Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1949)

54 LIGHTING SHOULD BE HIGH Clamp your lights to the ceiling, says this veteran filmer, for simplicity in basic illumination. Here's how it's done CHARLES J. CARBONARO, FACL Photographs b> Charles J. Carbonaro. FACL OVERALL high lighting setup described by author is being positioned above. The temporary support in the middle will be removed. BOTH STRIPS are now in position. The four bulbs used are No. 1 floods for fast black and white film, No. 2's for Type A Kodachrome. DETAIL SHOT shows metal strap for temporary join of two-part strips. Black baffle shields lens, the white diffuser kills shadows. WE ALL know that the normal, natural direction of light is downward, from a high source. Outdoors there is no question about it. Look where the sun is and the brilliant blue dome of the sky. Even indoors the most usual sources of basic illumination are overhead in permanent ceiling fixtures. Because of these high light sources, we become used to and accept as a norm the presence of slight shadows in the eye sockets, under the nose, the lower lip and the chin. We grow to expect this effect in the natural world, and we strive to create it in lighting the shadow play of our home movies. Professional film makers recognized this need for overhead light sources from the beginning. In the earliest days, to be sure, this method was a matter of necessity, for their sets consisted simply of two adjoining walls in the form of an "L" with no ceiling. Sunlight, the only source of illumination, streamed through the open top. Later, when the movies moved indoors, the stages again had no ceilings, for in their place were installed huge banks of flood lights. Working in the home, however, we face a different problem. In the first place, our rooms obviously have ceilings. In the second, most home lighting stands do not extend to a wholly satisfactory height. And in the third place, if you are doing any real amount of movie making, continually moving the lights around can become a chore. So far. I have been unable to discover a complete solution of this problem. But I do believe that I have hit upon a method by which the time-consuming operations can be minimized appreciably. This method consists of semi-permanent installation of lights suspended from the ceiling to supply the basic illumination. I had used a slightly similar type of lighting in early record films of my daughter when she was in the crawling stage. She had developed, it seems, a strong desire to climb up the light stands in an attempt to reach that bright spot. In order to foil her efforts and also to get some movies of her, I hung a reflector from the picture molding in each corner of the room and clamped another reflector on the center lighting fixture in the ceiling. In this manner, I was able to eliminate all light stands and also monkey shines. I also discovered that this system created good general illumination throughout the room, thus affording me complete freedom in camera positions. This type of illumination also provided back lighting from any angle; and as the camera always was pointing downward, I did not have to worry about extra shading of the lens. My present method is really an extension — and certainly an improvement — of those first clumsy arrangements. Designed for use with high speed black and white film, it consists of four No. 1 Photofloods suspended from the ceiling to supply general illumination. For color film, simply switch to No. 2 bulbs. For supports, I use strips of % inch stock, 1% inches wide. Each strip is cut in two [Continued on page 72]