Cinematography-Theory-And-Practice

Figure 16.16. Rain can never beeffective unless it is backlit, as in thisshot from Nine and 1/2 Weeks.LightningBecause lightning must be extremely powerful to be effective, itgenerally calls for a specially built rig. Nearly universal now is theuse of machines from Lightning Strikes (Figure 16.14), which are basicallyincredibly powerful strobes. Included with them are a controllerthat can vary the timing and intensity of strikes to very accuratelyreproduce actual lightning. For further realism, several units shouldbe used. Except when a storm is far away, actually lightning comesfrom several different angles. If a storm is approaching in the scene,a skilled operator will increase the intensity and frequency as thestorm nears.Some older lightning rigs were based on carbon arc technology.They consist of an arc ballast and a set of carbons that can be pushedtogether, then rapidly withdrawn with a levered handle. The resultingarc produces a powerful and momentary blast of light that is veryconvincing. A brute arc itself can be used by reversing the polarityof the DC so that it is “wrong” and then throwing the strikinglever. The carbons will produce a brief, powerful arc but won’tstrike because the polarity is wrong. This technique still works butis seldom used anymore.Understandably, these effects can be very hard on a generator, sobe sure you have plenty of headroom before attempting these effects.Sometimes flashbulb rigs are used for the effect. Small flashbulbeffects may be appropriate where lightning is only needed for oneshot and rental of a dedicated unit would be impractical. M typeflashbulbs, which have a long burn time, are most effective for thispurpose. Regular flashbulbs fire very quickly, and they might burnwhile the shutter is closed, resulting in no exposure. The same is trueof electronic flashes.GunshotsGunshots are flashes of short enough duration that they might occurwhile the shutter is closed. The standard procedure is for the operatorto watch for the flashes. If the operator sees them, then they didnot get recorded on film. If the operator saw them, it means theflashes occurred while the mirror was reflecting the image to theviewfinder. Depending on how critical they are, another take maybe necessary to make sure all the shots are recorded.Several things can be done to alleviate this problem. There areprop guns that do not use gunpowder but instead use an electricalpulse coupled with a chemical charge to produce a flash. This has theadded bonus of being much safer. More safety in itself is good, butit also means much less need for safety rigging, which can be a time-technical issues325