37 minute read
BSC EXPO ROUND-UP
PLAYGROUND SHOWDOWN
No cats were harmed or traumatised “ during the making of this film,” says DP Sturla Brandth Grøvlen DFF reassuringly, during our interview about his work on Norwegian director Eskil Vogt’s acclaimed, supernatural thriller, The Innocents, (De Uskyldige), which premiered at the 2021
Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard section, before releasing in mid-May 2022. The unnerving feature is set during a bright Nordic summer, where a group of children explore their mysterious, telekinetic and telepathic powers, when the adults aren’t around. The film’s primary point-of-view is that of nine-year-old Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum), who finds herself adrift after moving to an out-of-town, high-rise housing complex, with her parents and older sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad), who has severe autism. Whilst Anna appears to be psychically connected to Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim), a young girl with vitiligo who can hear the thoughts of other people, in the playground, Ida makes cautious friends with Ben (Sam Ashraf), an isolated only-child just a little older than herself, who can fling rocks and explode tree trunks just by using his mind.
At first, Ida finds Ben’s paranormal abilities decidedly cool, but becomes less enamoured by his increasingly sadistic impulses towards neighbourhood cats and the torturous violence he inflicts upon other youngsters who live in the area. The four children interact in nice and naughty ways, until playtime takes a much darker turn.
“Even though The Innocents is presented as a horror, and needed to incorporate elements of sinister scariness, from a cinematographic point-of-view I read it more as an observation about how children experience and explore the world around themselves, how they learn and grow, how they shape their own sense morality and mortality,” says Grøvlen, a Norwegian DP, who lives and works in Denmark, and who shot The Innocents back-to-back after completing principal photography Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round (2020).
“Eskil’s story was inspired by his own experiences of parenting, and it was clear from his script, that it was to be told within a different frame of reality – from inside the bubble of childhood that adults don’t have access to, where the kids play games in a fantasy world, and those games and fantasies are real to them.
“During our early discussions, Eskil said that said if a dragon landed in the back yard, the adults would be wondering what the hell was going on, yet the children would probably find it quite normal or cool. For them, telekinetic abilities are just fun and games.”
Of course, there are countless examples of movies about kids with supernatural powers that the filmmakers could have considered in terms of references, but Grøvlen says the visual inspiration to help get into the mindset for shooting The Innocents came from less
obvious sources.
“We were more inspired by the depiction of fantastical and paranormal events in Japanese Sundome manga comic books, and the super-powers of the characters in animated films like Akira (1988, dir. Katsuhiro Otomo), than other movies.
“And, as we discussed our visual treatment for The Innocents, the German word ‘unheimlich’ – which means uncanny or weird – kept coming-up with regard to how we could play with the camera point-of-view to evoke appropriate sensations and tensions – such as combining wide panoramas and strong close-ups.”
The Innocents was shot over the course of nine weeks, during the summer of 2019, around the housing estate of Romsås, near Oslo, Norway, and its surrounding woodlands. Grøvlen says with the restrictions that apply to children’s working hours on-set, that scheduling became quite a puzzle.
Bearing in mind the need to immerse the audience in the world of the children – to shoot from their eyelines and to evoke the uncanny – Grøvlen went with an ARRI Alexa Mini, to assist manoeuvrabilty, shooting at 800ISO.
It was clear this story was to be told within a different frame of reality – from inside the bubble of childhood
BTS photos by Aslak Lytthans and Tor Edvin Eliassen. Movie stills courtesy of Signature Entertainment.
“I shoot a lot of handheld, although my style is more about having the camera at foot, knee and hip level, or even above my head, than on the shoulder,” Grøvlen explains. “I have invented a set-up with the Alexa Mini that works well for me, with the batteries on my belt to minimise weight, which allows me to be very agile and to move freely. This approach was very much part of depicting the world from the children’s viewpoints, although we also went with more formal and composed cinematography from the dolly and on sticks.”
As for the optics, Grøvlen selected vintage, Super Baltar spherical prime lenses, rehoused by P+S Technik, and a Canon K35 25-120mm zoom. The camera and lens package was supplied by Kamerarental in Oslo, which also has branches in Denmark and Sweden.
First introduced by Bausch & Lomb in the mid1960s, Super Baltar lenses were originally designed to be compatible with Mitchell BNCR cameras and are best known for their use on The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974) (both shot by DP Gordon Willis ASC). Manufactured in the 1970s, the Canon K35 25-120mm zoom offers similar colour rendition, flare and fall-off characteristics to the Baltars, plus an inbuilt macro function that can bring focus to 2-inches at 25mm.
“Whilst the Super Baltars are well-suited to analogue film, their warm, soft look and unique flares offer a pleasing synergy with the sensors on digital cinema cameras,” says the DP. “We tested a quite a few different lenses, but Eskil responded most to the creamy softness of the image and the sometimes weird chromatic aberrations that the Super Baltars give. As the Super Baltars closest focus is about threefeet, we used diopters to magnify the image for our close-ups.
“The K35 zoom is a visual good match with the Baltars, and allowed me to bring different feelings of tension, otherworldliness and estrangement to the image by using slow zoom-ins and contra-zooms off the dolly. Additionally, the macro function enabled me to focus-in really closely, with shallow depth-of-field, on evocative childhood experiences – like the Velcro straps trainers, a finger picking at a scab, or fingers bursting bubblewrap.
“The looks of these lenses, combined with different ways we moved the camera – slow push-ins, sudden look-ups, over-the shoulder reveals, and panoramic drone shots that were later flipped upside-down in post – were all ways of creating sensations of menace, horror and the supernatural.”
Rather than adopt lighting conventions from horror films, Grøvlen says the strategy went the other way, and was more about keeping the look contemporary and natural overall, with a sense of magical realism through lighting design.
“On our exteriors, we barely used any artificial lighting to illuminate our scenes. It was more about controlling the natural/available light, often with butterflies, and using negative fill to shape the look on faces. However, this was sometimes quite a challenge in terms of continuity, such as on the final ‘battle-of-thewills’ scene at the lake, which we shot over three days in variable weather conditions.
“As for the interiors, I wanted to work with reflected light, not just bouncing softlight into a room or other location using HMIs, but also creating light patterns on the walls, adding subtle highlights here and there to create a sense of magicality. I worked with my regular gaffer, Aslak Lytthans, who was very hands-on and creative in suggesting the use of mirrors, crystals and hard spots that we could use for these soft of effects which you can see throughout the film.” Grøvlen attended the final grade on The Innocents, which took place at Copenhagen post-house Zentropa under the auspices of Swedish colourist Emil Eriksson.
“The fact that I had recently completed the DI on Another Round with Emil made things easier,” remarks the DP. “He proved what a talented and skilled colourist he is in ironing-out little inconsistencies, say with skin tones, and more problematic issues concerning the weather.
“I also have to say that, during the DI was the first time I saw the film with Pessi Levanto’s score and sound design/mix by Gisle Tveito and Gustaf Berger. I was blown away by how much the music and audio effects added to the haunting tension and atmospheric experience of the movie.”
Indeed, Tveito and Berger were awarded for their work at the 2021 European Film Awards.
Grøvlen concludes, “I am pretty critical of my work, and don’t particularly enjoy looking back at films I have shot, as I can always see something I would have done differently or better. But, The Innocents does rank pretty high as a personal favourite.
“I had a really good collaboration with Eskil and my crew, and those great connections and friendships made things easier during the shoot. I was able to bring more range and scope into my work, in terms of combining handheld with more deliberate positional shots, and I feel we succeeded in creating children’s experiences. I am very happy with the lighting too, and how we nailed the Nordic light for dramatic effect. I am very proud of the result and think it’s an amazing film.”
ROCKING THE BOAT
Despite the no doubt sensible, but rather officious, rigmarole of getting through security and on to the lot, a trip to Pinewood Studios is always exciting. And the frisson factor is even more acute today. I’m visiting Movietech, the veritable and muchcherished provider of professional imagecapture solutions and quality-engineered production equipment, which has, in just the last couple of days, been acquired by a very large US/UK industrial equipment rental company, and the ink is barely dry on the deal.
Nestled on a corner of the legendary Goldfinger Avenue, with the gargantuan 007 Stage in plain sight over yonder, the business is truly based in the beating heart of the UK filmmaking industry. Entering the premises, I receive a genial greeting from chairman, John Buckley, a well-known figure amongst local and in-coming filmmakers.
“Welcome to Movietech, how are you? Good journey? Would you like a cup of tea?” says Buckley cheerfully, motioning towards the kitchen, where a restorative cup of Rosie Lea, made by the man himself, is not long in coming.
I can’t help but notice a large box of colourful Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the kitchen table, and wonder if those particular confections have arrived by way of celebrating the company’s recent acquisition by Sunbelt Rentals (an FTSE 100 Company) and the forthcoming merger of interests with William F. White International Inc (WFW), Canada’s coast-to-coast provider of motion picture equipment and studio properties, which Sunbelt acquired in 2019.
But no, today happens to be the 19th birthday of apprentice Zainab Mahmood, who has been learning the ropes for the last 18 months, and those enticing pastries are actually her gifts of appreciation for her colleagues to enjoy.
We are joined by an equally-chipper Andy Cooper, marketing director at the company, who is equally well-known amongst DPs and their camera teams. He believes it is the hallmarks of sound knowledge, sage advice and sterling service that have helped to distinguish Movietech from its rivals during more than three decades in the UK’s fiercely-
competitive camera and grip rental business – which have seen the firm successfully expand from its Pinewood Studios base to also support filmmakers in the west of the kingdom, out of Great Point Seren Stiwdios Wales in Cardiff.
And its these home-grown, carefully-nurtured attributes, plus a stellar line up of optics, cameras and associated filmmaking technologies, that Buckley says he is determined to continue with the investment that will soon flood into the company following its purchase – for an undisclosed sum – by Sunbelt.
“The investment into Movietech could not have
We have a golden opportunity to substantially grow the business and really rock the boat
come at a better time,” says Buckley, who also notes that Movietech and WFW have enjoyed a longstanding relationship dating back to the 1990s.
“We were at a crossroads, where we needed to significantly expand our offices, our inventory and our team, and would have had to have asked the bank manger nicely, or muddled along in some other way.
“But now, with Sunbelt, plus the knowledge and enthusiasm from our colleagues at William F. White, we have a golden opportunity to substantially grow the business in all sorts of different, and complementary ways, that will really rock the boat and expose the Movietech name, our culture and way of doing things, to a much wider audience of filmmakers around the UK.”
Along with countless music video and commercials, feature productions supported by Movietech over the years have included: The Fully Monty (1997, DP John de Borman BSC AFC), Made In Dagenham (2010, DP John de Borman BSC AFC), My Week With Marylin (2011, DP Ben Smithard BSC), Under The Skin (2013, DP Daniel Landin BSC), Ex Machina (2014, DP Rob Hardy BSC ASC), Murdered By My Father’ (2016, DP Felix Wiedemann BSC), Disney’s Beauty And The Beast (2017, DP Tobias A. Schliessler ASC), Peterloo (2018, DP Dick Pope BSC) and Censor (2021, DP Annika Summerson), to name just a few.
More recently, and in tune with the growth of the UK production industry, the company has also supported a wide variety of high-end/streamed productions including BBC’s His Dark Materials, HBO’s Industry, Sky Originals’ I Hate Suzie, Sky Studio’s A Discovery Of Witches and Disney+/ Lucasfilm’s Willow. Indeed, there’s a fresh-faced crew of camera assistants in today, busily testing and prepping a camera package destined to ship up-north tomorrow for season one of Netflix’s Bodies.
Currently Movietech employs 28 people across its Pinewood Studios and Cardiff sites, and has a multimillion pound inventory of lenses, many of which are interestingly vintage, plus cameras, grip and associated accessories from manufacturers worldwide.
The existing Pinewood premises total 9,500sq/ ft, but Buckley is hoping to triple that footprint in the not too distant future, with the extra space being used for
a dramatically-increased arsenal, along with testing rooms, workshops and administrative space. Whether that will be on the lot at Pinewood, or a convenient spot nearby, remains to be seen.
The team at Movietech continually monitors technology and industry trends to ensure its customers have access to one of the most comprehensive resources available. With on-going curation under the auspices of renowned director of optics, John Venables,
This page: group shot… (l-r) Phil Parker, CFO Sunbelt Rentals; Jay and Anil Devani (Anil is joint MD); Linda Blake, FD; John Venables; director of optics; John Buckley, chairman (with Sheila Buckley); Andy Cooper, marketing director; David Palmer, MD; Angela Turner, strategic programme director, Sunbelt Rentals Ltd; and Alec West senior prep technician.
its lens inventory is an Aladdin’s cave, encompassing both classic and contemporary, spherical and Anamorphic glass from world-leading manufacturers such as Cooke, Kowa, Hawk, Zeiss, Angénieux and Canon, along some you might not have discovered yet, such as Orion, Gecko-Cam and MasterBuilt, along with Macro and special purpose probes.
Complementing its panoply of lenses, the camera department, led by Andy Mossman, includes the very latest bodies from ARRI, Sony, Red and Canon, as well as 35mm and 16mm film cameras. I am informed that a good half dozen of the brand new Sony Venice 2’s have just been inspected and shipped to a streaming series.
Whilst one might have expected the new broom to sweep somewhat clean, consistency is key, and Movietech’s senior management team – of Buckley, Venables, financial director Linda Blake, plus joint MDs Anil Devani and David Palmer – have all been retained, to look after clients and ensure a smooth integration of the business with William F. White.
Overseeing the operations from Canada, is
Trevor Huys, VP of camera and virtual production at WFW, whose industry background encompasses over 25 years of cinematic camera technical and rental experience, including ten years as a senior optical technician at Panavision. As he is based in Toronto, he has kindly emailed a note over specially for my visit, explaining a little further about plans moving forwards.
It reads, “Having worked with Movietech in the past, we know their leadership team, as well as their culture and how they operate with a high standard of technical knowledge and incredibly well-maintained inventory, that is very similar to ours.
“Our focus, as a Sunbelt Rentals’ company, is on international expansion and growth to meet the increasing demand for content worldwide, driven by streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Crave, Netflix, Disney+ and Apple+, which coincided with similar ambitions from Movietech’s side.
“With a shared purpose and set of values, our team and clients will only benefit from our combined reach and expertise. With this acquisition, Movietech now has the financial horsepower to achieve its goals from a new, state-of-the art facility, and we will be investing in more inventory and resources, including new-release cameras, lenses and support, to give cinematographers and filmmakers the tools they need to wow audiences across the world.
“Movietech is the first of what will be many forays into new markets. We look forward to opening the door to companies that complement all of our WFW lines of business, including lighting, grip, power, speciality equipment, studio and virtual production.”
Buckley says, “We are certain this represents a perfect opportunity for Movietech to really fly, by offering a scaled-up version of the respected boutique-style service we are known to provide. People enjoy the experience of coming here, the knowledge and the banter.”
Now all this talk about empire building is all well and good, but it’s making me incredibly hungry. So I grab one of those doughnuts that have been tantalising me, one with a dollop of jam in the middle, which seems to prompt Buckley into an additional thoughtwave.
“We’re always thinking about the future, particularly about training schemes and apprenticeships,” he says, as I make a complete mess of devouring the doughnut, and jam squirts all over the place.
“If there’s one thing I want to see us keep going, that would be encouraging more young people, like Zainab, who have a passion for this industry, to step through our doors, focus their skills and learn a valuable trade. You never know where that might take you in the years ahead. Now, would you like a napkin?”
ON THE GRID
By Michael Burns
If you’ve been on a film or TV set recently, you’re bound to have encountered softboxes and grids from DoPchoice. The company was founded in 2008 by managing director/owner Stefan Karle, a former cinematographer and graduate of Munich Film School, and under his auspices it has made light work of creating light-modifying accessories for almost every LED lighting fixture you can think of. They all use patented technologies that ensure quick set-up, sag-free operation and efficient lightshaping, and can take pretty much all the knocks a hard-working film crew can inflict.
When asked which recent films his products have been used on, Karle answers with a laugh, “Everything,” he says. “My big dream was to get to Hollywood as a cinematographer. Well, I can at least say my products made it!”
SHAPING THE LIGHT
For Karle, contrast and shaping the light were key when he was working as a cinematographer.
“I liked having bigger overheads or just having bigger softboxes. We made our own boxes, with frames to control the light,” he explains. “I was always focused on contrast, to have the contrast giving visual direction to the viewer. If the lighting is flat, you don’t know where to focus.”
However, he took issue with the solutions that were already on the market.
“The existing products were a little bit of a pain in that if you folded them in the right way then that was fine, but if you folded them any other way, then all of a sudden you had a damaged product.
“This almost never happens with our product. We use very expensive fabrics and we’re really durable,” he continues. “They get a lot of stress – we all know how things are treated on-set, things have to be done quickly. We are not the cheapest product in the market, but people will pay for quality.”
The company’s fold-up Butterfly Grids are a good example of the DoPchoice philosophy. Manufactured using a specially-developed robust fabric that keeps the grids stable, they stretch tightly in any position, even overhead, with no sagging,
and then fold flat to store. As well as a bungee cable fastening system, they have specially-developed brackets that make them very simple and quick to install as well as keeping the grid off the floor, whilst each corner has a white fastener instead of a black one, making it easier to find.
MANUFACTURING RELATIONSHIPS
Seven years ago DoPchoice started to work closely with ARRI, forming a relationship that continues strongly to this day, but the number of additional companies and fixtures the company now supports is staggering, and Karle says he sees almost two new products coming on to the market each week.
“It’s like a being in a hamster wheel for me,” he admits. “We have good relations with the manufacturers. They provide us with the latest information, with the latest drawings, so that we can be ready with our products when their product is launched.”
The most popular lines at the moment are the Snapbag with the Snapgrid, an easily mountable softbox solution for popular LED fixtures, such as the ARRI SkyPanel or Creamsource Vortex.
Karle says that with so much focus on developing the light itself, the manufacturers often go into production before they prioritise their need for an accessory. Then the call goes out to DoPchoice.
“A lot of traditional manufacturers don’t have our speed in development,” he says. “Products don’t run for ten years, like it was with HMI, now you get two to four years max, and then you get the next generation coming along. The problem comes if you develop something new and then the light is not a big success – it’s a tough business. But we’re in quite a nice situation as we are collaborating with most of the manufacturers. We are following the trend.
“We’re really responsive and we like new challenges,” Karle says. “For example, the gaffer Albrecht Silberberger came to us with his inflatable light, the Rodlight. He said: ‘I want a Snapgrid, but I don’t want to have the steel outside because it’s too heavy. I am making a 10-metre-long inflatable light that weighs next to nothing, so I don’t want your Snapgrid to weigh more than the light itself’.
“So, we started to investigate different materials such as carbon fibre, fibreglass and others, looking at
You have to be very efficient on film sets. We can help with our gear
ways to solve this problem.”
Karle and his team worked closely with Silberberger. “Albrecht knows exactly how he would use this gear, and he knows exactly how the accessory should work. They’re using it in places like old buildings, where you might just have two hanging points and you can only put something like 5kg on each. So, it must be all lightweight.
“It’s nice when you have a counterpart on the other side of the R&D, somebody who, like Albrecht, is giving you feedback, and also sometimes giving you a hard time. It brings you up to the next level and that makes it a lot of fun,” continues Karle.
The finished product that came from the collaborative effort with Silberberger, the Snapgrid 50°, is now on the market in three sizes, with the largest weighing only 1.34kg.
HOME BASE
Despite such a large product range, the core team in Munich is just nine people.
“One works from Barcelona, most of the others are working from home,” says Karle. “We have a warehouse, offices and our R&D across roughly 1,000sq/m, but the production is outsourced. We have some people in Germany and others in Eastern Europe working on more than 100 sewing machines.”
DoPchoice has several partnerships, such as a licensing model for North America with TRP worldwide, but for all other countries it delivers directly from Munich.
“We don’t have a big marketing machine. Thanks to our collaborations with manufacturers, we try to have our products ready with a product launch directly on their website, in their brochures and so on,” Karle adds. “During the pandemic, we invested a lot of money in our own studio. We installed a camera robot and a turntable connected to that.”
This set-up delivered the rotating 180° product shots that can now be found on the DoPchoice homepage.
“You get more of a feeling for the product and how it looks inside and out,” he says. “It takes one minute to set-up the light, we place our product
on the turntable, shoot it and then ship it out to the manufacturer. So once they greenlight the accessory, all the marketing material is ready.”
SET FOCUS
“It’s also important for us to keep relations open with the filmmakers, and to listen to what they need,” adds Karle. “We’re always looking at products from the perspective of how people use them on the set.”
Once such product is the Rabbit-Ears softbox fastening system, which replaces the cumbersome speed ring for mounting Snapbag softboxes on lighting fixtures. Available in four form-factors, a single unit can be used to mount on many different LED lighting brands firmly in under three minutes.
“Even if we have a released product, if we get suggestions for tweaks from people in the field, we adapt and change it,” adds Karle. “The nice thing about the company is that whilst it has grown in a big way, we still try to be reactive.”
The new Rabbit-Rounder Universal has been developed in this fashion. Created for a COB LED light rather than panels, it makes it easier to set-up a DoPchoice Snapbag, Octa or Lantern to Aputure, Fiilex, Nanlux mounts or fixtures with a Bowens mount. The user just clicks out the arms, and sets it on the fixture, while releasing it takes a simple push of a button.
“We made it super-durable, it cannot break, it cannot be bent,” says Karle. “The lighting rentals people particularly like it because they see the advantages of that. It also means that you can use one softbox for many different lights – you just put in a new adapter.
“If you look how much equipment the film crew is carrying today, there’s incredibly more inventory compared to 10 or 15 years ago. But they have fewer people to set up the gear. They have fewer shooting days for the same amount of end-material that has to become content. So you have to be very efficient on film sets.
“We can help with our gear, to be quicker, to take advantage of short breaks; the crew can just put a Snapgrid into the soft box, and then everybody’s happy.”
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Opposite: (top clockwise) ICLS board member, James McGuire; co-founder and gaffer Raffi Sanchez; co-founder and gaffer Martin Smith on Mission: Impossible - Fallout. This page: co-founder and gaffer Mike Bauman; co-founder and gaffer Martin Smith on-set with DP Rob Hardy BSC ASC.
While there wasn’t much to celebrate for the film and television industry during the global lockdown caused by the Covid pandemic, one positive was that it provided a launch pad for the International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS).
Founded by leading gaffers Mike Bauman, Raffi Sanchez and Martin Smith in 2020 as a networking forum for people in the lighting industry, the ICLS really took off last year as gaffers around the world found the society’s regular Saturday Zoom meet-ups a great way to stay in touch.
As Bauman explains, the ICLS helped to satisfy the need for connection and communication during lockdown, which had in reality always existed.
“Gaffers tend to be busy people and don’t really have time to meet-up with one another unless it’s at a trade show,” he says. “What we discovered was that there was an amazing amount of knowledge out there, but no easy way to tap into it. So we decided to formalise the ICLS because we could really see the strength of the community.”
Raffi Sanchez adds, “The Saturday meetings in lockdown made us realise the power of sharing information – we were all learning a lot from one another about Covid at the time, and when we did go back to work we were all much better prepared than we would have been otherwise. It made me better at my job and I realised the power of a community where everybody is willing to share knowledge.”
“My first reaction was that we should open things up a bit,” recalls UK gaffer Martin Smith. “I thought that there’s a pool of top gaffers I know in Europe, and further afield globally who would love to be part of this; to come along and blow off a bit of steam.”
“Initially it was all about, ‘How’s Covid where you are?’,” recalls Bauman. “But then we decided to develop it by getting some topics together, plus a few vendors expressed an interest in taking part.” The plan hatched by Bauman, Sanchez and Smith was to create a ‘not-for-profit’ society, along the lines of the America Society Of Cinematographers or the British Society of Cinematographers, dedicated to the advancement of the craft of film lighting, which would
act as an information-sharing forum in crucial areas such as lighting technology.
Bauman illuminates, “This has become all the more critical as the amount of new technology and its complexity has increased rapidly. The simple fact is that in lighting the rate of change in technology has been explosive, much more so than other areas of film, such as grips and camera technology. Most of the gear we use now simply didn’t exist ten years ago.”
Another major aim of the ICLS was to help provide mentorship and more formal pathways for people to get into the business. To date the route into the world of film lighting has remained pretty informal, focused around the development of personal relationships rather than formal qualifications, but the ICLS plans to develop a more structured, accredited entry-route into the profession.
Promoting diversity, particularly getting more women into the world of gaffing, is another ambition, stresses Bauman. Bringing a wider range of discussions to the regular Saturday Zooms, which currently attract up to 50 members, has been something that console operator/ programmer, and ICLS board member, Erin Nelligan has brought to the party.
“Erin has really pushed a lot of the thinking,” declares Bauman, “from Covid protocols and how you best manage
a crew, to how to handle harassment on-set – things that not a lot of us were comfortable talking about. She’s helped widen the debate beyond a focus on lighting tech.”
Discord server
In addition to ICLS’s Saturday meet-ups, one of the key attractions is the group’s thriving discord server, which acts as an effective global forum for film lighting issues.
“The discord server is the beating heart of the whole experience,” insists Bauman,” and is a focus for the creation of a lot of great dialogue. We have lots of people in different countries over a variety of time zones which can make it hard to link-up, but over the discord people can ask questions, solve problems and give really useful feedback on different lighting solutions.”
Martin Smith declares: “I learn something new every time I visit, it blows me away that there are so many people
with so much information that’s useful. Now it’s the first place I go for help. As a young gaffer it would have been great to have had access to information like this.” Sanchez adds: “There are 80-90 different channels already on he discord server and it’s growing fast. Channels include ‘Today’s Office’ – where gaffers post photos of what they are working on that day – a Health Channel, a Lighting Safety Channel, plus, around the world, every continent has its own channel. The discord server also provides direct links to some of the major lighting vendors, so that we can communicate with them too regarding questions about kit. They have been very responsive and helpful. It’s also proved to be a useful feedback channel from end-users.”
“Now everybody is so Zoom-savvy, manufacturers have been keen to come in and present,” says Bauman. “In just one two-hour session we can deep dive into products in much more detail than you would get in a five-minute presentation at a trade show. Online you have access to 27 different countries, there is follow-up dialogue for weeks afterwards and if anybody couldn’t make the live presentation it’s available to watch at another time.”
The ICLS offers different tiers of sponsorship – the highest level affords vendors their own discord channel, while smaller companies marketing one product or app pay less.
Martin Smith adds: “Another beauty is that vendors get to come straight to the end-user with their prototypes and share information that nobody else is privy to. As a trusted group, that has some super-smart technicians, we can help out with early stage prototypes and help steer product development.”
In response to the demand for more information about lighting technology, the society ran its first virtual trade show in March 2022, with 100 gaffers logging-in to see presentations from a mix of eight vendors including: Creamsource, Rosco, DoPChoice, Light Bridge and Blackout Lighting Console. ICLS Ssponsors also include: Aputure, ARRI, Astera, Fiilex, FlickerFreeLED, LightBridge, Luminex, LiteGear, MBSi, Rupixels, SumoLight and VectorWorks, amongst others.
Over the next year, the plan is to develop the programme, widen the user-base and develop a website with a searchable content database, and the society has recruited its first staff member, ICLS associate director Bea Patten, to take this work forwards.
“Bea really is the backbone of the organisation,” says Smith, who adds that there is only so much time that working gaffers can dedicate to the society as they juggle ICLS work with a full-time career and other commitments.
Another ambition is to run two versions of its regular weekly Saturday meet-up, one for its Western time zones and another for the East. “Our aim is to become a truly worldwide organisation,” says Smith.
Joining the ICLS
The ICLS is in the process of getting not-for-profit status as a trade organisation. This is a big deal as it means the group’s income from membership fees and vendor sponsorship is not subject to taxation, provided the money is only used to support the interests of the membership.
The group is now directed by a five-strong board which, in addition to LA-based gaffers Mike Bauman and Raffi Sanchez and the UK’s Martin Smith, includes James McGuire from Ireland and Erin Nelligan from
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Vancouver, Canada. It has a membership committee vetting new entrants, a finance committee and a vendor committee.
“Because of these structures, the ICLS is a lot more than a Facebook group or a bunch of people hanging out on Zoom drinking beers,” states Bauman.
The ICLS currently has 250 full members with the aim of getting to 300 by the end of the year. To qualify for membership, you have to have a bit of a track record; namely been a gaffer, rigging gaffer or desk op/console programmer for eight years with a string of credits to show for it.
The society is also seeking to be more inclusive, recently launching a new category of associate membership that is open to less experienced gaffers and related professions, such as post-house colourists or experts in projection.
“The aim is to help bring-in knowledge from other areas which are becoming more relevant to the lighting department. It’s important for us to reach into underserved communities because a wider range of skills are required as technology in lighting changes,” explains Bauman.
“The ICLS helps to share that knowledge. Recently we have had deep-dive presentations from people such as gaffer Jeff Webster and the team from The Mandalorian on recent advances in virtual studio production. We have hosted presentations from Creamsource about the Vortex lighting system, and also Steve Yedlin ASC’s famous colour science presentation.”
For more information, please visit www.iclsociety.com.
STUDIO LOCATION FEATURES COMMERCIALS DRAMA TELEVISION EQUIPMENT GENERATORS TRANSPORT SUPPORT INNOVATION SAFETY SUSTAINABILITY
COME TOGETHER
By Kirsty Hazlewood
At the beginning of 2020, SCS, the exhibition company behind the annual BSC Expo, was approached by a group of manufacturers and suppliers to create a fresh, new and exciting event for the film and TV production industry, to be based in Munich, Germany. After deliberation, discussion and much planning, Euro Cine Expo was subsequently launched to fulfil this need.
Unfortunately, the original plans for a summer 2020 event were disrupted by the pandemic. However, in 2022, the original concept is now being realised and Euro Cine Expo will open the doors of its inaugural event on 1st and 2nd July.
The team behind Euro Cine Expo, headed up by Rob and Claire Saunders, who bring many years of combined experience to the show, are looking to usherin a festival feel. The two-day expo will not only feature a comprehensive exhibition showcasing the latest filmmaking technologies, but will also be combined with a programme of seminars and panel discussions with leading cinematographers and manufacturers, alongside a variety of networking events.
The backdrop for Euro Cine Expo is the Zenith at MotorWorld. The venue plays host to three unique spaces (The Zenith, The Kesselhaus and The Kohlebunker) for the exhibition, seminars and networking, plus the newly-opened and renovated Motorworld, which combines a luxury on-site hotel, seven restaurants/bars, plus the Motorworld experience. These make for an ideal environment for creatives to come together this summer.
The timing for Euro Cine Expo coincides with the Munich Film Festival, Germany’s largest summer film festival, which screens some 200 films annually and is host to countless filmmakers from all over the world.
On-site at Euro Cine Expo the team will host events both indoors and outdoors to hopefully take advantage of the summer weather. With plenty of on-
site parking as well, and multiple food outlets including street food, SCS hopes attendees and exhibitors will enjoy the experience into the evening and long after the show has closed.
“The concept of Euro Cine Expo has been a long time in the making, and we are delighted and overwhelmed by the support the industry is giving,” said Rob Saunders. “What started out as a local event is now becoming a summer gathering for the wider European cinematography and film production community, and we are looking forward very much to hosting colleagues from across Europe and further afield.
“We know the last two years have been tough for everyone, especially in this industry, and the opportunities to engage at in-person events have been greatly missed. We are therefore thrilled to offer visitors and exhibitors from across Europe, and beyond, the opportunity to gather together, showcase the latest technologies and connect once again to share valuable insights.
“Euro Cine Expo will provide a fresh and vibrant environment, with a festival-type feel, where professionals in the moving image sector can share ideas, learn about market developments, solve problems, and meet with colleagues.”
Euro Cine Expo is working with a variety of media outlets across Europe, with Cinematography World being the primary media partner. The team behind Cinematography World is curating a thoughtprovoking and informative seminar programme that will bring the cinematography community together to discuss topics affecting the industry and promote industry capability and safety.
“We’re aiming to curate an inspirational seminar programme at Euro Cine Expo for everyone that works in cinematography and behind the camera,” said Ron Prince, editor-in-chief at Cinematography World editor. “This will encompass presentations from cinematographers, lighting and camera manufacturers, panel discussions, as well as Q&A sessions.”
“Included in this will be a special presentation in collaboration with Cinegirl, a leading independent female-focused cinematography publication, that will cover a range of different topics that promote diversity and inclusion across film sets.”
Entry to Euro Cine Expo is completely free to attend and you can register at www.eurocineexpo.com/ registration. We look forward to seeing you there!
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MUNICH • 1 - 2 JULY • 2022 1 - 2 JULI • 2022 • MÜNCHEN
Europe's new event focusing on the technologies and craft of Cinematography
Uniting the film industry across 2 days of exhibition & seminars
Coinciding with the Munich Film Festival & delivering a world class seminar & workshop programme of events to run alongside the exhibition
eurocineexpo.com
Located at The Zenith, part of Motorworld providing an amazing immersive and inspiring new venue for the Cinematography and Film industry.
Save the dates 1 - 2 July 2022
For more information contact us on +44 1428 609 382 or email info@eurocineexpo.com
Cinematography World is proud to be the Official Media Partner of Euro Cine Expo
