La Fémis, French National Film School - location: France

Thomas Favel from La Fémis, French National Film School, elaborates on his invitation-only experience at the 2007 Budapest Cinematography Masterclass.

Thomas Favel from La Fémis, French National Film School, elaborates on his invitation-only experience at the 2007 Budapest Cinematography Masterclass.

2007 Budapest Masterclass

Some 40 aspiring filmmakers were hand-picked to participate in the ninth annual Budapest Masterclass program, where they were mentored by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC and Elemér Ragályi, HSC during the two-week program. Kodak is a key sponsor of the internationally renowned Masterclass, which is conducted by the University of Drama and Film in collaboration with the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers (HSC). Additional sponsors include Panavision, CILECT (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. Selection into the Budapest summer school is a highly coveted honor.

For the 2007 Masterclass, a jury of professors at the university chose 16 scholars from nearly 100 eligible applicants based upon their portfolios. There are also 26-plus student participants selected to assist and observe the scholars throughout the course. Kodak sponsored 12 of these students, who attend all the classes and presentations with the scholars and assist in all aspects of the program.

Thomas Favel, from La Fémis, French National Film School, assisted with the Kodak Look Manager System (KLMS) demonstrations. Below, Favel recounts his memorable Masterclass experience, which was also written with the invaluable assistance of Aline Tran.

Sixteen students were chosen by a jury to highlight some lines from a script, while other participants formed into shooting teams. Every morning, teams trained by Hungarian professionals entrusted us with two BK Film Studio sets. Sparks Lighting Ltd. provided the lighting equipment for the sets.

2007 Budapest Masterclass

We shared the two Panavision cameras supplied to us, a Millenium XL and a Compact, based on the needs of each shoot. These cameras and their Primo optics were, for most of us, a great novelty. Actually, we realized quite quickly that we had been trained in the school of the ARRI Zeiss lens set, probably reflecting the reality of the current market. Each team was equipped with a reel of KODAK VISION2 500T 5218 film, carefully developed and printed by Focus Fox Post Production Company.

The afternoons were dedicated to analyzing the previous day's activities and to the presentation of the films and demo films of each participant. In the evenings, we saw Hungarian films in one of the city's theatres, followed by discussions with their respective cinematographers.

The Masterclass provided us with the opportunity to see the quality of Hungarian filming facilities. We visited Korda Studios where a New York street exterior was constructed for shooting Hellboy II. These studios were also used to create special effects for the look of hell in the film by Guillermo Del Toro, thanks to their huge greenscreens. We also had the opportunity to meet the brilliant designer Aron Jaszberenyi, who now stands on his own two feet at ColorFront with an interesting and innovative workflow for dailies.

Kodak provided us with two computers and four cameras. Each day, we were organized into two teams, one for each set. Each team was charged with taking photographs during the shoot and preparing a preview of lighting choices. The goal of this task was to familiarize ourselves with new equipment while striving to visualize what the image could be if we chose different film or processing.

2007 Budapest Masterclass

Ragályi led the first week and Zsigmond guided the second. They taught us how to emphasize a story through lighting.

Elemér specifically insisted on the fact that when we create images on film, we must also tell a story. Each student cinematographer was put in the director position of the script proposed to him/her and was also judged for his/her ability to successfully tell the story. There was also the question of time, and each of us had to be able to adapt his/her shot list to three hours of shooting.

The shot list question was particularly meaningful as the two trainers both observed that we were too inclined to create tight shots. For them, tight shots were too similar to the video generation who thought more in the small-screen format. Elemér and Vilmos insisted on the importance of wide shots in film.

Vilmos also pointed our attention to the fact that we were all using the same soft lighting - too soft for his taste - and losing the light's direction completely. In order to correct this, he encouraged us only to use soft lighting with harsh natural light sources, while insisting on the fact that it's best not to employ multiple lighting sources. He explained to us that he prefers to work with one unique source of light, in a way that allows one light direction thereby producing a more realistic image.

The second point he made was about fill light. For him, fill lighting is the most important, and it is always the last task in his lighting setup. Fill lighting is the final touch, creating the atmosphere and mood of the scene once light direction has been determined. Consequently, he often lets his students do their lighting setup and then proposes a new shot with a bit more fill lighting, or another light direction. He believes that fill lighting should not come from above as this is quite frequently done and tends to hollow out faces. In fact, he stresses that fill lighting should be used mainly to emphasize the actors' eyes. For that reason, he most often sets it up in line with the camera.

2007 Budapest Masterclass

Beyond certain common recommendations, what we understood from these exercises was that lighting technique is also a cultural phenomenon. Therefore, we can clearly observe differences between the lighting used in India, close to that of the American studios in the 1950s, the bright and strong lighting used in Hispanic countries, and the rather soft lighting used by countries in the Far East.

It is in this breakthrough to other ways of doing and thinking that the Masterclass proved to be particularly interesting. The geographical location of the Masterclass, in the heart of Eastern Europe, is perhaps the most pertinent aspect. Ultimately, the lesson is that we should not just create images, but take a look at the world around us, a world with a particularly vivid history and story as in the case of Budapest. The work of the director of photography should feed on this awareness. Vilmos and Elemér are living examples of such awareness.