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Kartik

Parmar
BFA 6
ANALYSIS OF A CINEMATOGRAPHERS WORK
CONRAD L. HALL
(Active 1955-2002)

Films renowned for:

The Professionals (1966)

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

In Cold Blood (1967)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Fat City (1972)

The Day of the Locust (1975)

Smile (1975)

Marathon Man (1976)

Tequila Sunrise (1988)

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

American Beauty (1999)

Road to Perdition (2002)

First and the foremost thing one can easily tell about Conrad Hall is
that he had no particular style of his own. He always remained flexible and
changed his methods throughout the course of his life. As he once mentioned
in an interview when asked, How do you decide where to point your camera,
and he replied I point it at the story.
Conrad Hall easily adapts his style to that of the directors and molds
his lighting and camera movement motivated by the story. This versatility
made him one of the most cooperative people to be around on the films he
worked for.
He always worked very closely with the director, often spending hours
at the start of the day discussing how the scene should be lit up. He mostly
prefers sticking to realism and later on in his career something that he came
up with, Magical Naturalism. According to him it makes the viewer feel
connected to the film because they are able to relate the scenarios to real life.
There are a few patterns in the work of Conrad Hall that I noticed while
watching his films and reading about them:

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BFA 6

1. Fast film stock to allow minimal lights.


Hall preferred to shoot always on fast film stocks as it enabled him to
use less lights and make it more realistic than stylized. Another reason
being, he liked the grainy texture that came along with fast stocks. It
made his frames lose sharpness, something that he always
encouraged. According to him reality is never so sharp.
2. Layers of depth in his frames.
Hall was known to create depth using lighting. Not just the foreground
and the background, but he created layers by separating them with
different lights. He would often start with the key light and then replicate
its source and how it would bounce around and fall on the room
behind. This made the frame look naturalistic and also created depth.
He would then place different small sources, which were again
motivated by the key.

Like in this frame from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Hall
creates multiple layers of foreground and background by lighting them
differently.

3. Use of Tonal Ranges and Contrast to enhance Textures.


Its important to notice where Conrad Hall places lights, but its even
more important to notice the areas he doesnt light. He often uses this
technique to guide the viewers eye through the frame. He tries to put

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BFA 6
all tonal ranges in his frame. Also another aspect of Halls frames is,
they often feature a lot of different textures. This compliments to his
lighting and helps in creating contrast.

The shot above from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is all about
Sundance. He is framed in the center between the two foreground figures and
is lit more prominently. The use of sepia has exaggerated contrast and
therefore texture. The texture of his coat ripples across his left arm, we see
his scruffy hair backlit, a black brimmed hat and his moustache. This is
establishing him as a mysterious figure, potentially dangerous.
4. Use of Zooms to change composition
Conrad Hall often used zoom lenses in shots with complex
choreography to change composition during the shot itself. He uses
zooms to direct the viewers eye from one subject to another as the
shot progresses. This I think is a much more dynamic way to change a
frame rather than using a cut. He usually opts for slower zooms so the
changing background isnt to distracting, if its a peaceful scene. If its a
frenetic action scene he favors fast pans and brings us closer to the
action. This also helped him work faster around the set. But later on in
his career he reduced the use of zoom lenses.

5. The use of Flares.


Flares during the early 60s and 70s were considered as an error. The
studios didnt encourage them at all. They killed the contrast and muted
a lot of colors making it a very strikingly dull frame. But Conrad Hall
used flares eloquently.

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The audience sees the figures cross the bright flaring sun from a low angle
position. The constant crossing of the figures causes a sort of shadow
puppetry where we see light and dark in a constant battle of exposure. The
viewer can make out only for a split second what is happening before being
dazed by the flare, and this is repeated in a pattern. The end result is that of a
threatening or menacing shot. The figures are unknown by their darkness and
the audience is attacked with a sharp blinding flare. The instability of the
exposure forebodes us of a destabilizing force and so the viewer feels this
too. Our sympathy is then directed towards the chased as they face an
unknown entity.
6. Underlighting Faces.
A lot of film schools around the world would teach not to under light a
face unless there is a low light source like a fireplace. Conrad Hall used
underlighting to a great effect for his actors. Often during very crucial
moments in the characters arc, or when a character is about to make a
decision Hall employed underlighting to separate them from the
surroundings.

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Underlighting also helped Hall get decent exposures on faces where


traditional lighting was not possible, or where there wasnt enough room for
the lights to be placed, or when he wanted to hide the lights completely.

Further, I would like to analyze some of his films that I particularly learned the
most from.
These include a couple of his early works: In Cold Blood (1967) and Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
And his last three movies, which were his masterpieces: Searching for Bobby
Fischer (1993), American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002). He often
varied his techniques throughout his career and never really stuck to one
method. He chose whatever the story allowed him to choose.

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1. In Cold Blood (1967):
Based on a true story about a cold-blooded murder, Conrad Hall
decided to shoot this lurid tale in glorious Black and White. While the film that
is based on a novel by Truman Capote demanded a colored approach, but
the director wanted to explore the bleak moral landscape that the movie is set
in. The movie was no more only about the facts; it was about getting into the
minds of the murderers and the people who lived during that dark period.
Another challenge or rather I would say an advantage Hall got was many of
the scenes were shot at actual locations, the convenience store where Perry
and his partner, Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson), had bought the rope and tape
used to subdue their victims, the Clutter family; the courtroom where a jury
had sentenced them to death after just 40 minutes of deliberation; and even
the Clutter house itself, where, according to Capote, two individually affectless
personalities merged into one capable of murdering an entire family "in cold
blood."
With this film Hall took darkness to another level. After a successful black and
white film Morituri a few years ago, Hall was confident enough and wanted to
explore the shadows more and more. And this script gave him the right
freedom to do so.

Hall had very deep blacks throughout the film. Grey tones were used very
less. And in the process of keeping the contrast consistent he had to use hard
sources, which in turn gave the film a Noir-ish look.

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To compliment the deep shadows, Hall used a lot of practical sources also
justifying the bleakness.

Taking this to another level, Hall shot a whole murder scene with just a
flashlight as the key. This is the sequence where the murders take place in
the Clutter house. Hall mentions replacing the flashlight with a stronger bulb
that gave out adequate exposures at ten feet.

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Hall said in an interview that the house wasnt completely dark. There was
some amount of visibility that they setup initially. After that they brought in the
flashlight. The lip of the flashlight always lights up the person holding the light.
Also as the flashlight hits the walls of the house, it produces reflections that
act as a key for the characters and the surroundings. This way the lighting is
changing every second the flashlight changes its position making it very
dynamic and exciting to watch.

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This constant palette of changing highlights and shadows also mimics the
storys moral arc, where we see sketchy details about the characters past and
this invites audience empathy.
This lighting pattern also helped Hall get a lot of silhouettes through the
scene. He chose these frames very carefully and placed his murderers in the
dark to separate them and create ambiguity.

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Apart from this, one more scene that stands out is the ending speech by Perry
Smith as he stands, unburdening his soul before a priest minutes away from
his execution. Throughout the movie Perry is not able to express much. In the
end he is not able to cry as well, but the water drops dripping on the window
in front cast a shadow on his face, which look like tears.

As Hall recalls in of his interviews, he told that it was an accident that he


found out about such an effect. He took advantage of it and the director was
happy. This by far is one of my favorite scenes in the history of cinema.

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2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969):
In this film Halls careful planning and cooperation resulted in creating
historys best chase sequences. According to Hall, this film is about the idea
of people, in this case the bank robbers, being passed over by the advance
of technological knowledge.

The landscapes variety of colors provides a fluid palette for Hall as the two
desperados escape on horseback across the country. But Hall mentions that
he disliked saturated colors. He tried a number of things to bring down the
saturation during shooting, but the colorist eventually boosted it up in post.

He dries us with the brown of the barren desert and Rocky Mountains then
blends the heroes into the lush greenery of the forest and adds refreshingly
cool water blue as they reach a waterfall.

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Also Hall uses smoke a lot to get those colors down a bit. Hall experimented a
lot with fog filters, because he felt that the colors in real life are not saturated
and there is always a muting of colors that goes on.

Another technique that Hall used to mute colors is by Over-exposing the sky.
He discovered over the years of working that over-exposing a frame literally
killed the colors that nothing could be brought back in post. This resulted in
muted colors, but also reduced the sharpness of the image.

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Hall always felt that reality is never super sharp. So he liked to reduce the
sharpness of his frames through this. Another advantage of over-exposing the
negative was that it helped him maintain consistency of the sky through out
the day. He felt that shots with different shades of blue would not intercut well,
so he washed it out.
This rich pallete is contrasted by the opening sequence shot using sepia.
Most, if not in all the scenes there is plenty of contrast from the blasting sun of
the exteriors and to the darkness of old cabin interiors.

Flares are acceptable as they create interesting silhouettes for the horseback
riders. The film is very rich with texture showing the graduations of skin tone,
the changing shape of landscapes and silhouettes during day and night.

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Zooms are also featured here, used to guide the audiences eyes from one
composition to another.
Hall mentions that he used very long lenses while shooting the 5 horsemen. It
created immediacy without recognition, keeping the reality symbolic. Banks
were becoming harder to rob and the Horsemen were gaining in on them,
therefore Hall wanted to keep the horsemen really far away so we couldnt
actually see their faces. He didnt want to humanize them and make them real
people. It was an idea that was chasing Butch and Sundance.

The work on this film earned Hall his first Academy Award.

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BFA 6
3. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993):
Searching for Bobby Fischer according to Conrad Hall is a story about
competition and what coaches and parents do about it and the conflicts they
face. Hall tried to get a one-line understanding of the story and that lead all
the answers to his problems. In case of Bobby Fischer, Magic Naturalism
became the mantra that described the lighting patterns. Prior to this film, Hall
had already started following naturalism in his works. The element of magic is
the stylistic touches that heighten the atmosphere.

Like in this picture the halo created behind the two main characters is the
element of magic that Hall is referring to.
Apart from strong backlights, Hall also always shot on T1.9. This gave him
that heightened sense of reality that he was looking for. Also this helped him
gather more light and also maintain consistency through the scenes.

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Hall believes that Reality is not always balanced, so he messes with his
frames to take it over the edge, which gives it more energy, and have a more
realistic dynamic range. Hall was frequently blowing out windows through the
film.

Hall believed that alternating light with dark not only made sense aesthetically,
but logically as well in accordance with the narrative.
Another thing to notice is the eloquent use of insert shots and how Hall lights
them up. Throughout the film there is wide variety of shots of chess pieces, all
of them lit by strong backlight and soft key light, as though the pieces are
characters themselves.

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In this film Hall very often used mirrors to control light. He would use a small
mirror and tape its size according to the size of the beam he needed. In a lot
of scenes Hall used this mirror light to illuminate the pieces on the board.

Hall once mentioned that he liked to use the sides of the lights rather than the
center, so that he can vary the intensity by twisting the light closer to, or
farther away from whats in the frame.

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Hall was fascinated by the eyes of the central character, Josh Waitzkin (Max
Pomeranc). He always put the eyes in focus and tried to predict where he
would look at next. This sense of play with the long lens, made the film
interesting to watch. Just like a basketball game, Chess also felt fast and
exciting.
He garnered an Academy Award Nomination and also won the ASC Lifetime
Achievement Award after his work on this film.

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4. American Beauty (1999):
The Cinematography in the film, American Beauty, plays a pivotal role
in establishing character, both in their relationships to one another as well as
the role each one plays in the movie. Much of the movie's perspective is
derived from the main character, Lester Burnham. Consequently the
cinematography reflects Lester's nature, which is at times apathetic, cynical,
fatalistic, fantastical, and, ultimately, nostalgic.

This shot of Lester placed in the center of the frame. Lester feels isolated and
alone here, which is basically what he feels on any given day. And this shot
gives us just that.

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The conflict between Lester and his wife is slowly escalated through the
dinner scenes where both of them are placed on the opposite ends with their
daughter who appears to be caught in the middle of it.

Most of the night scenes in the film are very dimly lit with very high contrast
ratio. Also complimenting is the use of soft lighting that doesnt form
unnecessary shadows.
The dream sequences of Lester are separated from the rest by the use of fog
and a high key soft light. They are made to look magical by eliminating a lot of
colors and exaggerating the use of reds.

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Hall uses different lighting techniques to set the mood for a particular scene
and the character thats in it.

The character of the father is kept in the dark hence increasing the suspense,
as the audience knows that he is a very short-tempered person.
For almost all the scenes in this film, the lighting is telling the story
simultaneously with the characters. The characters emotions are often
subdued by their faces but the lighting elevates the emotion.

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Through out the entire picture Hall has also made a conscious effort to feature
roses in the frame, but to keep this from becoming gimmicky, Hall often lights
them very subtly and drains out the color. These scenes are no exception and
in these dark shots he has often used small, special lighting just to nick the
back edge of a bouquet of roses and keep them black with a little red tinge.

In this film Hall has mastered his so called Magical Naturalism, and uses his
technique of the room tone to almost all the shots. He would very often just
bounce off a light from the ceiling to raise the exposures of the dark areas
around the set. This according to him best hides the feel of a fill light as the
shadows are cast on the ground.
After lighting up his key light, Hall would place small lights all around the set
on various objects or just walls to increase this room tone. This also made the
scene look dynamic.

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Another noticeable trait of Hall in this film is the use of the liner or a very
subtle highlight that molds the face or just touches the neckline.

This often separates the characters from the background as well as giving
them a slight edge of contour.

Also the use of Underlighting as mentioned previously in the document is very


prominently noticed in the film.
This film is categorized as drama, which usually focuses on the script and the
actors and doesnt pay much attention to art direction, but Hall was still able to
capture the audiences attention in the diversity of the shots and was able to
tell another story with the shots and lighting choices he used. He made
interesting decisions when choosing what shots to shoot and made sure that
each one was appropriate for the telling of the story.
Halls work on this film earned him his second Academy Award, after almost
30 years since the first one.

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BFA 6
5. Road to Perdition (2002):

This was the last film that was shot by Conrad L. Hall and was
considered his masterpiece. People who saw him lighting on set, claimed him
to be like a painter painting with light. After American Beauty, this was Halls
second collaboration with the director Sam Mendes. They both storyboarded
the whole film and so we can see by the effectively well-crafted compositions.
Hall mentions that he didnt try to characterize the actors, he just tried to
frame them in the right emotional context.
All the interior scenes were shot in a huge set, built with instructions from the
cinematographer for lighting positions. This gave Hall a flexibility to move
around the set and have various light sources.

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For exterior day scenes Hall used a particular trick to maintain consistency
throughout the day. Instead of White-Silk that is generally used to skim the
sunlight down, he used Black-Silk. This did not make ambient light to bounce
again, hence reducing the overall fill light giving it more contrast. Then he lit it
up according to his own lights.

For interior scenes, Hall used the advantage of his lighting positions in the set
they built. Again his technique of Magical Naturalism was seen prominently.
He used small units to bounce on the ceiling or the walls and fill up the room
with ambient light or room tone.

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The night exteriors, which comprise of a number of scenes, were lit by day
light sources imitating streetlight and sometimes moonlight. But they were
made to look as realistic as possible. The shots of rain were given backlight
and the snow was given front light. Snow was also used to hide ballast
cables. Hall heavily experimented with hiding lights behind trees and cars.

Another noticeable aspect in the film is that the characters faces are
constantly placed half in shadows and half in highlights. Hall repeats this
pattern a lot of times throughout the film, as most of the characters wear hats
and it is easy to achieve it through hats.

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Also Hall, still follows his technique with the liner. He adds them to separate
faces from the backgrounds.

Hall used soft light masterfully in the film for lighting the faces.
A scene that stands out is the climax shootout scene. The characters are
initially silhouettes but soon we Paul Newmans face, dripping under the rain
as Micheal walks towards him with a minigun.

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This scene stands out because of the eloquent use of lighting to enhance rain
and the intensity of the situation.

This film thus gathered Conrad Hall himself his third Academy Award,
although posthumously leaving behind the work of a Real Painter of Light.

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