American WideScreen Museum Home Page


Daylight as a source probably presents fewer troubles, although very early in the morning and very late in the afternoon trouble is frequently encountered. An interesting difficulty occurred early one afternoon when the smoke from a forest fire filtered the sunshine to such a brownish orange hue that it was necessary to abandon the location for that day.

The conditions just outlined do not have to be met at all times, but they should be adhered to if a pure white light is necessary and desirable for the work in hand. Certainly there is no limit to the effects obtainable with colored lights. For instance, frequently straight unfiltered flickering inky lights are used to produce a warm glow on the costumes and faces to simulate firelight. Artistic sense and experience must dictate the extent to which colored lights are used. The colored-light possibilities have been frequently used, perhaps most recently and extensively in the colored shadow and live action sequences in Fantasia. Its first featured use in three-color pictures was in the first three-color production, La Cucaracha.

The rigging and lighting of a color set is similar in many respects to that of a black-and-white set, with the exception that lighting units balanced for Technicolor are the units used, unless effects are in order. Most Technicolor sets rely upon arc-light units for the bulk of the lighting. The large sets especially use the larger arc units. Some of the very small sets are from time to time lighted entirely by corrected inky light. Inky units are valuable also on big sets as auxiliary lighting units. They must be watched for age and cleanliness, as an aged bulb and a dirty reflector, filter, and lens can substantially reduce the lamp output. Needless to say, cleanliness is also an asset with arc-light lenses, and proper maintenance and servicing of all lighting units are important.

Exterior sets and set-ups are also handled in a very similar manner to black-and-white set-ups. Scrims, nets, reflectors, and booster light all play their part. It should be noted that the so-called gold reflector is not acceptable in color work (unless for effect) for obvious reasons.

The color-temperature factor is once more introduced when reflectors are extensively worked. The term daylight has been advisedly used. By definition daylight is the light from the entire sky, including direct sunlight if the sky is clear. Sunshine has a color-temperature of about 5,500°K, while blue sky has a color-temperature varying from 10,000° to 20,000°K. When reflectors are used as lighting aid they select only the sun, which is reflected into the scene, and introduce a filler light that is warmer in tone than daylight. In addition, it must be remembered that the so-called silvered surface, which is usually aluminum or tin, reflects slightly less blue than it does red and green. This factor also adds slightly to the effect of a lower color-temperature. For these reasons reflectors are not considered as desirable as booster light for some purposes. This is especially true of close-ups where flesh quality is of critical importance.

Page 5


Next Page
[1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] - [11] - [12]

Back to TECHNICOLOR home page.

©1942 S.M.P.E.
HTML Transcription ©1999 THE AMERICAN WIDESCREEN MUSEUM