AmericanCinematographer201201

◗ Lord of War
Top: Marcius is
persuaded to run
for political office
by Roman
senator
Menenius (Brian
Cox, second from
left). Bottom: 1st
AC Oliver Driscoll
assists as
Ackroyd frames a
shot for Fiennes.
to place in the location, so Ackroyd
keyed from two large mezzanine
windows with two 18Ks on a Genie
boom that were going through 1 ⁄4 CTS
and exterior silk curtains. As the light
changed outside, gaffer Harry Wiggins
maintained continuity indoors with
18K, 12K and 4K HMI Fresnels aimed
through 251 diffusion or skipped off the
floor, walls and ceiling — “never on the
actors,” he remarks. Ackroyd’s own
Tubo lights — 2' or 4' sections of PVC
pipe painted white inside and holding a
single Kino Flo — were used to simulate
the effect of bounced light and soft
key reflecting off a wall onto the
combatants’ weapons or soldiers in the
background.
When the Volscians retreat,
Marcius returns to Rome to great
acclaim and the new title of Coriolanus.
His family and colleagues fete the
triumphant warrior in the atrium of the
Roman Imperial Senate, a scene shot
in Belgrade’s House of National
Assembly.
A skylight at the peak of the
atrium’s dome provided little usable
natural light inside, so Ackroyd’s crew
floated a locally sourced, custom-built,
8.8K mixed-source (4K tungsten/4.8K
daylight) lighting balloon into the dome
to provide consistent ambient light
below. On a circular balcony above the
actors, four diffused 4K HMI Fresnels
pushed light in from a three-quarter
angle to wrap around the actors and
“give a bit of shape to what was otherwise
a difficult space,” says Ackroyd.
“We always started with 1 ⁄4 CTS
and 251 [diffusion]on the HMIs,” says
Wiggins. “If it was too much, rather
than messing around with scrims or
flags we’d put more diffusion up on
intermediate 4-by-4 frames. Once it’s
already that soft, adding an extra degree
of softness is a bonus.”
“I’ve never been able to light with
hard light,” notes Ackroyd. “I know it
can be done, but I tend to see the light
68 January 2012 American Cinematographer