Both VistaVision units were retrofitted with remote follow-focus rigs, and Lindenlaub reports, "The effects people were concerned about the camera movement, and after each shot we had an army of people come in to measure everything, do light passes with an 18-percent gray ball as a reference, and then do passes with a convex mirror, which allowed them to see where all of the lights were. They just got a few frames of each setup, and although the process was complicated, it didn’t take long.
"My main concern about using VistaVision was that we had to use Nikon lenses, which I wasn’t happy about. Unfortunately, tests were already done and the decision to use them had already been made, so there was no choice. Personally, I don’t see the point of going to the trouble of shooting in VistaVision if you’re going to use a consumer-grade Nikon lens. The lens calibration was a joke. The difference between a T2 and a T2.8 on these lenses is very unspecific when compared to what you get with motion picture lenses, which are very accurate. There is a VistaVision system that is set up for Leica lenses, and I would have preferred that; however, the resulting footage does look great. You can’t tell the difference between the original VistaVision footage and the digitized and then filmed-out reduction prints, so our effects shots can be successfully intercut with our standard footage. The effects work looks great partially because Phil Tippett not only has technical ability, but also a strong artistic sensibility."
Lighting for Darkness
Dailies and prints for The Haunting were handled by Technicolor, and like some other cinematographers who have now used Vision negative and print stocks in combination, Lindenlaub found that their increased contrast compelled him to rethink his lighting methods. "The 79 is more contrasty than [EXR] 5298 was—with the newer stock, the blacks fill up and grain disappears, but latitude disappears as well," he details, noting that The Haunting was his first opportunity to use the 500 ASA stock. "To my surprise, the Vision print stocks became the only option for release prints after April [of this year]. Between that factor and our dark sets, I had to reevaluate all of my lighting ratios, especially for moonlight effects—and those were methods that I had been using for 20 years!
"For moonlight, I would normally go two stops under on the faces, and the backlight would be the moonlight at key. On this film, though, two stops under was almost too dark, because everything just under that would drop to black. With 98, you would have had a stop or so left, and you’d get some shadow detail, but that’s not the case now unless you use more fill. The amount of fill determines the look of the movie much more than any other factor, but on this picture I was adding a lot more fill than my eye was used to seeing, which meant that I had to depend on my meter much more. My exposures had to be precise as well, because the 79 doesn’t handle under- or overexposure very well—it gets too milky. Grain isn’t a problem, but milky blacks look wrong to me."
Asked if using other stocks were an option, Lindenlaub replies, "No, we needed the speed because of our big sets, but because we were using so much smoke in the film, the grain in 5298 would be too apparent. Before this, I’d used the Vision 5277 320T, which has much lower contrast, but I overexposed it to get good blacks. I liked it because it took the contrast out of faces and was more flattering, but it was too slow. I also looked at Vision 800T 5289, but I wasn’t too happy with the grain. The 89 would be a great stock for a gritty big-city thriller, but not for The Haunting .
"I know that some people’s use of lab processes like ENR to get better blacks prompted Kodak to add contrast to their stocks, but not everybody wants it. If I ever wanted more contrast, I could do it with my lighting. Now, lighting for 79—in combination with the Vision print stocks— is like lighting 5247 or 45 in the studio, and it will take time to get used to that. Of course, the blacks we got with 79 were great for the atmosphere of our film, since it’s a dark movie."
The Heart of Hill House
The Haunting sets built in the Long Beach dome were imposingly huge and oppressively Gothic. None was more impressive than the Great Hall, which ran about 225’ from the front door to a massive grand staircase at the other end, with eight stone columns towering 50’ above an ornately patterned marble floor. Facing the stairs, a gaping fireplace draped with snarling stone lions crouched on the left, while an oblong dining chamber adjoined from the right. Above the staircase was a larger-than-life portrait of the malcontented Hugh Crain staring out across the vast room.
While much ado has recently been made about the use of digital sets, De Bont eschewed this approach for The Haunting , although he knew that rendering Hill House’s interiors practically—especially the Great Hall—would be expensive. "When I read the script, I knew the actors would have to feel the setting," De Bont reasons. "We could not have them walk around on bluescreen stages. The physical contact with the space is so important in how you feel and how they feel. Also, because we built everything in the studio, we had total control and we were able to stay on schedule. My earlier movies were so weather-dependent that I had little control. That’s what was so great about the old movies: the filmmakers had so much control and could make the right decisions. Hitchcock, for instance, was a master because he used his sets to the fullest extent."
Building such sets was one thing, but lighting them was another matter, particularly the Great Hall. "When I saw the sets, I almost fainted," Lindenlaub admits. "They were 10 times bigger than I’d imagined, and they were all connected, like practical rooms. Because of Jan’s shooting style, I had to cover about 200’ of the Great Hall with light and be able to look in any direction at any time. Also, we had to cover the full height of the set, and that meant about 45’. The size of the space called for big units set far away, and lots of ambiance."
Rigging gaffer Brian Lukas, another veteran of Red Corner, suggested using TM Motion Picture Equipment Rentals of North Hollywood to obtain the show’s immense lighting package. "[Owner] Tommy May and [lighting equipment manager] Tom Allison were extremely helpful and accommodating," Lukas attests. "Since they had to invest in a lot of gear to keep us going, their company has really grown in the last year."
As for power, the city of Long Beach had installed a drop before cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt, ASC began shooting 1997’s Batman and Robin at the dome, powering two transformers that offered 10,000 amps of AC. That wasn’t enough for The Haunting. "We brought in two more 3,000-amp plants," Lukas details, "and then ran massive amounts of 4/O [cabling] to get power all around the set."
An overhead scaffolding and truss system had been built over the Great Hall before Lindenlaub joined The Haunting, but the structure needed modifications in order to fulfill his needs. Says Parks, "The lighting that was there was HMI-based, but Walter and I agree that tungstens offer more control, so we pulled most of that out and started from the top. While we shot at Raleigh, Brian Lukas and his crew prepped the sets at the dome and then stayed ahead of the camera."
Because they were using tungstens, dimmer boards could be employed for extra flexibility. These controls—operating 700 channels—included two ETC Expression 2Xs with 3X software, eight ETC Sensor dimmer racks, and dozens of Strand CD80 dimmer packs.
Building up the base light in the Great Hall was a must. Lukas explains, "We hung over 65 two-circuit 6K tungsten space lights on the grid—a third were 1/2 blue and the others were normal so we could switch back and forth between moonlight and daylight looks without re-rigging. That added a lot of weight to the grid structure, though.
"Our engineers then told us that they had miscalculated how much weight the truss system could hold, and that we would have to cut back on our lighting. The problem was that the structure carried the weight of the lights from the center of the beams running across the set instead of distributing it to the sides, where the eight 20"-wide vertical support towers were located [inside the set’s marbled columns].
"However, the key grip, Loren Corl, and rigging key grip, ’G’ Dhiensuwana, made a model that demonstrated how the grid could be reinforced with two arches over the top of the structure that would redistribute that weight back to the towers. That made it possible to hang our space lights and some other big units we needed in there."
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