Tricks of the Trade

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Curtis Clark, ASC

In a series of three commercials that I recently shot for PBS, one was concerned with promoting their "Masterpiece Theatre" series of dramas. Many of these made-for-TV dramas are British imports, including the ever-popular Jane Austen adaptations. Our "Masterpiece Theatre" promotional spot was an inventively witty spoof depicting what at first appears to be an authentic early 19th century ersatz Jane Austen heroine on her four poster bed lit by candlelight and delivering a dramatic soliloquy. Toward the end of her demonstrative ruminations, her younger brother enters the room as we cut to the one angle of her bedroom that we haven't seen. A shot of his deadpan visage standing in the doorway announcing the arrival of her "buzz cut" boyfriend downstairs betrays the modern late 20th century reality from which our heroin had temporarily escaped via her ecstatic costume fantasy.

To render the full effect of authentic candlelight, I decided to use a technique that I first used back in 1982 for the 17th century Restoration based British film The Draughtsman's Contract (written and directed by Peter Greenaway).

To retain the authentic feel of candlelight, I believe that it is essential to use candlelight itself as a primary source. To do this presents some considerable challenges since candlelight is not only very low in luminosity, but also extremely warm in color temperature! Careful positioning of the candle sources' proximity to the subject, both in and outside the frame is crucial. Camera compositions should facilitate the best positioning of the candle source(s) for the desired lighting effect. Even with double and triple wick candles the inescapable inverse square law can reek havoc on photographic exposures! Supplementing actual candle sources with a little help from tiny quartz bulbs carefully hidden behind the shank of the candle stem or mixed with off camera candles to amplify the intensity is frequently necessary. When mixing electric light with candlelight it is vital to match the color temperature of the tungsten/quartz sources to the candlelight, which is roughly 1800 degrees Kelvin. Precise voltage reduction dimmers are required to control the color temperature match of electric light with candlelight.

Having achieved uniform color temperature the cinematographer is now faced with the potentially problematic behavior of an extremely warm color light source on human flesh tones. Since most tungsten stocks are balanced for 3200 degrees Kelvin pale flesh tones can even appear reddish. To overcome this dilemma, I started experimenting with clown white makeup on the actor's face. When applied in daylight or "white light" everyone on the production, especially the "made up" actor looking in a mirror, is usually horrified and definitely wondering whether or not I might have gone a bit mad!

The near 100% reflectance of the "white" surface does the double duty of enhancing exposure AND neutralizing excessive warmth of candlelight on flesh tones. The color of the candlelight supplies the more natural looking warmth in the flesh tones. If applied with real finesse this highly specialized makeup can even suggest an almost porcelain-like painterly quality.