jeff woods

Hopefully others will chime in, but all light has the same fall-off: twice the distance from the source, 1/4 of the light (inverse square law). What comes in to play is size the source in relation to the subject. A PAR64 is essentially a point-source, so the shadow edge will be harder than a larger source like a Kino or a PAR through a silk in the same position. That said, a Kino from a large distance becomes a (very dim) point source too. To get a nice wrap around light with quick fall off in the background, the light would need to be a large source close to the subject. I'm struggling to explain it better without images, so hopefully more well spoken people can chime in. Hope that helps, -j

...or a cable cam, now that I see your subject line. -j

For the street scenes, it could have been something like this: http://gizmodo.com/5839932/how-hollywood-captures-its-most-insane-and-incredible-chase-scenes-kerblooommm For the forest shots, it may be as simple as a rig mounted on to an offroad 4x4-type vehicle. -j

Maybe I'm repeating something, but at 1:51 there appears to be a still of the rig used... -j

Is this time-lapse? I don't understand why you need to pick a single CT? -j

ICG gets all the love...no American Cinematographer subscription? -j

Robert Richardson shot this, and one of his "trademarks" is using PARs as a harsh toplight/pool-of-light. In that photo (understanding that this is purely my interpretation) it looks like DiCaprio is standing halfway inside the beam, and the fill on Kingsley's face is comning from DiCaprio's shirt. He is also getting a rimlight from the same PAR, just not as directly as DiCaprio. The fill coming from the camera side could be bounce from the floor, or an actual bounce (showcard, muslin, white reflector). And by keeping the ceiling lights in the background, he motivates (read: explains) where the light is coming from. Again, one man's opinion, -j

I have had great success with Ushio, specifically their HPL575 vs Osram's version (it's not as clean of a light IMO). -j

I would say no more than showcard, unless you mean because it's transmissive vs reflective, so the heat gets "inside" of it, so to speak.

I'm curious to find out if they had a cable between the trucks to keep them from over-separating. -j

The latest issue of American Cinematographer is also a great read and has better BTS photos than the ICG article (in my opinion). -j

Possibly a pola to bring out the detail in he clouds. -j

I'm curious what look you are trying to achieve; are you not wanting to make the indoor court look like an indoor court? -j

A teaser (at least in theatre) is a wide but short soft good (drape, duvetyne) that can be flown in and out to create a very wide shadow and eliminate spill from the actual face of a fixture. The top source, in my opinion, is two Fresnels. No actual front source, just bounce from the floor. -j

To my eye, it looks like a pair of Fresnels (not more than 2K?) about 6-8' apart, slightly behind the talent, just out of frame (12' trim?). The floor looks to be a matte black treatment (reads gray when lit, but black in the shadows). The fill seems like it could come from the floor itself. Black rags to make the background disappear (well, that and the exposure), and probably another teaser or two to keep the lamp flare from spilling too far into the BG or FG. One man's opinion, -j