Darius Khondji earlier work

[Joe Cage]

Hello,

I love Darius Khondji's earlier work on s7ven and the beach. I wonder how he lights stuff likes this? So it has at least 2 light sources going on with different colors. From the side it looks like a daylight fluorescent, and filled in with a over the top chinaball(warm tungsten? is there a cheap way on doing this?). How close are these lights to him? I love that the lighting is not flat and looks like it is barely hitting Leo. So wondering where the lights are positioned exactly, are they flagged off, as I cannot see any spill on the background either(big location would help offcourse).
1.

2. And what about this one, how did he do this? Looks like a soft source (fluorescent, kinoflo?) just lying on the left side of the floor? Flagged off somehow, as I like how it is shaping Leo. But it is not flattening out the whole image. and remains shadows not only on his face, body, but also on the tent. I figure If I just lay a kinoflo in a tent, the whole tent will look flat.

3. And a final one. Looks a kinoflo rim light, big soft source(nog sure how big) on the right, flagged off, as the light on the main characters is brighter then the characters on the background(not sure if they are lit with something else). It all looks so soft, but there is shadow everywhere making it still a high contrast image. I like the glossy look of the actors in this movie, maybe due to the heat and it is sweat, reflecting from the soft sources.

God I wished there was a behind the scenes video, or photo's of this movie. Or even better wish I could help out on set and witness the magic first hand

(found an interesting article ==> https://books.google.be/books?id=10...beach american cinematographer darius&f=false)

 

[Aaron Green]

He’s definitely one of my favorities of all time. Has anyone checked out Too Old To Die Young? Very painterly images. You could freeze frame anywhere in the show and it would be gorgeous enough to be the poster.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Is there a cheap way of creating a warm tungsten chinaball? Isn’t that one of the cheapest ways of lighting something?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Eyes are highly reflective so you can knock down a low fill and not have it add much exposure while still getting a glint in the eyes — plus Khondji often increased the contrast of his displayed image by using a silver process to the print or intermediate so color-correcting with more contrast will cause your shadows to drop off faster.

If Khondji used a Kinoflo on the floor for fill, I’m sure it was knocked way down, maybe with ND gel and/or heavy diffusion.

 

[Joe Cage]

Is there a cheap way of creating a warm tungsten chinaball? Isn’t that one of the cheapest ways of lighting something?

haha I only own a ikea one, but I bet it will go up in flames when I put a arri 650w in it.

 

[Joe Cage]

Eyes are highly reflective so you can knock down a low fill and not have it add much exposure while still getting a glint in the eyes — plus Khondji often increased the contrast of his displayed image by using a silver process to the print or intermediate so color-correcting with more contrast will cause your shadows to drop off faster.

If Khondji used a Kinoflo on the floor for fill, I’m sure it was knocked way down, maybe with ND gel and/or heavy diffusion.

You mean for nr2? The kinoflo is the only light there I think(so only keylight) Or do you think otherwise? (as for n1, the kino is used as rim light I think. and the china ball to fill in, just guessing here, so any tips would be welcome, I think it also comes down to the angle of lights he uses. Not sure where the lights are positioned and at what angle)

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You mean for nr2? The kinoflo is the only light there I think(so only keylight) Or do you think otherwise? (as for n1, the kino is used as rim light I think. and the china ball to fill in, just guessing here, so any tips would be welcome, I think it also comes down to the angle of lights he uses. Not sure where the lights are positioned and at what angle)

You mean the tent scene? There is a low key from the left and a low fill from the right.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

haha I only own a ikea one, but I bet it will go up in flames when I put a arri 650w in it.

if you are careful and use a porcelain socket, you can use from 100W to 500W photofloods in a paper lantern IF you are careful and turn if off between takes and not let the bulb swing around and hit the paper (using the larger paper lanterns helps). Otherwise, when you start talking about 650W quartz halogen globes or higher, you need to get something more professional like a Jemball, or Chimera Lantern, etc.

 

[Phil Holland]

David beat me to all those answers, remember a proper china ball post has a ceramic socket and there's a hole usually in the top/bottom of the lantern itself to allow heat dissipation.

But if heat is a concern near talent in tight spaces, maybe a gaffer has wrapped up some LED strips in a china ball to make something less nuclear when it's close to noggins.

 

[Joe Cage]

You mean the tent scene? There is a low key from the left and a low fill from the right.

Thx, how do you know there is small fill from the right? Based on the catchlight in his right eye? ( I read somewhere Darius uses kinoflo's right above or below his lens for fill)

 

[Patrick McGowan]

The "New Cinematographers" book you mentioned above is one of my favorites. Not sure if it's still that easy to find, but it's a great look at film cinematography written mostly in first person by the cinematographers themselves. They have great interviews with the late Harris Savides and Jean-Yves Escoffier.