American Cinematographer - November 1990 - 29

don't do to make

of himself. He used the

ture." Don

very creative ways; like having
the light streaming though levelor
blinds to create slashes of light
across faces. That's a
very creative

a
pretty pic¬
Johnson's character,
Harry Maddox, is always sweat¬
ing, his makeup base was shiny to

make

sure he never looked
dry.
Steiger played with that by giving
Johnson back light on the cheek.
He also used the hard light com¬
ing through interior windows to

glass in

step and part of what made this
so exciting."
While shooting scenes inside
local bank, Steiger noticed light

project
a

create harsh shadows. "There is

moving across the wall. He inves¬

always a contrast between strong
light and dark shadow, so much
so that sometimes
people are
completely in the shade. I carried
that concept so far that I got quite

tigated, and discovered the

nervous

in dailies. But it worked."
There were plenty of

challenges

on Hot Spot, any one
of which could make a camera¬
man

nervous,

right time

-

and created it

our¬
very hard
by having some¬

selves." The Xenon is
source

light, and

a

pan around the actual win¬
dow which was creating "the
weird shadows, we got whole
scenes with reflections
passing
one

through in this manner. It sounds

sun,
reflected in windshields of pass¬
ing cars, was coming through the
Venetian blinds and onto the back
wall of the manager's office. "I

thought, great, let's use that idea,
so we
put up our Xenon lamp -
because

we

couldn't count

on

having that effect occur just at the

Opposite

page:
The filmmakers

like Hopper's

brainstorm: a"fishbowl effect"
created by glassed-in office cu¬
bicles that surround the used car
lot where Maddox works. "The
idea was that everyone in the
scene could watch
everyone else."

sort of silly, but
when I
see

Maddox, who works in the car lot,

the scene. Den¬
nis liked it too."
There was
no
cohesive

something

I

like, I want to
it and add
to the mood of

use

watch his two love interests
Gloria (Jennifer Connelly),
who works in one of the cubicles,
and Dolly Harshaw (Virginia
can

-

lighting style
for Hot Spot.

Madsen), when she drives by in

The different
characters and

her pink '59 Cadillac - as all the
time the car lot owner, George
Harshaw (Jerry Hardin), Dolly's

instilled a '50s
flavor to the

Above: Cinema¬

tographer Ueli
Steiger (in red).
Left: Flame bars

provided drama
while preserving
a

local monument.

Below: In the

deep background,
gelled Musco
light lends eerie
atmosphere to a
a

broken down

shed.

husband, watches him.

Shooting against reflect¬
ing glass is a tough call for a cine¬
matographer but Steiger took the
challenge. "It was difficult," he
admits, "because we couldn't put

lights in the interiors - they'd
reflect. Every window was a mir¬
ror, no matter which way the light
was pointed." His key grip, Brian
Reynolds, had a hard time "with
the sun and light together, with all
the reflections popping up, and
light reflected in three different
angles." However problematic,
the scene also gave Steiger "an
incredible opportunity to work
with reflections. Mirrors," he

adds, "are

a

wealth of visual po¬

tential."
Art director

John Fricke

marveled at the "fishbowl"

scene

when he saw the dailies: "I don't
know how in the world Ueli got

that shot without taking a

picture

November 1990

American

Cinematographer

con¬

temporary story.

27
American Cinematographer - November 1990

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