SHINING A LIGHT ON...

from Cinematography World issue 016

by thelatesteditionishereandfreetoview

SHINING A LIGHT ON...

Selected Filmography (as gaffer unless otherwise stated)

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part Two (2024)

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One (2023)

Top Gun: Maverick (additional photography) (2022)

The Witches (2020)

6 Underground (2019)

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (second unit) (2016)

Doctor Strange (second unit) (2016)

The Brothers Grimsby (second unit) (2016)

13 Hours (2016)

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (second unit) (2015)

The Wolfm an (2010) (electrician: second unit/action unit)

V For Vendetta (2005) (electrician)

Excitement about the International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS)

The ICLS is an incredible resource for anyone working, or wanting a career, in film lighting. As a co-founder/director I’m keen to see the society grow globally, and hope it will encourage greater diversity, inclusion and equality to make for a better working environment in the lighting department.

But, first and foremost, I would like the ICLS to offer recognised, accredited pathways for aspiring lighting technicians to enter the industry – training and educational programmes that will give them a handle on all aspects of the job, including electrical qualifications, rigging and maintenance, set etiquette, lighting design, health and safety, labour and equipment budgeting, working alongside production, other HoDs and counterparts in different countries, and the logistics of moving equipment around the globe. It’s going to take time, and we’ll need the support of lighting companies, the streamers, Hollywood studios and maybe some unions, but that’s my goal.

Keeping up with new technology?

That’s a tough one, because it changes daily. I’m passionate, and keep an open mind, about new technology, and am very lucky to have great relationships with most lighting manufacturers and rental houses. I’m big on attending trade shows to see what’s new and getting valuable information shared by open-minded ICLS members on the Discord channels. We also have a lot of fabulous vendors willing to share technical information. I love reading gaffer interviews in magazines too.

However, the new technology for data networking, programming and control, is a whole world that you could spend a lifetime investigating. As I need to get on with lighting on-set, I happily delegate that all to my programmer/desk op, Daniel Waters, who’s nothing but the sharpest mind around.

MARTIN SMITH ICLS By Ron Prince

Age// Born// Training// Early career// Lives // Hobbies//

Brighton, Sussex

City & Guilds – Full Electrical Apprenticeship

Electrician at Sovereign Electrical Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex

Flying, diving and running

Current favourite pieces of lighting equipment

We’re fast moving into IP-65rated LED technology that offers better colour and luminance control, higher output and lower energy consumption. Products like the Creamsource Vortex are game changers in that you can use them as a very tight beam with no diffusion, or you can add diffusion layers for a softer spread of light. They played a big part in our Venice scenes in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, where we needed as replacements for classical Tungsten Fresnels, and the Fiilex range of Q3, Q5, Q8 and Q10 lights seem to be amazing for that. A larger source with higher output, that I’m really excited about, is the new Rosco/DMG Lion 13-inch, all-weather Fresnel. It packs an almighty punch of beautiful, high-quality, colour-controlled light.

Currently, my go-to favourite around-camera lights are the LiteGear Litemat spectrum range, Hudson Spider and Hudson Mosquitos. My graband-go anywhere-and-everywhere light will always be the Rosco/DMG Dash. With soft attachments, it is truly an amazing little workhorse.

I’m also a big advocate of using LED robotic/ moving/automated lights on locations and sets. They can be rigged anywhere and used to pick out an area or feature in the background. In Venice we used over 60 of the IP rated Ayrton Perseo range. The TC range has the superior LED array with a CRI greater than 90, iris, four sharp shutters, an amazing output, and a 7° to 58° zoom. They’re IP-rated, so you can leave them out in the rain. They worked really well in Venice on Dead Reckoning – Part One

Some of my role models

There are many great gaffers who have been influential to me. One of them is Kevin Day, who worked with DP Adrian Biddle BSC for many years. Kevin knew how to light, had full control of the floor and everyone respected him. Adrian leant heavily on him, because Kevin knew what was needed. Even on the biggest set-ups, Adrian barely had to change a thing and could therefore concentrate on other aspects of the cinematography – the camera angles, positions, moves and image composition. I used to watch Kevin and think, “Wow, that’s the way that I’d like to operate in the future.” low-power-consumption and wireless control, often working in damp conditions, around the maze of alleyways. The Creamsource Micro Colours, and battery Astera AX9s, proved great for lighting smaller background details and could be quickly rigged for architectural lighting.

There’s a lot of development in LED Fresnel lights

I’ve also always looked-up to Eddie Knight, Chuck Finch and John ‘Biggles’ Higgins for similar reasons. They were all supportive and kind when I was at the start of my career. It was inspiring to see the level of collaborative input and trust they had with their cinematographers, watching the way they cut, shaped or softened the light. And was it always wonderful to be around the family environment they created. They are amongst the greats for me.

Another role model has to be my mate Fraser

Taggart, with whom I have been working on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Part Two. He’s a kind, good-natured, loving person, the most supportive, knowledgeable and collaborative DP I’ve ever worked with.

We’ve worked on many films together, our lighting has to be fast, but the collaborative result is beautifully-stunning and exciting. We plan everything together and always have each other’s backs! Luckily, Fraser also has the same stupid sense of humour as me which has carried us through some extremely tense and tough moments. When I growup and become a cinematographer, Fraser is the person I would aspire to be like.

Working on Mission: Impossible –Dead Reckoning – Part One electrical tie-ins and many battery-powered options on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One, and have the same target, or better, for Dead Reckoning – Part Two

Dead Reckoning – Part One is the longest production – nearly four years – I’ve ever worked on. This was due in part to stops and starts caused by the Covid pandemic, which created a lot of logistical issues.

Take our Venice scenes for example. In 2019, I went on six or seven tech recces there during prep and pre-production, to work-out exactly where the lights would go on balconies, rooftops and windows, and to liaise with local lighting/rigging crew and service providers. We shipped-out 14 x 40-ft containers full of equipment, provided by Warner Bros Lighting Services, decanted it all into a store, and rigged two large locations ready to shoot.

But then the production was shut down, and we were flown home. The equipment stayed there and the Italian crew had to move it all to a secure warehouse where no-one could touch it. About 10 weeks after that, as the whole of Venice was still in lockdown, all of the kit was shipped back to the UK. That was a headache in itself.

When we got the greenlight to go again, we had changed to MBSE as the main lighting supplier.

All lists were resubmitted and painfully everything was reloaded and shipped back out to Venice, but into a different lighting store outside of the city. It was a mind-blowingly complex and rather stressful exercise to do it a second time.

At night, Venice itself is dark, especially above street level and on the rooftops, which involved rigging lights on historic buildings and from windows, rooftops and balconies in people’s homes. There were several vast locations, which the camera crew and cast were going to leapfrog between. We had to carefully coordinate a fleet of boats to ferry the kit into the city, and then get the locations rigged and ready. We had equipment sprawled around several districts.

I’ve recently been working with Serious Stages and Sunbelt Rentals on a programme to fit solar panels across the whole roof space of one of our stages at Longcross Studios, the first of its kind, that will feed energy into the lighting distribution network and battery storage.

Of course, a lot of development is coming from lighting manufacturers who know how important greener moviemaking is with those replacement Tungsten lights. And, when it comes to battery power, there are some fabulous companies out there, like Green Voltage UK, gaffer Dave’s Sinfield’s company.

Advice for budding lighters

If you want to get into film lighting, get your electrical qualifications first. If you have those and are looking for your first job, it’s all about networking and putting your name out-there. Try to get a position within a lighting rental house or as a trainee on a movie. Working your way into the industry and the many stages of electrical lighting will put you in the best position later in your career.

My crew were absolutely fabulous. The local authorities were very helpful with permits and permissions, and private residents were really accommodating, especially with strangers wearing facemasks coming into their homes. Of course, generators are not allowed in the city, so we hooked-up to local substations where we could, and took a lot of battery power.

The importance of being environmentally-friendly

Reducing the carbon footprint must be top of the agenda for gaffers. We used 70% LED lighting,

When you get your first job, turn-up on time, show that you’re willing to learn, work hard and be helpful. Watch and listen to what’s going on around you. Ask questions. If you have a genuine passion for the job, it will be noticed and you will progress.

But remember, becoming a gaffer is a marathon and not a sprint. To learn about rigging, maintenance, electrical distribution, networks, lighting options, etiquette, labour management, labour/equipment budgeting, lighting design and control, production negotiating, the logistics of working abroad and collaborative input, will take many years. Take it slowly!

Great industry personalities Franz Kraus with Bernie Grill of Licht Tecknik

Legends of the industry

Dedo Weigert with Alan Lowne

ICLS exec director Ediola Pashollari and director and board member

Nils De Montgrand – ROSCO/DMG

Good times at Zeiss

Chenlong Wang – SWIT

Lightbridge

Stefan Karle (DOP Choice) Thomas Merkur BVK (back to camera)

Sergey TartyshnikovGeschäftsführer

The Euro Cine Expo Team would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who supported the 2023 event

(r-l) Rob Saunders (ECE), Philippe Ros AFC, David Stump ASC, Aleksej Berkovic, all from Imago Technical Committee, plus Alan Lowne (CW), Claire Saunders ECE/CW), John Daly BSC and friend!