American Cinematographer - December 2013 - 80

◗

Grand Battles

Top: Thor looks
out over Asgard.
Middle: Actors
and crew
prepare to shoot
in the exterior
set for Asgard's
courtyard
training
grounds.
Bottom: A closer
look at the set.

Morgenthau wanted a soft source.
When lighting the actors in the foreground, the cinematographer often
opted for big soft sources that gave a
"sourceless" feel. "For the most part, the
light was gentle on faces but not so
gentle on the environments," he says. "I
like violent extremes in contrast.
Sometimes a cleanly lit face can pop out
more against a chiaroscuro background."
A common portrait technique for
Morgenthau was the book light: a 5K,
10K or 20K bouncing off muslin before
going through Full Grid diffusion.
"When you use muslin as a bounce, it's
best to put an UltraBounce on the frame
first, and then cover it with the muslin,"
notes Higgins. "That way you're getting
the color of the muslin with a bit more
reflectivity."
Morgenthau says other portrait
techniques included "48-inch China
balls behind Full Grid," and also two
large Chimera Octadomes punched
into 12'x12' Grid Cloth frames. "That
became the big soft source," he says.
"You can fade them up and down if you
have any flicker. I used those a lot." The
Octadome, Higgins explains, is an
octagonal soft light "with a very small
front-to-back footprint. You can
squeeze it into a corner or hang it from
above. It comes with an eggcrate and
80

December 2013

American Cinematographer



American Cinematographer - December 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2013

Contents
American Cinematographer - December 2013 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - December 2013 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - December 2013 - Contents
American Cinematographer - December 2013 - 2
American Cinematographer - December 2013 - 3
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American Cinematographer - December 2013 - S-1
American Cinematographer - December 2013 - S-2
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American Cinematographer - December 2013 - S-11
American Cinematographer - December 2013 - S-12
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