"Alongside the T5s, we had some of [best boy] Larry Richardson’s 16-light Fays, which are terrific and put out a lot of light," Devlin continues. "They use smaller 1K FCX bulbs that are softer than a Par. On an FCX bulb, there is more of a dish than a Par 64 has, so it naturally has a wider spread, even though it’s physically smaller. If you were to take any Par source such as a 9-light Maxi-Brute and a 9-light Fay and shine one medium-beam bulb from each on a wall, the Fay light would cover the whole wall, while the Maxi-Brute would create a hot spot. For a bounce or any wide ambient source, Fays are great. We put 16 of them beside the T5 beam projectors to create an ambient wash so that the light could see different angles through, the way natural light does. All of those lights were hung from chain motors so that you could see outside the windows, where we had a blue backdrop with trees in front of it."
Also constructed on stage was a set depicting Peter Kelson’s office. "There was a shot that we did in New York where we started with a view of Union Square and moved through a window into the office," recounts Fiore. "We then had to re-create the set onstage in Los Angeles. The production designer made a roughly 300-degree TransLight that was photographed at the location and digitally altered to make it a little more interesting. The TransLight was then stretched about 250 feet around the apartment set. The set itself was built on risers because Peter’s office was supposed to be on the 10th floor of a building on Union Square. Following the same approach to the lighting, we lit either through the windows for the daylight scene using large sources that allowed the actors to move around the frame or from inside the room with the practicals at night."
Devlin expands, "We lit outside the windows between the TransLight and the window with wide, large coops aimed through roughly 17’ by 35’ sections of full grid on each window. It was almost like having big pieces of beadboard above the windows to create an ambient skylight coming in. That set was a good example of a situation where Janusz really knew what he wanted and Mauro carried out that vision extremely well. The values of the scene’s lighting were really successful. So often, people are inclined to overlight a TransLight. We had this big TransLight with just two or four 2K Skypans behind it, but suddenly it felt as if you were right there in New York. I’ve seen a lot on films where there’s a sense of reality in the lighting, but the filmmakers have decided that they want to see into a corner a bit more, or manipulate things just slightly to create a more commercial look. Janusz and Mauro really pushed the balance of the lighting to make the backgrounds dark and realistic. The beautiful part of the Fuji stock is that it really breaks up quite nicely, especially if it’s the least bit out of focus."
One major sequence set in an elegant ballroom was executed on location at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. "Mauro and I talked about the ballroom quite a bit," recalls Devlin. "I personally wanted to give Janusz the ability to walk in and have everything lit from above, via a truss grid and lights rigged on chain motors. Janusz loved the ceiling of the ballroom, though, and he wanted to be able to shoot it, so we lit the entire room from the ground. We took one wall and had Jim extend large muslins up to the ceiling, and we would bounce Dinos into it because we need to be able to throw light all the way up the muslins. The technique that makes all the difference is putting half Soft Frost in front of the light and a teaser on the top and sides to shape it a little bit. The half Soft Frost diffuses the light, but it doesn’t bloom it because it’s not white, it’s clear. It therefore softens the bounce light, but doesn’t become a source itself the source is still the bounce. If you put diffusion too close to someone’s face, it can look great because it blooms and you can feel the falloff of the light. However, sometimes it looks a little too lit and too slick. That sort of style feels more contrasty and is a more normal way to light."
Fiore explains, "We naturally had to constantly shift that key depending on what we saw of the room, but it turned out to be a good decision, because I felt that if we lit it from above, I would lose control of where the lights would be able to play on the people. Working the way we did also eliminated the possibility of backlighting anyone, so I was able to maintain the same specific look even within that large area. The room was filled with tables that had practical lamps on them, and we played some washes of light up the pillars around the room with a bunch of 1Ks."
Lost Souls does feature two striking exorcism scenes. The first is a flashback to Larkin’s childhood exorcism, and the second is a much more graphic sequence that serves as the film’s finale. "The two exorcisms are the most stylized scenes in the entire movie," Kaminski attests. "Exorcisms have been done many times in movies, so I didn’t want stuff coming out of the characters’ mouths, and I didn’t want any spinning heads I wanted to stay away from what the audience knows. The Exorcist was done brilliantly, and its imagery created a sense of fear and intensity that worked perfectly for that particular film, but we wanted to do something different.
"Lost Souls has three exorcism scenes. The first is a flashback that depicts Maya’s exorcism 10 years earlier. It’s a brief scene that helps the audience understand where the character comes from and explains her intimate knowledge of the devil’s existence. Photographically, it is a very experimental scene that employs handheld camerawork to evoke the kinetic pull of the moment. To help create a sense of voyeurism, various film formats and emulsions were used, as well as changes in camera speed.
"I wanted to deconstruct the images, particularly in the third exorcism, which we photographed with multiple non-synchronized strobe lights the images would come and go. That was a very experimental and risky approach, because we never knew exactly what we were getting in the camera. We shot that scene simultaneously with several cameras, because I knew I could get one take where there was nothing, and another take where everything was burnt-out if it happened that the shutter fell into the wrong window [of exposure]. We also adjusted the frame rates during the take, so we knew we’d get some kind of image. With three cameras rolling covering the same action, one of them was bound to get us something!"
"In terms of the second exorcism, we really didn’t want to take it to the extreme visually," relates Fiore. "This was the first time the audience was seeing these events in present time, so we employed setups that were a bit more classical. We didn’t move the camera too much, although there was some handheld work. We dealt more with lighting things and then taking light away. In the second exorcism, we combined several different film stocks and formats. We made the images go much more astray with strobe lighting, 16mm, cross-processing and the use of a mistimed shutter on one of the cameras.
"For me, the biggest challenge on this film was working with an Academy Award-winning director of photography," Fiore admits. "I needed to find my niche and determine what I’d bring to the project stylistically. Additionally, there was the consideration of how the film would be perceived from the standpoint of my career. Is it going to be conceived as a film that Janusz Kaminski directed, and therefore shot as well? Based on my experience with Janusz in the past, I knew that he has a great way of balancing people’s talents and offering the freedom that you need. As long as you accept the responsibility of that freedom, he’ll give you as much of it as you want."
Noting that Fiore is currently shooting the Sylvester Stallone picture Get Carter, Kaminski con-cludes, "Mauro’s work in Lost Souls is provocative and very artistic. He has visually created the bleak but beautiful world that I wanted to see."