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What unit lit this night desert scene on THELMA AND LOUSIE?


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Anybody know what unit would've been used to light up this desert night scene in THELMA AND LOUISE?

 

It came out in 1991, that's too early for the SoftSun, right? Or do I have my timeline wrong about that?

 

It's a beautifully shot movie, love Adrian Biddle's work, but saw this shot and just can't figure what unit they would've used for all that intensity and spread. If you can't tell, the lights at the bottom of frame are a car driving through a giant Utah style canyon.

 

Went looking for an American Cinematographer article but nothing turned up.

post-3477-0-95085500-1303096157.jpg

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They had 18kw HMIs then right? Looks like it's 2 or 3 lights hitting. One bottom frame left [maybe] and two bottom frame right.

It's pretty frontal and strong, but at a distance, of course, and you can see the hard shadow it's making on the little "nibblette" between the two big niblettes on the left side of the frame projected onto the background.

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I personally found this shot to be the oddest, most out-of-place bit of lighting in that film by far & wide. It really drew attention to itself in a huge way, snapping one right out of the movie. It was like they were driving past someone putting on a concert out in the desert.

 

Not sure if there were 18Ks at the time, but I'm pretty sure 6K pars were around then. nd of course 12K fresnels. Or maybe they just parked a Musco truck behind a big rock.

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