."
"We fell into a groove early in the
series," Kaat concurs. "On the first
episode, it felt like we were already
clicking. Danny always knew the mood
and time of day he wanted to convey,
and that gave us a solid jumping-off
point. Sometimes Danny knew exactly
what he wanted the lighting to be, and
it was my job to work with Pat to get it
there. Other times he would only have a
feeling and I would pitch him ideas
until something clicked. Sometimes we
would build on the ideas he had and
sometimes he would build on ours, but
it was always in service to the story and
style of the show."
That style, according to Moder,
relies on a kind of restrained elegance
evocative of the Sidney Lumet movies
that he and Ray saw as models for their
previous collaboration. "Those strong
frames, with a lot of depth and clarity,
really resonate with me," Moder says.

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