seven cinematography

[Joe Cage]

Hello,

I was rewatching seven (its been a while). But how do you reckon the following was lit? What light is hitting morgan freeman in the face, its not from the practicals, but it is flagged off so good that you dont see any spill anywhere on the walls. I did something similar on the spot a year ago, was just run and gun. But this looks 10000 times better then what I came up with.
It looks like 2 practicals, and 1 hard light(or is it a soft light) hitting his face flagged off properly, and then another soft china lantern or something lighting up the room?

Especially interested in the face light.


Thanks,

[Bob Gundu]

Its no surprise that Fincher uses Kino Flos a lot.

https://ascmag.com/articles/flashback-seven-1995

[Joe Cage]

Its no surprise that Fincher uses Kino Flos a lot.

https://ascmag.com/articles/flashback-seven-1995

Do you think it was a kino lighting this face. But wrapped in a lot black wrap then? or a curtain? As there is no spill, and kinoflo's spill allover due to its size.

[Bob Gundu]

Do you think it was a kino lighting this face. But wrapped in a lot black wrap then? or a curtain? As there is no spill, and kinoflo's spill allover due to its size.

Perhaps, or any small fresnel snooted with black wrap or a leko.

[Chuks Ude]

Se7en is my favorite movie, and I loved the look of it as well. Just to add to this, there is this excerpt from the book "Conversations with Darius Khondji"

https://ascmag.com/articles/book-exc...darius-khondji

And some relevant quotes:

"Well, if you look at the interior scenes — for instance, the scenes shot inside the car — you can see that there are usually very bright exteriors and very dark interiors. That comes from Frank’s photos. What we did on Se7en was underexpose many of the interiors by two stops on a film negative that was quite contrasty. And underexposing by two stops really made the exteriors come alive, whether in the desert or the city, so that the brightness is always coming from the outside. In many of the interior scenes, there’s hardly any light except for a few fluorescents, with reflections running to your eye through all the shiny surfaces. If you look at Frank’s photos, such as the one he shot in a bar in Las Vegas, you can see the same thing. "

"Combining the warm light of Chinese lanterns with the colder light of Kino Flos was essential to the look of Se7en, and in a way they represented a crossroads for me: Kino Flos were the lights of the future, while Chinese lanterns were the lights of the past and present... It’s funny, because when you’re working on a movie like that, you don’t really know what it’s going to look like or who it’s going to interest. I mean, you see the dailies and parts of the edit, so you have a certain idea of the final result, but you’re clueless that it might be a hit. You’re just following a path — and you don’t even know if it’s the right path. You have no idea if it’s going to be influential, or anything… Even recently, I was watching the first season of True Detective and it reminded me of what we were trying to do back on Se7en. But when you’re shooting, you never think about those things. It’s only after the shoot that the film takes on a life of its own, almost as if you were never involved in it at all."

[Justin McAleece]

What an insightful quote from Darius. Thanks for sharing.

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Just rewatched Se7en last week. Really noticed how Darius played textures, often with raking light angles and dark surrounds. I thought it reflected the importance of details, which was also a story beat in Morgan Freeman's veteran detective approach to investigation vs the facile ineptitude of Brad Pitt's bull in a china shop modality.

Also noticed how pervasive the rainy exteriors were and the unrelenting portrait of decaying, vermin infested urban blight. Fincher and Khondji essentially held our faces to the dark, rancid atmosphere in which the characters were trapped. Huge props to all involved.

Cheers - #19

[Christopher S Johnson]

To answer your actual question you can see the light fall off on his shirt, and the real hint is the tip of the pillow to the right of his head (his left), it's a hard light source flagged really tightly on him. There is a 2nd hard light source coming toward camera across the bed on the left. There is also a vertical reflection on the lamp to the right, but that could just be the shape of the lamp and the source on his face.

[Joe Cage]

To answer your actual question you can see the light fall off on his shirt, and the real hint is the tip of the pillow to the right of his head (his left), it's a hard light source flagged really tightly on him. There is a 2nd hard light source coming toward camera across the bed on the left. There is also a vertical reflection on the lamp to the right, but that could just be the shape of the lamp and the source on his face.

Thanks, what kind of hard light do you think it is? Looks like it could be very valuable for my set.

[Bob Gundu]

Thanks, what kind of hard light do you think it is? Looks like it could be very valuable for my set.

A set of Dedo lights are always handy.