NO TIME TO RUSH…
Good morning-evening-night-workday-lunch break-weekday-weekend i hope you are well.
I am good thanks, just came back from the gym and a bit sore but got my coffee and only a few hours to get this out to you so lets get stuck in.
Linus Sandgren…need I say more. I love Bond films, in fact it is my life dream to shoot a Bond film (Hi Barbara!) and so as you can imagine I follow them religiously…so why not cover one. I think I will look a fair bit at this movie over the next 12 months on and off, don't worry it won't be 2 months of Bond but there is something for me about this film that took the franchise to the next level visually. Yes there are Imax portions, yes it was shot on film (but so was Spectre) but there is just something about what Linus did that just took this to the next level.
The only thing I really have to say about the film is that it's lit very “painterly” - light isn’t thrown in or heavy handed. It’s subtle, purposeful, reflecting the subtext of the scene and very delicate.
From that moment when Madeline pops up from the water my Jaw hit the floor, the colors are just so vibrant and the IMAX frame is just breathtaking. Maybe this is because the previous snow swept scene is rather muted in tone or maybe because it’s just a stunning frame to look at but either way I was sucked into the screen.
But the scene I really want to cover is a scene that is only three shots. A transitional wide of beautiful Matera and a shot of Bond with a flare over his shoulder and the reverse of Madeline sleeping. This shot in particular was in the trailer and it just looks like it should be hanging up in a gallery.
So I want to dive into this a little bit, things I have noticed in the lighting and how something that is maybe one or two 8th on the page doesn’t have to be rushed, it can be considered and still help tell the story.
If I were to really get into it, this scene feels like hope. This whole section of this film does to be fair but this is the penultimate scene in the Hope saga and the last moment of true peace for Bond and Madeleine. I feel like that's why that flare is there. This scene was shot on a stage at Pinewood with a brilliant translight - so that flare is intentional, no happy accidents here. There is just an awe of beauty, and romance and I like to think the motivation for the painterly, baroque-esq lighting for Madeleines shot, which is very reminiscent of your Vermeers or Caravaggio’s is a visualization of how Bond sees her in this moment…before it all goes wrong.
From ASC Magazine Article:
“He also shot interiors at T2.8 on both camera formats, stopping down to T5.6 or T8 for day exteriors. “The G Series performs so well at T2.8, whereas other anamorphic lenses might not,” Sandgren observes. “I like it when practical lights such as neon signs, car headlights and fluorescent tubes expose naturalistically, and I find T2.8 provides the most appropriate exposure on 5219.”
This scene, like most of this nature - No dialogue, picture only, intimate portraits within the film were shot on 65mm Film on 5219 (500T) stock. I don’t know this for sure but Linus’s go-to lens for the System 65 was 50mm Panavision G Series so I can take a good guess at how they shot this scene.
The thing I love about how Linus lights is both his use of color but also his willingness to be underexposed if it creates more reality within the film. Looking at Bond’s shot, the flare is over his left shoulder, it doesn’t overpower but just has this beautiful balanced feel within the space and then he has a same-side bounce back onto his face, which I imagine is motivated by the sheets on the bed. Then you just have the rest of the image checkerboarded with little clips of hard light on the lampshade or reflections in the glass in the background in the left of frame.
Linus then has his signature lighting instrument…the soft blue topper. He uses this everywhere but it is just so beautiful. He lights the shadows of the image with a blue ambience that cools off the low IRE range, provides color separation and also makes warm lights feel warmer. If you were to have a night interior for example and you just used practical sources and practically motivated sources all in the 2800k-3200k range - you almost have created a monotone image. There is no other color so the image is essentially a black and while image that has been given some warmth but as soon as you establish those as key lights or background interest then you can go…
“Looks great, keys my actor and gives me that background pop I want. Now i will light the shadows with a soft, 2 or 3 stops under blue light and all of a sudden my warm lights feel warmer and my shadows are colors with a beautiful deep blue”
I was going to say that this wouldn’t work for every project…but to be honest Linus has used it in most things across all kinds of genres so….i guess you can.
To be honest I have a bit of an issue with that false color above. I think that pink shouldn't cover 0-10 IRE because that implies that no information (0) and low information (10) are the same…which these aren't. As you can see that soft blue ambience is working its magic and although you are drawn to Bond's face by the flare, you can clearly see his jacket around the color still has information. Being fair as well this is where you need to be best of friends with the production designer and costume designer. There is no way Linus could have achieved this look and level of lighting or been as ballsy with it is how i should phrase it if that was a black suit which Bond is known for. This lighting I am sure would have been blocked differently, maybe more side light and more top ambience in order to not clip 0 IRE.
Same can be said with the shot of Madeleine sleeping. That whole room has light/soft tones in the palette (blues, grey and whites) which suck up the blue tones but hold information as you can see. That is what helps her stand out as that flesh tone is such a color contrast to the rest of the scene and with a beautiful raking warm sun beam across the creases and ripples in the fabric and her skin just makes this image so stunning to look at. Even just texturally this is an incredible shot, you could do a Dougie Slocombe and flip this to B&W and it would still be perfectly balanced.
*That is a reference to a cut of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ that is in B&W, it just shows you Dougie’s true mastery as it is perfectly texturally lit even without the use of color to help separate the depth, layers and drive the eye.
Again not too fussed on that 0-10 IRE.
But!!! This is where the lighting gets interesting!!!!!
I count 3 sun sources. Yes, 2 of them are in the same direction just through different windows but the third is weird. Lets break this image down:
Top Ambience - So here we have our blanket blue top source that is maybe a stop or two under exposed. This covers the whole scene and fills in the shadows.
Talent Lighting (Source 1) - Your main talent light that is below the bed, motivated by the window but to be honest this source could be controlled and inside the set (i imagine not based on the falloff in intensity is fairly even, if it was inside the set the feet would be very harsh and her head not so much. This is just inverse square law 101). It is very low to the bed to create all the edge lighting texture.
* Inverse Square Law dictates that the square root of each meter away from your light dictates the fraction of the light true intensity. So if you have a light close to the subject you have a more significant fall off over a 3 meter distance as opposed to having a bigger unit farther away and that 3 meter distance now has much less difference in intensity loss from meter 1 to meter 3.
Talent Warm Bounce Light - The warm bounce that is hitting her hair could just be a bounce bounce out of frame that is catching the Source 1 light or could just be a soft light unit to help separate the talent out from the BG.
Motivated Window Sun (Source 2) - This is an actual through-window light used to light the BG, that wall and the left edge of the lamp.
Sun Source 3 - This is interesting. I imagine that BG would have looked a bit dark and flat without this light, because the main streak hit the wall and the whole back corner is left to be lit with top blue ambience. So they have put a harsh source coming through a doorway back through that is the same color temp as our “sun” - as you can see on the lamp, it is lit from both directions. This is purely to have color depth and break up the corner section of the background.
Wall Bounce - I imagine this is a light on the floor, out of shot, just added a soft “bounced light” effect on the wall. Maybe a single unit or a turtle base skipped light on an ultra bounce to throw some soft warm light that ambience only the wall. Similarly to the Source 3 light, it is there to just help break up the blue, dark sections
Ok hand hurts now.
Bye bye.