Roger Deakins elaborated on this setup over on his forum. There was one particular cathedral that’s a big concrete block with two skylights that lets light in a most interesting way. We thought about an artificial world in which lighting moves like sunlight. I went with that and little patterns. Denis wanted the main space to be a big platform in the middle of a pond (based on an architectural design we’d seen). And the idea was to play with water with caustic patterns to evoke different emotions. It was about trying to find Wallace’s character and Denis and I spent a lot of time talking about the look of the interior… We looked at a lot of references of the way architects use light in modern buildings, and especially the way light falls on some of these big concrete structures. When it came to the look of Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins spent quite a bit of time deciding the right atmosphere. In an interview with IndieWire, Deakins recalls the following: This was a light I had made which consists of 5 concentric hexagonal aluminum strips holding 200 odd 75 watt household bulbs. The largest hexagon is 15′ across and the smallest 3’6″ across. It was controlled by a dimmer system and a skirt of ultrabounce acts as a cut as well as an interior reflector. When we last talked about these ring lights, Deakins had shared the following on the massive ring light that his grips and gaffers built for A Serious Man… They are really simple things though: some wooden rings of varying diameter with sockets for household bulbs every 5″, some straight wooden strips with similarly spaced sockets, steel hoops with evenly spaced 200/300 watt halogen bulbs, sockets grouped like the fingers of your hand which also take 200 watt halogen bulbs, a household socket with the socket for a 200 watt halogen bulb behind it etc etc. Here are some films that not only showcase Deakins' talent, but are also just downright entertaining to watch.In a previous article, 5 DIY Tutorials and Gear Hacks for Filmmakers, we covered building a Roger Deakins-style ring light. Ring lights have become one of Deakins’s signature tools, and on each film, the rings get bigger and bigger. Before talking about the lighting of Blade Runner 2049, let’s look back at Deakins talking about ring lights: Roger Deakins has proven his versatility by bringing to life everything from mundane every-day existence in Fargo to the other worldly experience in How to Train your Dragon (showing that he's even brilliant as a visual consultant in animation). It is about framing the characters and matching the tone of the film. However, cinematography is more than just making a pretty picture. Anyone who wants to study cinematography should become familiar with Deakins and his practices. His understanding of lighting and dramatic silhouettes always work to set the tone, even before anything is revealed about the plot. The Academy has nominated him for 15 Oscars, and he has won two, breaking his long losing streak by wining a rare Best Cinematography Oscar for a science-fiction film with Blade Runner 2049. Roger Deakins is one of the most critically acclaimed cinematographers of our time.
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