LET THERE BE LIGHT

By David Wood

Whilst there wasn’t much to celebrate for the film and television industry during the global lockdown caused by the Covid pandemic, one huge positive was that it provided a launch-pad for the International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS).

Founded by leading gaffers Michael Bauman, Rafael Sanchez and Martin Smith in 2020 as a networking forum for people working in the lighting industry, the ICLS has blossomed into a vibrant, international platform for hundreds of cinematic lighting professionals in more than 40 countries worldwide providing a supportive, technical, diverse and inclusive knowledgesharing community.

It all started when gaffers around the world discovered regular Saturday Zoom meet-ups were a great way to stay in touch, make new acquaintances and generally offer support to one another during the worldwide shut-down.

As Bauman, the society’s current president, recollects, those initial meet-ups helped to satisfy the need for connection and communication, which had in reality always existed, albeit latent and unrealised.

“Gaffers like talking to one another, but tend to be busy people and don’t really have time to meet-up with unless it’s at a trade show,” recalls Bauman. “Initially our meetings were pretty much all about, ‘How’s Covid?’ and ‘How are you doing?’. We soon came to realise that there was an amazing amount of enthusiasm, knowledge and kindred spirit out there, but no direct or easy way existed at that point to tap into all of that.”

Rafael Sanchez concurs, “The Saturday Zoom meetings we held during lockdown made us realise the power of sharing information. We learnt a lot from one another about Covid and operational protocols at the time, and when we eventually got back to work, we were all much better prepared than we would have been otherwise. It made me realise the sheer power of a community where everybody is willing to share knowledge.”

“My first reaction to those initial Saturday Zoom meetings was that we should try to open things up a little bit,” recalls UK gaffer Martin Smith. “I thought that there’s a pool of top gaffers I know in Europe, and further afield globally, who would love to be part of this collective gathering. So I invited them to come along, spend time together and blow off a bit of steam.”

Bauman adds, “We could really see the strength of the community in different parts of the world, and a few technology vendors expressed an interest in taking part as well. So we decided to develop things by getting some topics together and formalise the group.”

The subsequent plan hatched by Bauman, Sanchez, and Smith was to create a ‘not-forprofit’ society, along the lines of the America Society Of Cinematographers (ASC) or the British Society Of Cinematographers (BSC), dedicated to the advancement of the craft of film lighting, which would act as an informationsharing forum in crucial areas such as lighting techniques and technology. And thus, the International Cinema Lighting Society was born.

Bauman illuminates, “The need for a society of people involved in lighting has become all the more critical as the amount of new technology and its complexity has increased so rapidly. The simple fact is that the rate of change in lighting technology has been explosive, much more so than other areas of film, such as grips and cameras. Most of the gear we use now simply didn’t exist ten years ago.”

From the outset, a major aim of the ICLS was to help provide mentorship and create more formal pathways for people to get into the business. To date the route into the world of film lighting has remained pretty informal, focused around the development of personal relationships rather than formal qualifications, but the ICLS plans to develop a more structured, accredited entry-route into the profession, and details will be released in due course.

Promoting diversity, particularly getting more women into the world of gaffing, is another ambition, stresses Bauman. Bringing a wider range of discussions to the regular Saturday Zooms, which attract members en-masse, has been something that console operator/ programmer and ICLS board member, Erin Nelligan, has successfully brought to the party.

“Erin has really pushed a lot of the thinking –from Covid protocols and how you best manage a crew, to how to handle harassment on-set – things that not a lot of us were comfortable talking about,” declares Bauman. “She’s really helped widen the debates way beyond a focus on just lighting tech.”

Discord server

In addition to the ICLS’s popular Saturday Zoom meet-ups, one of the key attractions is the group’s thriving ‘discord server’, which acts as an effective global forum for film lighting issues.

“The discord server is the beating heart of the whole experience, and is a focus for the creation of a lot of great dialogue,” insists Bauman. “As the ICLS has grown, we now have lots of people in different countries across a variety of time zones, which can make it hard to link-up. But using the discord server people can ask questions, solve problems and gain really useful feedback on different lighting solutions and techniques.”

There’s a ‘Health Channel’ and a ‘Lighting Safety Channel’ too, where participants discuss well-being and safety issues. Plus, around the world, every continent has its own channel because we know regionalisation is important.

“The discord server also provides direct links to some of the major lighting vendors, so that we can communicate with them directly regarding questions about equipment. They have been very responsive and helpful, and it’s also proved to be a useful feedback channel from end-users working in the field.”

Corporate support

The ICLS offers different tiers of corporate membership for vendors and rental houses to engage and present their products and services to the ever-growing membership of gaffers, rigging gaffers and lighting console programmers – helping smaller companies to market a product or an app, to large-scale enterprises who can run their own discord channel.

Martin Smith concurs, “I learn something new every time I visit the discord channels, and it blows me away that there are so many people with so much information that’s useful. Now it’s the first place I go when I might need any help. It is amazing, I can get several answers about a particular challenge I might be facing within a few minutes. As a young gaffer it would have been great to have had access to information like this.”

Sanchez adds, “There are now well over 100 different channels already on the discord server and it’s growing continually. Channels include ‘Today’s Office’ – where gaffers post photos of what they are working on that day.

“Now that people have become so Zoomsavvy, manufacturers have been keen to come in and present to ICLS members,” says Bauman. “In just one two-hour session we can deep dive into products in much more detail than you would get during a five-minute presentation at a trade show. There is frequently follow-up dialogue for weeks afterwards and, if anybody couldn’t make the live presentation, it’s available to watch at another time.”

Martin Smith adds, “Another beauty is that vendors get to come straight to the end-user with their prototypes and share information that nobody else is privy to. As a trusted group, that includes some super-smart technicians, ICLS members can help out with

Songbirds And Snakes (2023) gaffer; Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) gaffer; Dunkirk (2017) chief lighting technician – Europe.

Carolina Schmidtholstein ICLS: pictured on-location on The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry (2023) early-stage prototypes and help steer product development.”

Credits: Firebrand (2023) gaffer; The Eternal Daughter (2022); See How They Run (2022) gaffer; We Are Lady Parts (2021) gaffer.

In response to the demand for more information about lighting technology, the society ran its first virtual trade show in March 2022, with 100 gaffers logging-in to see presentations from a mix of vendors, including Creamsource, Rosco, DoPchoice, The Light Bridge and Blackout Lighting Console. (See the current full list of corporate sponsors at the back of this magazine). The attendance figures more than doubled for the third virtual trade show held in March 2023.

“The aim is to help bring-in knowledge from other areas which are becoming more relevant to the lighting department. It’s important for us to reach into underserved communities because a wider range of skills are required as technology in lighting changes,” explains Bauman.

The ICLS helps to share that knowledge. Recently it has held deep-dive presentations from gaffers such as Jeff Webster ICLS and the team from The Mandalorian on advances in virtual studio production, and Florian Kronenberger ICLS and his lighting on Tár, which earned six Oscar nominations in 2023, including one for its DP Florian Hoffmeister BSC. It has also hosted presentations from Creamsource about the Vortex lighting system, and also DP Steve Yedlin ASC’s famous colour science presentation.

Growing the society

Having not-for-profit status as a trade organisation is a big deal, as it means the society’s income from membership fees and vendor sponsorship is not subject to taxation, provided the money is only used to support the interests of the membership.

Frans Weterrings III ICLS: pictured on Don’t Look Up (2021), operating the new, at the time, CRLS reflector system.

Credits: Challengers (2023) gaffer; Free Guy (2021) gaffer; Little Women (2019) chief lighting technician; Okja (2017) gaffer; The Lost City Of Z (2016) gaffer.

In February 2023, the ICLS welcomed Ediola Pashollari on-board as executive director, to guide the ICLS into its next phase of growth. Her work builds on foundational work done by Bea Patten (who has left to pursue other career interests) to create a formal structure for the ICLS and its activities.

Along with overseeing the day-to-day running of the ICLS, it is Pashollari’s role to broaden individual and corporate memberships still further, develop additional learning programmes, widen the user-base and develop the website with a searchable content database

Florian Kronenberger ICLS: pictured whilst lighting in Berlin, Germany. Credits: The Bastard (2023) gaffer; Tár (2022) gaffer; Corsage (2022) gaffer; The Conference (2022) gaffer.

“There is only so much time that working gaffers can dedicate to the society as they juggle ICLS commitments with a full-time career, and we needed someone with passion and energy to move things on and steer us forwards from the solid platform that Bea helped to create. With Ediola’s help the ICLS is coming on in leaps and bounds to become a truly worldwide organisation,” says Martin Smith.

Ediola Pashollari adds, “I want the ICLS to reach its true potential by having membership in countries worldwide, and becoming an international platform that can accommodate every individual in the lighting community. Working together we are capable of further developing and maintaining a space that is dedicated to education, knowledge, networking and professional growth for the lighting community.”

Barry Conroy ICLS: pictured with DP Ben Smithard BSC on The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) gaffer.

Credits: The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) gaffer; Foundation (2021) gaffer/10 eps; The Green Knight (2021) gaffer; Dublin Murders (2019) gaffer/8eps; Stan & Ollie (2018) gaffer.

Joining the ICLS

With the recent addition of Pashollari, the ICLS is now directed by a seven-strong board –LA-based gaffers Michael Bauman and Rafael Sanchez, the UK’s Martin Smith, and James McGuire from Ireland, plus console programmer Erin Nelligan from Vancouver, Canada, with LA-based rigging gaffer Adam Harrison as CFO. It has a finance committee, a corporate members committee, an education committee, a diversity equity and inclusion committee, and a membership committee vetting new entrants.

The ICLS already has several hundred full and associate members, with an observer category launching soon. To qualify for full membership, you need a track record; namely, being a gaffer, rigging gaffer or desk op/console programmer for eight years with a string of credits to show for it. The associate membership is open to less experienced gaffers and lighting technicians, plus related professions, such as post-house colourists or experts in projection.

“We are happy to welcome new people to the society to play a role into making it a great place to share and gain knowledge,” says Ediola Pashollari. “The ICLS is the only platform for cinematic lighting professionals to learn from each other and collectively grow both personally and professionally. The potential is amazing.”

For more information, please visit www.iclsociety.com

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Selected Filmography (as gaffer/chief lighting technician):

Mickey 17 (2024)

Empire Of Light (2022)

1917 (2019)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar

Children (2016)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

Gravity (2013)

Skyfall (2012) (electrical supervisor)

The Wolfman (2010)

Mamma Mia! (2008)