Capture : Cinema

THE GOAL

Ok so here we have the reverse of my previous post.  Here we have the incredibly talented Geoffrey Rush playing Eric Bana’s superior in Munich.  This shot is an excellent use of lighting design.  Though I’m focusing on the closeups as my goal in lighting I do want to post a larger wide of the room to see what Kaminski and Bauman were planning with this scene:

So Rush and Bana (I’ll use their real names) are in the intelligence offices,  not a bad environment to work in I must say.  Israeli intelligence must have some creative types designing their offices…  

Anyhow I digress….  Here we have Bana questioning his role in all this violence.   One might look at this scene and assume its all lit the same.  The characters have the same lighting on them.  Badda-bing, badda-boom its a done deal.  But not for Kaminski.  He’s carefully designed a lighting setup that fits the emotion of the characters.  Rush is lit “normal”.  He’s at the table, under the lights and hes lit in a very soft flattering way.  Bana, on the other hand is very different for his closeup. (see post Munich 46).  This is a great example of how you think the lighting would be the same, but it can be changed very effectively to tell the story.  We the audience clue in with the fact that Bana and Rush are not on the same page as characters.  Their lighting design reflects it.  

THE SETUP

I’m willing to bet he used Kino Flos to light Rush for this reverse.  I’ll be substituting Rosco litepads.  Not a bad value for the kit.  They work very similar to litepanels, but at a smaller cost.  Jeremiah and I decided the do a great job, but may not hold up in the field.   For studio work to do talking heads, they have been great! 

THE ACQUISITION

Here we go.  Straight out of the camera.  My buddy Jace was kind enough to sit in and play Geoffrey Rush for the day!  Keep in mind this is the flat looking Technicolor cinestyle.  You can definitely see the reflection in his glasses are 2 litepads instead of one 4x4 kino bank.  Also Jace’s skin is less weathered and aged than that of Mr. Rushes.  Maybe something to keep in mind for a shot like this?    One thing Jeremiah and I agreed was that we botched the lighting on his shoulder and shirt.  Geoffreys is definitely hotter on the top of his shoulders and then the rest of his shirt bleeds off to a nice dark.  Possibly this was achieved by barndooring up the Kino in front of Mr. Rush?  In ours, Jace is completely washed out in front and I feel like theres a lot of dead space with his bright shirt being relatively the same tones as his face.  Too much of the same thing going on.  

THE GRADED FINAL

Here’s the final with our crushed blacks and all.  Jace’s shirt was not blue so that throws you off a bit.   I’m happy with the how the Rosco Litpads perform softness on his face.  The shadows look very similar to me.  I cant help but to be bugged by Jace’s shirt being so bright.  Definitely need to flag that off next time or if we had Kino’s barn door that up (or both).  Also, I can’t help but love the richness that film produces.  As good as HD video is, it just doesn’t have that feel of film on Geoffrey Rush’s face.  So far I haven’t been able to figure out that ever elusive, Shangri-la of HD video shooters: the “film-look”.   I feel good about the placement, but can’t say we nailed it on this one.  Oh well, theres always next week…