Focus on Lighting Archives - British Cinematographer

Ross Riege / The Afterparty S2

LIGHT OF THE PARTY Production name: The Afterparty S2 Production type: Television series Cinematographer: Ross Riege Gaffer/chief lighting technician: Cameron Smith Director: Various Overview of The Afterparty and your approach to lighting: The series is a ‘Rashomon’-style murder mystery, retelling the same sequence of events from a different character’s perspective on an episode-by-episode basis. Each episode has a specific … Read more

Nicole Hirsch Whitaker ASC / One Piece

VOYAGE OF ADVENTURE Production name: One Piece Production type: TV series Cinematographer: Nicole Hirsch Whitaker ASC (episodes one and two) Gaffer: Wiseman Dinizulu Director: Marc Jobst Overview of the production and what was the visual approach you adopted in terms of lighting: Marc and I met on a previous Netflix show, Jupiter’s Legacy, where we found a really similar … Read more

Mina Stollery / Dope Queens

BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL Production name: Dope Queens Production type: Narrative feature Cinematographer: Madeline Leach Chief lighting technician (CLT): Mina Stollery Director: Grafton Doyle Overview of Dope Queens and your approach to lighting: Dope Queens follows three friends over the course of one wild night on the famously gritty streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. Madeline and I agreed that … Read more

Lightsource: And then there was light

Light Source Film is a beacon of transformation that has evolved far beyond its humble beginnings just over a decade ago.  The brainchild of lighting technician Aaron Keating, Light Source Film was originally set up as a portal to help qualified and sometimes overlooked sparks to showcase their talents. In other words, it aimed to … Read more

ICLS: The new power brokers

Newly formed lighting society ICLS has some definite ideas of how its industry represents itself and is using its status to push reform. The recent pandemic affected everyone in different ways. One positive outcome was the formation of the International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS), which provided a platform for international lighting professionals to connect and … Read more

Innovate to illuminate

A close-up look at the latest lighting trends. The first thing that gaffer Julian White brings up is that, despite the fanfare still surrounding new releases, LED lights are no longer a new technology. “The first time I used an LED battery light was probably at least 13 years ago. The Asteras were one thing, … Read more

Shining a light on the virtual world

The question of whether a virtual production stage’s videowall counts as a lighting device is still vexed, even as the technique in general becomes a comfortable part of the mainstream. One of the people who is perhaps best placed to address the issue of lighting for virtual production is Markus Förderer ASC BVK, cinematographer on … Read more

Blast from the past

DP Hamish Doyne-Ditmas reflects on the fixtures of yore and how filmmakers can pair classic techniques with modern technology. Film and television is an unusual art form in that much of the most respected work has been done with tools which are now only in use when people make a special effort. That’s a factor … Read more

Naturally illuminating

Beautiful but fleeting, natural light often presents DPs and gaffers with their greatest challenges. “Natural light is interesting because you can’t really control it,” states Roger Simonsz BSC. “You have to remain very flexible.” Simonsz prefers not to use artificial lighting for day exteriors. “I’ve always tried to work with reflectors and diffusers… for the … Read more

Seeing green

Sustainability must be factored into all aspects of a production from the outset, from environmentally friendly ways to light a show through to finding greener ways to travel. Some of the things a film or television production can do to improve its sustainability are popular with the production office. Less diesel burned means both less … Read more

Get creative

There’s a certain subset of lighting techniques that film schools can’t teach. Cinematographer Owen McPolin ISC sheds some light on the creative thinking and resulting methods used when illuminating spaces. Even the highest-end shows will eventually present a camera team with problems which require a solution nobody has ever used before. Owen McPolin ISC has … Read more

Inside the gaffer’s toolbox

From RGBW LEDs to traditional tungsten, from wireless consoles to simple textiles, the tools of the lighting department are many and varied. A range of working gaffers share their must-haves and go-to items with us. “Keep it simple,” is Julian White’s advice. “Less is more, because if there are less things to work with there … Read more

Lighting deep dive

Pete Romano ASC explores the tech milestones and lighting kit developments that have impacted his work as a specialist in underwater shooting. Working underwater combines several tricky factors. There’s often no, or less, natural light, space fades to blue over quite short distances even when it’s spotlessly clean, and taking lighting down there is, well, … Read more

Practicals make perfect

Sources that appear in frame are an important part of a DP’s palette, but balancing the light is an artform in itself. When it comes to practicals, collaboration between the cinematographer and the art department begins early. “It starts in pre-production when we are looking at locations or talking about sets that are going to … Read more

Lights out

The quality and efficiency of studio lights may have improved since Hollywood’s golden era, but safety remains non-negotiable. The tragic and untimely death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the injury to director Joel Souza after a gun was mistakenly discharged by Alec Baldwin during the making of Rust in 2021 brought on-set safety back into … Read more

Bright ideas

Gaffers Carolina Schmidtholstein and John ‘Biggles’ Higgins take us on a guided tour of how they approached lighting productions of various genres and sizes with creativity and originality to realise the director and cinematographer’s visions. Camera departments constantly juggle a thousand challenges, but there’s one goal that’s almost universally sought, but rarely discussed in isolation: … Read more

Scaling the ladder

There remains no set route into film and TV production, especially in the craft grades. Looked at one way that means you can enter the industry from pretty much any angle, but those wanting to build a career in lighting will find many barriers in their path. “There are lots of people who love movie … Read more

Perfect pairings

The DP/gaffer relationship is one of the most crucial yet arguably one of the least recognised collaborations in filmmaking. More than an expert technician, the gaffer helps the DP to turn the director’s vision into reality. “They are a partner in crime,” says Greig Fraser ASC ACS, who worked with gaffer Perry Evans on projects … Read more

Bright future

The last decade has seen incredible developments in the field of lighting thanks to the constant pursuit of power and sophistication. When things move as fast as lighting recently has, it’s easy to feel almost ambushed by change. That’s something people feel keenly in an industry which expects them to maintain an intimate familiarity with … Read more

A VELVET touch

VELVET introduces two new fixtures this September to join it KOSMOS series of unique LED Fresnels. VELVET has been a reference for LED lighting in cinema since two Spanish DPs (Javier Valderrama and Toni Hernandez) founded the company in 2008 in order to work with the light they dreamed of. VELVET has the best lumen/watt … Read more