Wally Pfister Eye Light

[Mark Hubit]

What kind of light does Wally Pfister use for his eye-light?

 

Also where do you think he puts it, right over the camera or a large source farther back?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[David Mullen ASC]

After seeing dozens of student posts on eyelights in the past year, I'm wondering where this obsession comes from. It's an eyelight! One of the easiest things to add -- the eye is a natural mirror. Any light near the lens is going to create a reflection. I wouldn't worry about how exactly Wally Pfister does it. All I can say that it is round, so it doesn't look like a Kino usually, but in some cases it could be. Otherwise, it could be an inky or tweenie with diffusion on the barn doors next to the lens - over, under, to one side, it generally depends on what is easiest at the moment.

[Jonas Fischer]

In the July 08 Issue of the AC, I read that when he does handheld work, his gaffer would grab a small softbox and walk to the side of wally, just to give the actor an eyelight.

[Mark Hubit]

Thank you for your reply David and Jonas.

 

I understand that it is 'just an eyelight' - I was only wondering if anyone knew the exact type of light that he used, yes it is round, could be a roscoe litepad, could be a softbox, could be a tweenie -- just opening the discussion to it was all.

 

Cheers!

[Kevin Grossett]

For Batman Begins it was a Rifa 44 softbox.

 

On The Prestige and The Dark Knight they used a Litepanels 1x1 and a Kamio ring light.

[Nor Domingo]

Well, the hardest thing for me is trying to keep the eyelight source from keying the subject.:(

[Mei Lewis]

There's an article on the ASC website where the gaffer on the Dark Knight explains:

 

"For close-up and medium shots of the couple, an Arri LoCaster LED with a 1'x1' soft-box snoot and interchangeable diffusion frames provided eyelight, and 5K tungsten Chimeras provided a soft edge. “We always tried to approach the eyelight from a complimentary angle to the camera,” says Geryak. “If the camera was over someone’s right shoulder, I’d stand over his left shoulder and try to wrap the light from the key side so it looked more natural.”

 

https://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/August2012/DarkKnightRises/page1.php

[Adam Frisch FSF]

I've used old Scoop lights covered with diffusion to achieve this. I've also done round cutouts for LED bicolor panels. Round looks better in eyes. But the Rifa also works.