American Cinematographer - November 1988 - 60

of the back wall.
Unlike many cinematographers,
Kovacs doesn't use lens filters. "I've tried all
those trendy diffusing materials, and I've
arrived at the conclusion that whatever you
use in front of the lens is going to down¬

ent T stops, in this case 60 footcandles for a
T 2.8. Similar tests for 5294 yielded a two

grade the image. With a filter, you are
getting softness at the expense of the
clarity and definition of the composition. To
create the highest quality picture on the
screen, you have to use the most important
features of the lens: sharpness, resolution
and depth of field.
"I have used an 'open' lens in my
last four or five pictures. It's a very common

source to establish the footcandle level, and
then sets the other lights by eye. "I always

occurrence for the actors on the set to use
the filter in the matte box as a kind of mirror,
to comb their hair and adjust their make-up.
These days they're very disappointed, and

they ask me 'Where's the mirror you used to
have there?'. My answer is 'Sorry, but we
don't use those mirrors anymore.' I believe in
creating the softness you want with light¬
ing, while retaining a crisp, sharp image."
Kovacs stresses that "the diffi¬

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culty lies in controlling soft light, so that it
only goes where you want it to go." During
the workshop, "egg crate" barndoors, solid
flags, and four by four frames with Vinylite
diffusion were used to direct and modulate
the soft lights. Kovacs chose Vinylite diffu¬
sion because it transmits more light than
other materials, like "216" tracing paper,
which would have required a stronger light
source to arrive at the same intensity.
Kovacs also used a four by eight

piece of black foam core positioned above
the camera as a "negative fill". He explained
that negative fill is a way to cut off un¬
wanted light. In this case the foam core
blocks the light bouncing off the stage wall
from the actors, while its black surface

"protects the dark shadows in the
foreground."
Kovacs chose to shoot the
with Eastman Kodak 5247 film at
ture of T 2.8.

an

scene

aper¬

"I've been

exposure system

using the same
for a long time, ever since

the introduction of the 10 to 1 zoom lens,
which was limited to a four stop. I didn't
want to

light interiors for a faster, prime

lens, because the director might call for the
zoom, and then I'd have to boost the lighting
another stop, which creates instant mad¬
ness on the set. So I figured out my ideal
footcandle level for 5247 at
Kovacs made

a

a T 4."
series of tests

bracketing the light level with a fixed aper¬
ture of T

4, and arrived at his desired

stop increase in the relationship of aperture
to footcandles.

meter,

Kovacs favors an incident light
points the meter at the key light

pre-determine the stop and maintain it for
shot in the scene. When you change
the stop during a scene, a lot of the
ambiance is changed, the film starts reading
things that weren't there at the other T stop,
every

and vice versa."
"I always consider depth of field
and the performance of the lens. A lens has
a certain stop where it performs the best. I
would never go lower than a T 2.5, and I
would never go above an 11. I rarely use

ultra-speed prime lenses, they're just for
emergencies."
Kovacs used half CTO (color tem¬
perature orange) gel on all the lights in the
workshop scene to give a "subtle indication
of the color temperature of candlelight. By
leaving a CTO gel on the outside spot I was
also demonstrating that no matter what the
color of the light is, if it's hot enough
become white on the screen."

Kovacs underlined the impor¬
good relationship with the lab. For
this scene he sought out Rob Hummel at
tance of a

Technicolor, and told him of the look he was

seeking. "The lights I have for this scene are
perfect. Just slightly above the mid-thirties.
A slightly heavier negative allows you to
print better blacks."
Kovacs concluded that "cine¬

matography involves controlling all aspects
of the image, establishing the moods and
drama of your scenes, and being in total
sync with the director. Once you know what
the director wants, you must take control of
the look of the film and maintain it all the

He added that a good cinema¬
tographer matches the mental plan he has
for a scene with the available daylight, time,
manpower and equipment.

way through."

Asked what advice he would

give aspiring cinematographers, Kovacs
replied: "Cinematography is not a hobby.
Some people are attracted to cinematogra¬
phy because it seems like fun. That's not
good enough. You have to be totally involved
in understanding what lighting is, in observ¬
ing light. You must be able to control light on
the set." He added, "hang in there, follow
your dream until it happens. Just follow that
dream."
At press time, Kovacs was
feature called Say Anything with

negative density with a key illumination of
120 footcandles. Then he made up a simple

finishing

table

director Cameron Crowe.

maintaining this relationship for differ¬

November 1988

it will

a

A
American Cinematographer - November 1988

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