Steven Soderbergh talks natural light with the NYTimes
“The Girlfriend Experience” (2009) was shot by Soderbergh (who acts as his own DP) almost entirely without non-practical light. In this slideshow/audio piece, hear him discuss the implications.
You’re keyeing off a real environment and adapting instead of trying to impose your will on it. And as a result, it makes you realize how constructed most movies are, visually.
I prefer to shoot my own stuff and almost never light for two reasons: 1) I honestly never learned how, and much like shading in illustration never made intuitive sense to me, I never picked up lighting intuitively like other DPs did, and 2) I honestly prefer the natural/ambient light aesthetic, so it all works out nicely.
Side note, I am so excited to see this movie. I think “Bubble” (2005) is one of the most innovative pieces of filmmaking in the last decade, and I have impossibly high hopes for “GfE”. I will see it tonight. By any means necessary. I will report back here.
via Neon Blogarita
