President’s Desk — October 2024

This issue’s focus on lighting has me thinking limitlessly about light’s contribution to the telling of a film’s story. As a community, we appreciate the nuance that a subtle and natural light can produce — even while cutting all ties to realism — and we can boldly photograph a story by paying attention to light’s energy and how it merges (or refuses to merge) with characters.

Light can do more than that, though. On set, light can have a presence that affects the set itself. Two years ago, I shot the miniseries Boundless, which tells the story — in native languages — of Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the earth. We shot all of our ocean-going scenes on stage in Madrid. Because we had total control of our lighting, we mostly shot in script order. After finishing an intense storm scene, our ship set was drenched and our actors and crew were soaked to the skin. The next setup was an aftermath scene, during which the clouds parted and sunlight poured in, changing the set dramatically. When we typed in the pre-programmed lighting cue for the post-storm scene, the entire mood on our stage changed. The set started to steam a little, and the director and actors all commented on how the scene felt like we had just cleared a storm.

Interestingly enough, this was not the first time I had seen these actors respond to how light was used for that project. As far back as the makeup, hair and wardrobe tests, I’d noticed a similar phenomenon.

Since the film took place in the 16th century, we were lighting extensively with candlelight. I wanted to use fast ISO and fast lenses to make this work, so during prep, we built a small shooting area of black; strung up some carpets from the art department as walls; brought in a desk, barrels and candles; and created a compact on-camera zone where we could perform our tests (shown in the frames below).

The costumed actors appeared in groups and could hardly see amid our low light levels. The candles were glowing, and when the actors entered our shooting area, their entire collective dynamic changed. As we rolled, they began to silently interact. We saw intimidation, conspiracy, dread, uncertainty, apprehension, confidence and individual versions of these characteristics beginning to emerge from the actors in their respective roles. I had never seen a makeup, hair and wardrobe test manifest this amount of understanding from the characters’ point of view, with so much revealed by how the performers felt in the light — a true example of how genuinely collaborative and experiential filmmaking can be.

Best regards,
Shelly Johnson
ASC President