American Cinematographer - May 1933 - 14

May 1933 *

Some Don t/
But/ I Like
Light Sets
by
George Folsey, A.S.C.

LIKE light sets. Some cinematographers don't, I realize;
but I have just finished two successive productions-
"Looking Forward" and "Reunion in Vienna"-in which
a majority of the settings were either pure white or creamcolored.
Not only did these unusually light-colored set¬
tings fail to give me trouble, but they actually helped me
to turn out some of the most effectively photographed
scenes I have ever made.
Perhaps I should qualify my original statement to a cer¬
tain extent, however, for there are two conditions which
must always apply if one is to do good work on any sets
-especially light toned ones: the art-director must know
his business, and so must the laboratory.
You've got to
(Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles to be
written bv leading cinematographers of their photographic likes,
dislikes and reasons for them.)

American Cinematographer

have the proper material to work with, in the first place,
and definite assurance that your work won't be mishandled
in the laboratory.
At the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio,
I found that Cedric Gibbons and his associates in the Art
Department most certainly knew how to design sets that
are, as they say in Europe, "photogenic"; and John Nickolaus and his laboratory know their end of the work so well
that you can go home at night secure in the knowledge that
"Nick" will make the day's work even better than you
expect it to be. So, as I said before, I like light sets.
Don't misinterpret this-working on light-colored sets
isn't easy; you've got to be on your toes every second.
You've got to know lighting, and demonstrate that knowl¬
edge in every shot, for light sets are primarily a problem in
lighting. But the results can be such as to make this added
effort decidedly worthwhile; you can achieve a new beauty,
greater delicacy of gradation, more effective compositions
and lightings, and in a word, express yourself more
thoroughly, on light sets.
When working on light-colored sets, you must pay un¬
usually close attention to lighting both set and players, not
merely well enough to make an exposure that shows set
and people tolerably, but to use the magic of light, shadow
and half-tone to paint a picture on your film.
Working
on the usual run of sets, painted in darker shades which
photograph in a range of the darker half-tones, set-light¬
ing will almost take care of itself. You will usually have
something-panelling, drapes, or chromatic variations, which
will (if properly designed) give you the patterns you desire
almost without the aid of your lighting. But on extremely
light sets-especially the modernistic ones-you are almost
sure to have large expanses of unadorned wall, which you
must decorate with light and shade. Therefore, the first
step in lighting such a set is to take advantage of everyContinued on Page 36

One of the
ion

light toned

Vienna"

tive set lighting.

showing

sets

from

Folsey's

"Reun¬
decora¬

American Cinematographer - May 1933

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