Photographing "Seinfeld"
by Wayne Kennan,
ASC
Director of Photography
"We try to treat every scene as
if it stands alone. An episode might contain five scenes
in Jerry's living room, all Day/Interior. We light
the close-ups for each scene separately, turning lights on & off
as the blocking specific to each scene dictates."
"Seinfeld" takes
place in New York City. The cast is made up of four young single
adults and each episode revolves around their everyday lives.
It is produced as a four-camera situation-comedy which is mostly
filmed in front of a live audience. Even so, during the time
I have been director of photography we have worked with blue-screen
process, rear-screen projection, poor-man's process, day
and night exteriors and many practical locations. I enjoy working
on the show because of the wide range of production challenges.
The suggestions and observations a director
of photography receives from the operators and assistants is
particularly important on a multi-camera production. Constantly
keeping track of four camera angles can sometimes prove overwhelming.
I deeply appreciate the input I receive from our operators and
assistants.
Every series merits a different approach, just
as every feature does. For that matter each episode of a series
deserves a somewhat different approach. The approach I take in
photographing this show is one of instinct. I took over the series
towards the end of last season (1992) and I didn't have
a lot of time to "plan a look." Tom Cherones and
the executive producers are very open about letting me follow
my instincts. I couldn't ask for a better lighting and
grip crew headed by Jim Marcos and Pete Papanickolas.
Lighting is a very personal and unique endeavor,
whether you are lighting an epic feature or a public access cable
TV show. When I say personal I mean personal to those involved
in the process of production.
MAKE EACH LIGHT DO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
By getting the most out of each light we use
fewer lights. Realistically, most real-life situations are lit
by one or two sources. By using as few lights as possible we
mimic reality. I find this approach to be visually pleasing and
it also helps eliminate multiple shadows.
Fewer lights also mean an easier job for the
sound department. I have always found that when I help out the
sound department as much as I can they will return the favor
when I really need them to. We top every light to its absolute
limit. This not only helps eliminate boom shadows and lens flare
but also helps keep the walls "down," creating more
separation between subject and background.
LIGHT FOR THE CLOSE-UPS
We try to treat every scene as if it stands
alone. An episode might contain five scenes in Jerry's
living room, all day interior. We light the close-ups for each
scene separately, turning lights on and off as the blocking specific
to each scene dictates. Sometimes we add or remove solids and
open-ends between scenes. We even float singles and doubles during
scenes. Changing looks in the same set between scenes requires
a top-notch grip and electrical crew. We adjust the rest of the
set lighting after setting the key-lights for the close-ups.
The amount of fill changes from scene to scene according to the
mood and content.
I prefer to use hard light on multi-camera
shows. Although I am using #251 on most of the keys on Seinfeld
I still consider our show to have a "hard light" look.
#251 is a somewhat lighter diffusion than Opal. I am lucky to
have such a young and cosmetically easy cast to photograph. If
I had a much older star in the cast I would use some diffusion
on the camera lens rather than trying to soften up the light
more. Heavy diffusion on lamps, when we're lighting for
four cameras, spreads the light into areas where we don't
want it flattening out the masters.
AVOID PROJECTED FILL LIGHTS
I avoid projected fills like the plague. I
don't like to see shadows on the back wall. We have had
very good results with a "front-bounce" perfected
over the years. It consists of a four foot tall piece of bead
board which runs the length of the stage. Its bounce surface
is about 28 feet from the center of each set. A two-foot by eight-foot
shelf on hinges is used to take the curse off the down stage
areas and a duvetyne teaser runs the entire length as a topper.
Three juniors per ten feet are placed four feet away from the
bead board. Every third junior is on a separate circuit. This
gives us a great deal of control over how much fill light goes
where. By removing scrims, spotting and flooding, and turning
off selected lights we can really punch into an area or we can
shade an area.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
A good rapport with the production designer
is essential. Our production designer, Tom Azzari and I have
worked on series and pilots together for years now. We both prefer
upstage sources… i.e. windows, chandeliers, sconces, etc.
This means that at least in the masters there will be some reason
for there to be light in the set. Wall treatments are just as
important. It's great when you can have some input as to
how these will be handled.
FILM-TO-TAPE TRANSFER
A telecine colorist can make great photography
look terrible or mediocre photography look great. I have worked
with many different colorists. In the TV Biz of the ‘90's
the director of photography rarely gets to choose where the film
will be processed and who the colorist will be; so far I've
lucked out. it. We're using Foto-Kem for processing and
transfer. Tom Satori is our colorist and he does a terrific job.
I go to the transfer whenever I am available and stay only for
the master camera unless there are some close-ups I'm particularly
concerned about. The master camera usually photographs the down-stage
side of the face to have proper skin tone. On my show the down-stage
side of the face is the filled side. If the colorist brings up
the gamma to pull up the skin tones, the whole picture flattens
out.
Once a look for a show has been set, then the
colorist can pull scenes out of frame storage to match to. Once
we have established a rapport I can give the colorist notes and
he/she will know exactly what I want.
On "Seinfeld" we have been using
Agfa XT320 which I rated at about ASA 400. I have tested this
stock at ASA 500 and it held up well. By under-exposing it I
can stretch the gamma and still retain good blacks in telecine.
The ability of the Agfa stock to accept a lot of contrast has
contributed immensely to the look of our show.
Another important feature of telecines is the
video enhancement control. I learned about it years ago when
I photographed a show using Mitchell diffusion on the lens. I
went to the transfer and saw no effect. I mentioned it to the
colorist and it turned out he that he had turned the enhancement
way up to try to sharpen up the image! I now specify that I want
the enhancement dial set at zero in each new transfer situation,
whether I can be there or not.
In summary, this is simply how we do it on
the series. I do not suggest that it's the best way or
the only but that it is a way that works for everyone concerned
with the show. Seinfeld is a wonderful series to work on not
only because of the challenges, quality writing and performances--but
also because of the talented people that I get to work with.
Wayne Kennan is a long-time member of the
SOC. He has photographed nearly every episode of perhaps the
most popular comedy in TV history, which comes to a close in
1998!
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