I don’t do film stills or on set photography but recently I was on the sets of a major international TV dramas at Ardmore studios and German and American productions. I am always interested in the lighting and the cameras used to shoot these series .
I asked the Cinematographers do they shoot a clean image or use filters ?
A clean image refers to shooting a raw image without any in camera processing . The idea being that having a cleanly shot image would give maximum leeway to adjust the image later in post . In effect the clean image is like the negative or raw digital file.
It’s was surprising that the cameraman told me that, yes they do use filters to adjust the high definition Image .
The reason they use filters with high definition images is precisely because these cameras produce such a high definition image that it shows up every detail, producing a over sharp almost ‘Sky News’ look to the images. Many of these dramas are period pieces, so the clean modern digital look would be totally wrong for these films.Using filters such as pro- mists and nets , diffusers and so on reduce contrast and produce a more rounded image , a softer image that feels more like a film image. Ok, you can adjust contrast, colour, softness and so on in post but it needs a subtle hand and to my mind it always looks like post production.
They told me that they use filters ‘more than ever’. Choosing filters is another creative decision that commits to a look or feel for a project: thinking about it, I almost use filters with the light set, up but that’s another post.
Photo: Mike O’Toole, Children: Fiachra and Ailbhe.
