American Cinematographer - October 1989 - 74

learned that the contrast will be differ¬
ent with the same

lighting at different
laboratories. You have to get to know
your lab."
The results of these tests pro¬
vide Elmes with a scale of lighting ratios
to use as a mental reference when he is

lighting a scene. "Basically I set the lights
by eye, but I know what 5:1 will look like,
or 10:1, or whatever, because I know
what the lab will deliver. Sometimes I
will start by setting up a lighting ratio,
and then alter it until the contrast looks

right.
"It has to do with

stopping to
really viewing it
through the viewfinder and really seeing.
You do it by eye, and you fall back on
look at the scene,

instinct,

all those situations when

you've done it before, and you saw the
dailies and it worked out. The quality of
the light really determines the kind of
mood that the photography has. And
that's where I start, I try to say 'this scene
requires this kind of feeling, in the con¬
text of the whole story', and then I fig¬
ure out how to go about making it feel
that way."
For the workshop scene, Elmes
told his audience that "somewhere in
between 5:1 and 10:1 is probably the best
ratio. The thing to look at really is the

slow stock for an interior. "Most of Blue
Velvet was shot with 47. I think it's a
wonderful stock for almost any situation.
It has lots of latitude, it's very sharp and
I'm accustomed to the way it renders
color. I think it looks great at night, but it
becomes a technical problem of how
much light you can afford to put on the
scene. The number of lights needed, or
the time ittakes to set them, might make
it impractical to light a night exterior. It
used to be done all the time, cinematog¬

difference that the ratio makes in the
mood of the scene." He notes that the
amount of detail in the faces is crucial to
the mood. "If it's printed correctly, you'll
still see detail in their faces with the 10:1,
and the 5:1 is a little brighter."
Elmes is reluctant to explicate
the exact mood set by the fill light: "ulti¬

mately it's the script and the actors that
story." He likes to compare the
role of the cinematography of a film to

tell the

score. For Elmes,
music and lighting "both work in service
to the story, and both evoke very direct
emotional responses from viewers. Light¬

that of the musical

raphers used to have to use a lot more
lights. We can get similar results with

arc

the other stocks available now, but noth¬

ing's quite like '47."

ing is connected with the emotions.
no separating them. When I view

Elmes concludes by offering
advice to aspiring cinematographers:
"shoot the films that you care about,
because those are the ones where you'll
do the best job. Even though you may not
be paid much, or be paid anything at all,
if you are commited to a film because you
love the story, or feel that you'll learn
from it, you'll do your best work. Cinema¬

There is

whether it's in a movie or real
life, I'm affected emotionally by the feel¬
ing of the light. It just does that to me.

a scene,

Part of the knack of

being a good cine¬
matographer, composer or director is to
know what to

use

and when. Sometimes

I think that photography has to

stand back

and let the music manipulate the emo¬
tions. And sometimes there's no place for

music, but there's
audience

on an

a way

to take the

emotional

journey with

tography is a lot of hard work, but it's a
real joy to do. For me, cinematography
means being involved on some level in
telling a story. For someone else it might
be something different. The important
thing is that you need to feel commited
to it, you need to really want to do it." A

the visuals."
Elmes shot the workshop
scene with a Panavision 27mm Primo
lens and used Eastman Kodak 5247, a

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7J

4
Governor

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Mary Pignalberi, Coordinator, 3601 "C" Street, Suite 722, Anchorage, Alaska 99503, or call (907) 563-2167
For a copy of our film

rVCr"

American Cinematographer - October 1989

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