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“So we came up with two systems: first, we broke the light down by blocking and diffusing it so that there was never direct sunlight falling on the main area of the set; and second, we hung a huge single light source made up of a large number of lamps from a crane high above the set, and boomed that around from place to place to get lighting variations.” The huge overhead source comprised 16 12K Maxi-Brutes, with a possible output of almost 200 kilowatts. O’Leary explains that each unit contained medium floods on the outside and narrow, more directional bulbs on the inside. Each row of four bulbs was on a separate dimmer. This mix of bulbs under dimmer control allowed fairly precise control of the illumination. “If we needed more exposure, we brought up the narrow bulbs or we lowered the whole unit,” says O’Leary. The massive source was diffused by two 20'-square silks dyed 1/2 CTB, one pointed straight down on the apartment building or pool, and the other angled toward the bungalow. “For the film’s finale, the bungalow lighting was gelled a very light green to suggest the creatures’ world, which is rooted in the grass and trees,” says Doyle. “In general, I’m very wary of blue moonlight — it seems clichéd or vaudevillian. My night skies are typically [lit] white, unless they’re city skies contaminated by sulphurous orange.”The cinematographer’s approach to twilight creates night scenes with unusually low contrast, yielding a distinctive, eerie nocturnal mood. “Without giving away the ending, I can say that the sky is a source of release or salvation [for the characters] — good things come from the sky — so I didn’t want the sky to be a black hole,” says the cinematographer. Much of the lighting in Lady is soft, and Doyle acknowledges that “many of my recent films have been about not having too strong a sense of the source of light.” Other elements of the nighttime lighting scheme were a series of practicals on the apartment-building façade and along a walkway; all of these were under dimmer control.During the climactic storm sequence, 10Ks were situated on four Condors or on rooftops to provide backlight that defines the torrential rain showered down by an extensive arrangement of pipes. Flashes of lightning were simulated by 250K Lighting Strikes units positioned in the four corners of the set. Glenn Kaplan, Doyle’s 1st AC on the project, recalls that while the rest of the crew wore full rain gear during the six weeks it took to film this sequence, Doyle often wore only shorts and a raincoat. “Our rain was warm — the effects team tried to make Philly a little more Hong Kong for me,” cracks Doyle.Lady in the Water was shot with Arricam Studios and Lites and an Arri 435, and Doyle used a set of Cooke S4 primes and Angenieux Optimo zooms. Kaplan chuckles as he recalls Doyle eschewing the 35mm and 50mm primes “because they were too conventional. So we relabeled the 50mm ‘49 7/8mm’ for the rare times Chris would use it.”With rare exceptions, Doyle does his own operating, and working handheld so often has taken a bit of a toll. “My doctor said my spine bends to the right,” he says, “and I said, ‘At least my intentions are straight!’ She said, ‘Can’t you hold it on the other shoulder?’“If I don’t operate, I get very agitated,” he continues. “I believe there is a dance between the actor and the cinematographer, and only two can tango.” When he’s not working handheld, he prefers using fluid heads because they are more “organic” than the “wheels” of a geared head. Kaplan recalls that Doyle used a “Buddha Bag” when shooting handheld with the Arricam Lite: he would settle his elbows on a beanbag strapped tightly to his chest. The setup gave the wiry cinematographer a big Buddha belly. When shooting close-ups, Doyle often used a 65mm lens and moved the camera and the light source close to the actors. “We would get the lighting fairly close so it dropped off quickly in the background,” says O’Leary. “We used China balls and bounce. The backgrounds are often darker, which gives a lift to the actor. There was very little backlight and very little rimlight; it was quite naturalistic.”For Doyle, shooting close-ups of women is an important part of the filmmaking experience. “Frankly, I don’t care about the men, but most women have a need for light. Everyone knows I’m in love with my actresses, and there are films that have celebrated that. In Chinese, you would say that great actresses radiate chi: energy. Unless you’re a total buffoon, you can’t get it wrong. You have to celebrate chi, but it’s not about lighting, it’s about affection, reassurance, complicity, sharing something. It’s not academic, it’s intimate. The right angle is the most vulnerable angle.” Noting that his camera is often at eye level and very close to the actors, Doyle opines that there is a “general trend in recent films to engage with the audience more directly.” On Lady in the Water, this sense of engagement was often heightened by a wide-open stop of T2, which further isolated the characters from the backgrounds.A specialized rig for the Arri 435 was used for underwater photography of the muddy cavern below the pool. (The underwater director of photography was ASC associate member Pete Romano.) O’Leary explains that the “lighting was simple, some fluorescents above for base light and a powerful flashlight waved by Paul [Giamatti] underwater.” Doyle adds, “The light within the space was in the vein of film, just an enhancement of what you’d expect with a flashlight.” Above ground, variations of lighting and color were based on the different spaces of the apartment complex. “I hope these variations are more felt than perceived,” says Doyle. “A major theme in the film is the characters moving from one space to the other, especially Bryce’s character. Crossing over into the so-called real world is a major choice for her because it’s very difficult. She is encouraged to do that through the friendship and trust she finds in Paul’s character. So this separation was written into the script, and our job, as always, was to give form to the intent of the script. “I divided the set into three spaces with three subtly different looks: the caretaker’s bungalow, the swimming pool, and the apartments. The bungalow reflects Paul’s character and suggests a sense of security; it’s homey and lit in a conventional way. The pool is darker, with this sense of ominous mystery. The rest of the characters live in the apartments, and there is never any direct sunlight on the building.” The apartment interiors have a more contrasty, colorful look than the cyan-twilight exterior. As the story progresses and the danger increases, the twilight becomes greener and darker.The choice of film stock and processing had a big impact on the color and texture of the different looks, and Doyle called upon a longtime collaborator, color timer/colorist Olivier Fontenay, to represent him at the laboratory. “I’ve done Hero, Quiet American and several other films with Olivier, and over time, our eye has become similar,” says the cinematographer. A native of France, Fontenay works as a senior color timer at Atlab in Australia. At the beginning of Lady’s shoot, he went to Technicolor-New York to help calibrate the one-light dailies supervised by color timer Joe Violante, and at the end of the shoot, he joined color timer Terry Haggar at Technicolor-Los Angeles to help finalize the answer print. Fontenay explains that the laborious process of setting up unchanging printer lights at the beginning of the shoot was a crucial starting point, as these untimed prints were screened on set by Shyamalan and the crew. Shyamalan prefers to edit film on a flatbed, not a computer. All color timing was done photochemically.
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