Cinematographer Cira Felina Bolla explains chiaroscuro lighting and how she lit a critical scene for Pascal Baillien’s art-house film Malice.
Last Fall 2009, I was hired by Kudetat Productions to shoot the art house film, Malice for Belgian film director, Pascal Baillien. It was an international production. We shot in and around Los Angeles with a Panavision Gold II Super 35mm (3 Perf) and a set of Primo Classics Series Primes, a T3.5 20-150mm Angenieux on Kodak 5219 stock.
One of our primary locations was the Villa Linda Hospital in Boyle Heights just past Downtown LA. It was chosen by the director for its institutional backdrop and its great industrial basement. Originally the opening sequence had been storyboarded in Belgium to take place in a small hospital room. The “Electrocution” scene was critical as it sets up the main character of the film in the opening sequence. While scouting the location with Pascal Baillien and production designer, Laurent Couline, we set about to explore some of the alternate basement areas beneath the Villa Linda hospital. It was that moment when I spotted the area in an open space where the electrocution chair and other items for the scene were temporarily staged that I had the inspired idea (see photo raw). I said to Laurent, this is good (in French). It was then, I proposed the idea to shoot right there, place a pool of water around the chair, hit the low ceiling covered in pipes with light and have a hard light source above the Electrocution chair be the focus of our frame with the water to cause reflections. Pascal and Laurent loved it, and we had a new plan! This new spot would prove even more beneficial with the space as it allowed us to lay 16 feet of track for a slow move into the establishing shot. That night over dinner with my gaffer, Christopher Williams (aka “The Magic Man”) with lighting company, Light It Up Pablo, I was excited to discuss the idea. We added another brush stroke of light with two Kino’s and Fog to open up the back element of the frame and create depth with an illusion of light.
I specifically chose Kodak Vision 3, 5219 stock for its latitude and lucidity. In my opinion, 5219 is quite possibly the most beautiful stock on the market. Panavision is always my first choice for their legendary glass and cameras. In the climate of today’s movement towards originating on HD, I am a cinematographer who loves shooting film emulsion. I am grateful to work with a European film director who values the look, beauty of film and the power of the image. Pascal was so happy after he viewed our first two days of work in telecine at RIOT that we continued on with great synergy till the very end of principal photography. While we worked primarily from the wonderful storyboards he prepared prior to my being on board, still he allowed me to bring ideas to the table, and it was a truly wonderful experience with my excellent crew and collaboration with Pascal and his team.
Malice is an art house film with a highly stylized look that is unique and true to director Pascal Baillien’s vision for this alternate world he created inspired by a contemporary twist on Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
The Set Up: The “Electrocution” scene came at the end of our first day of shooting. I had walked my gaffer through the location earlier that day. The production designer Laurent had brought in two additional medical machines he staged in the distance. These machines were dimly lit with 650’s that were black wrapped to bring out surface shadow detail as I intended to crush the rest of the black references in the frame. The machines were also used by my gaffer to hide the outer left edges of the Kino’s that were set on the floor pointing light upward with a dusting of Fog machines to mimic gutters emanating light. Gaffer Chris Williams set a Source 4 with a 50 lens and rigged it over the Electrocution Chair. The chair was surrounded in a pool of water that served as an additional reflective surface that up lit the ceiling pipes while throwing a hard reflection captured in the opening frames. First we worked on the dolly for our long slow establishing shot then I went handheld, operating with swift successive movements that matched the emotion and intensity of the actor as she is shaking in the electric chair.
Simplicity and hard light. It was two-time Academy
Award winning cinematographer Richard Kline, ASC, who taught me to create a focal point in the frame of my work with light that draws the viewer into the story. I hope he will enjoy these frames.
Malice is currently in post production and is due for a 2011 release in the US.
Pascal Baillien is a Belgian film director, writer, editor and producer who started his professional career 15 years ago as a music video director who after many music videos for European artists, gradually entered the international movie industry with his preference of filming on 35mm and known for his art house style of artistic repertoire.
Cira Felina Bolla is an Emmy nominated Cinematographer who studied film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and trained under Roy H. Wagner, ASC, (a former student of Ansel Adams). Bolla’s work is artistic instinct in motion. She is both an EU Italian and US Citizen working on independent features and commercials internationally. Bolla is Rep’d by Angelique & Associates.
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