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...With a period drama like this you hope that it looks good, maybe slightly different to the last one you saw, but it shouldn’t disturb the viewer’s concentration or take them out of the story too much...
THE DP VIEW
BARRY ACKROYD BSC
For the big banquet scene, set during the war, we had to shoot it as if it was lit by can- dles. When you have a 50 foot long dining table and all your actors dressed in period cos- tume you want to be able to see the scale of that. So that was tricky.
In the end I used paper lanterns, and a Bag-o-light, which is an inflat- ed, translucent tube similar to heli- um balloons, which I used with some HMIs.
You place a powerful lamp and at the end of it you connect a white tube six metres long and pump it full of air. It can be placed horizontally so that you can put it over the top of the table, or to the side, and shoot underneath it. It’s cheap and effective and it gives a long, soft light.” ■
in production
housing estate in Greenock, for Sweet Sixteen. You’re telling the truth about what you’re seeing. It’s there and you present it in as attractive a way as necessary.”
Chapman is in no doubt as to the quality of images that Ackroyd and his camera team have produced. “I know this wouldn’t be considered such a minor budget, but we’ve created a real Rolls Royce of a picture.
“Stephen has already edited the piece down to feature film length as well as having it as two 90 minute films for the BBC, and I’m very opti- mistic about us being able to sell it as a feature film too. A lot of people look at it and see that it’s a fantastic piece of work, and technically of the highest calibre.”
Maintaining such production val- ues with the strictures of time and
budget that, by comparison, is placed upon a domestic TV produc- tion, The Lost Prince certainly seems to live up to a fine tradition that audi- ences have rightly come to expect. The fact that this period piece has so many echoes with life today only makes it more fascinating.
During the war years the Royal Family maintained their official duties, but attempted to introduce a note of austerity into proceedings. This pro- vided a clear lighting cue for Ackroyd.
“The arc of the whole piece is about going from Imperial splendour to a pinched, bluer world during the war,” Chapman adds. “Stephen talked about a richness of light and texture, and in the end there’s a very European feel to the picture.”
“We used the 500 tungsten with 250 daylight on this,” Ackroyd
explains. “But a lot of stuff is done with the colour and design and the costumes and make-up. Every department gave a fantastically rich palette, very simple but rich in terms of the look..
“With a period drama like this you hope that it looks good, maybe slight- ly different to the last one you saw, but it shouldn’t disturb the viewer’s concentration or take them out of the story too much..
“We’re treading the same ground that others have trod before, but at the same time we’re determined to make it look interesting.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
The Lost Prince, originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative, will be aired on BBC TV early next year