Rays of Light

[jackierr]

I am amazed by the beauty of shots that have rays of light peering down through dark space. For example, the shot in Citizen Kane where the reporter enters the dark reading room in the archives is stunning because the light rays blanket the table. How does one light such a shot? Thanks.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

You need an even layer of smoke/fog from a haze machine to create a shaft of light. The light itself should be strong and focused, whether by shining through a window or other frame, or by using a light that creates more of a narrow beam, like a Xenon or Molebeam projector (in a smaller space, something like a Leko or Source-4.)

 

[Gohanto]

Just another question, but I saw a photo of this effect in Schindler's list...
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0108052/still1.jpg.html

and the question to me was how did they stop that light from bouncing all over the room? So much is in the shot I can't really figure out where they would've hidden flags.

 

[Lazlo]

but how do you control haze? In my experience with smoke it dissapates fairly quickly, and if it is even, it is not so for very long...

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I think the contrast of the film stock was enough to light that room with the shaft of light and have it only barely fill-in the shadows.

You have to seal a room from any draft before smoking it, so that the haze will hang evenly. Smoke will move to fill a space evenly from corner to corner and it won't stop moving until that's happened, so you have to contain the space. If that shot from "Schindler's List" was a set with an open wall or ceiling, on a soundstage, they would have had to smoke the whole soundstage evenly even if all they were shooting was the small room.

Plus you have to make sure that there isn't an escape route for the smoke or it will drift in that direction. On some locations, you have to hang plastic sheets around the room (off-camera) to seal off the air flow.