SHINING A LIGHT ON...

By David Wood

Selected Filmography

(as gaffer unless otherwise stated)

The Bastard (2023)

Tár (2022)

Corsage (2022)

The Conference (2022)

The Black Square (2021)

Our Wonderful Years (2020) (TV mini series)

Die Känguru-Chroniken (2020)

My Zoe (2019)

Rate Your Date (2019)

The Aftermath (2019)

Dau (2019)

Ever After (2018)

Never Look Away (2018)

Forwards Ever! (2017)

Point Break (2015) (rigging gaffer)

Remainder (2015)

Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) (gaffer 2nd unit - reshoot)

A Most Wanted Man (2014)

Early years:

In 1998, I became a trainee on the lighting crew of a student movie. The gaffer, Timm Brückner, and I got along quite well, so he offered me a job as trainee on his next film. I ended up working with and learning from him for ten years, as an electrician and then best boy. He pushed me to start gaffing, which I did in 2008.

Working with DPs:

Two factors are most important to decide whether to work on a movie or not. The script and, even more important, the DP. I love to work with DPs on a collaborative level. In a perfect world you understand each other after a while without much talking.

In pre-production we have many conversations about what the look of the movie is meant to be. We talk about films we like and lighting styles. We go on recces and mix all the ideas together. It’s that combination of creativity and logistics which I love, plus fitting it all into the available budget. Through my career I found it the greatest gift to learn from all the DPs I was allowed to co-operate with, as a gaffer but also before, being an electrician and best boy.

Age// Born// School// Lives in//

48 Munich, Germany

Garching, near Munich

Flensburg, Northern Germany

Lighting in Germany:

In Germany, there are fewer big studio productions. Most of our projects take place on-location. So a big part of what I do is to find solutions to lighting problems that stand between the DP’s vision and the existing situation there. But if it comes to a studio shoot, facilities, expertise, manpower and equipment don’t differ from anywhere else.

Key crew:

The most important collaborator in my crew is my best boy Sascha Görlich. He’s my backbone and has been my logistic mastermind for the last 15 years.

Appointing a crew can be quite political. If the movie is funded from different places you might have to spend time shooting there and source a crew locally. I have to be flexible and work with different people all over. But I see this as an opportunity for meeting new sparks and getting different input.

My main, regular crew from Berlin would always be my first choice, but even shooting in Berlin, I have to vary things since the amount of work has grown massively in last few years and I don’t work 12 months a year.

In terms of controlling my lamps, I mostly do everything myself on the iPad using Blackout, but I do use a desk op for studio shoots. The bigger the movie the more I need a dimmer operator, but on a medium budget film with a lighting crew of five I tend not have one… yet!

Lighting for 35mm film on Corsage:

Corsage was shot by DP Judith Kaufmann BVK on 35mm film which was fantastic. After working with digital for so many years, we did extensive tests to relearn how to deal with filmstock. Surprisingly it only took a couple of days to adapt one’s eyes and mind.

Although they didn’t have electricity in the 1880s, when Corsage is set, our director Marie Kreutzer decided to use electrified practicals in-shot. On a creative level, that actually came in handy, because we were not forced to use only candles or fire, besides daylight as a source. We decided to extend that light with modern, fully colour-controllable LEDs to perfectly match them. That was of big value, since shooting on film requires a very precise colour handling.

Another advantage of the latest LED technology is the possibility not only of adapting the lights in terms of colour, but also creating movement in shot, mimicking candle light or fire. You can do this much more easily and precisely than with Tungsten.

LED lighting and speed:

Every gaffer would argue that LED has completely changed film lighting over the last few years with all the new fixtures you can control wirelessly. It’s a gamechanger to be able to control colour and output with just the stroke of a finger. Some of these lights include their own power sources, which makes the whole process even faster. top light like that wasn’t what we wanted. So we had to shape the light by using white diffusion wrapped around, and Black Molton Skirts to create contrast for the whole room. In addition, we rigged a butterfly with attached ROD lights for the conductor’s stand to soften the light even further and create a lower source to light the eyes of our main actress, Cate Blanchett.

On a recent film we had 42 days in three different countries to do 210 scenes and we shot an average of 25 set-ups a day. With the look we wanted to achieve, I would say that would have been impossible with the equipment we had ten years ago.

Another important location was a huge flat in Berlin. We added HMIs on cherry pickers outside, lighting the day/interior apartment scenes using various 20x20 diffusion to create different atmospheres for different shots. For the night shoots, we surrounded the place from outside with ROD Lights for the feel of city/ night light and added various smaller LED sources in the interior. We also fell back on using the good oldfashioned 100W Tungsten China Balloon, because it suited our actors and the situation perfectly.

Along with fixtures by Creamsource, LiteGear and Astera, an important tool I used a lot on Tár was the ARRI Orbiter. The possibility to use it like a SkyPanel through, or bounced-off fabric, or bouncing it into certain areas of ceilings to create a basic light level, especially in rooms with darker or papered walls, was ideal.

International Cinema Lighting Society motivation, warmth and humour, shooting Tár would not have been the same.”

Cinematographer Judith Kaufmann

BVK says:

“One thing is Florian’s huge experience. He can co-ordinate very well and is always present on-set. But, most of all, I appreciate his enthusiasm and his search to find a solution for every challenge. And he always encourages me as the DP to be courageous.”

Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel ASC says:

“When we first talked about Never Look Away, I got the distinct feeling we would get along, that Florian had a deep understanding of the story, could visualise ideas, turn them into images, and he had the determination to pull it off.

Since our working hours are more and more limited, the development of these new lamps and techniques help us to create beautiful shots in a very short time. But the greatest advantage of all for me is the possibility to play with the lights once set up, watching a monitor and not having to communicate with anybody except my DP. Now it is really like painting with light.

Lighting on Tár:

I loved lighting the different sets of this film for DP Florian Hoffmeister BSC. We shot eight days at the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra in its newly-renovated building where we were not able to install a lot of lights as the place was very sensitive about rigging.

There was existing overhead lighting over the orchestra, mounted in acoustic elements, but hard

I’m a full member of the ICLS and I’ve found taking part is one of the greatest gifts. I’m a constant visitor to its server because of the amazing level of sharing from experts in lighting around the world, who let you into the secrets of how they create and plan lighting for their projects.

The other great thing is the ability to get into contact quickly with all the big lighting manufacturers to answer technical questions – for me it’s a huge treasure chest.

Cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister BSC says:

“For the lighting concept of Tár authenticity of space was paramount. As we shot mostly on-location this required a high degree of ingenuity – from gluing China balls onto existing ceiling lights, to lighting an entire penthouse apartment for 360-degrees at night. Not only was Florian able to adapt to any given challenge, he also completely understood what we were trying to achieve. Without his creative support, fantastic

As a cinematographer you need someone who is not only excellent at the mechanics of lighting, but also who is in tune with you, who can develop a working shorthand, find solutions to problems, expand on good ideas and not be afraid to express their opinion. Florian proved himself in all those areas. We had a great time working together, and I would do it again anytime.”

Cinematographer Rasmus Videbæk says:

“Flo is a genuine creative companion. His creative ideas and great eye contribute hugely to painting the canvas. Like no one I have worked with before, he has fully embraced LED technology and is able to harness its full creative potential. Methodical and organised we were able to quickly get to the fun part on The Bastard – doing the little tweaks that really make a difference. We had great fun doing this movie together.”