prg case study - horrible bosses - gekko karesslite

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The “drag racing” Toyota Prius and the Volkswagen Jetta that zoom through Horrible Bosses hit Director of Photography David Hennings with that familiar challenge faced by many cinematographers: naturally lighting the actors inside. The dark comedy about three friends’ bumbling attempts to murder their abusive employers includes several scenes that follow Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day in their unassuming getaway cars. “We had so many night driving sequences,” says Hennings. “And the last thing you want to do inside a car is blast an actor with something that looks fake. You know, the stuff that comes from underneath and makes it look like a freakin’ Halloween movie. You want something that’s invisible and organic.” Hennings turned to Gekko Technology LED lighting fixtures for their high-quality white light, flexibility, and durability. He chose the Gekko kicklite® to achieve the natural illumination he wanted inside the vehicles. “Sure, I could stick a traditional light under their noses and you could see them, but that little kicklite allows light levels that are so organic that you believe it,” he says. “I used those more than anything else. Without them I couldn’t have done what I did with as much subtlety.” At seven inches (108 millimeters) long and 0.2 pounds (0.112 kilograms), the 3200K and 5600K kicklite is designed for high output in tight spaces and unusual situations. Hennings says their extremely low power requirement 3.5 Watts was particularly critical in stunt sequences using a Padelford Remote Drive System POD which created a unique set of challenges. “The Padelford rig allows us do these crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy sequences. That’s the good news,” he says. “The bad news is you’ve got nothing for lighting. You’ve got zip, because the car’s driving on its own. It’s night time, it’s a free drive car and I’ve got no way to power it, no way to get lights in there.” So he pulled out a set of kicklites and got creative. “I lined the hell out of that car,” says Hennings. “I think I had about ten of them. Everywhere I could hide one, I put one: up in the visor; stuck in the dashboard; in the instrument cluster; Lighting Dark Comedy Gekko Technology LED Fixtures Shine on Horrible Bosses Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures (L-R) JASON BATEMAN as Nick, CHARLIE DAY as Dale and JASON SUDEIKIS as Kurt in New Line Cinema’s comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by John P. Johnson (L-R) Cinematographer DAVID HENNINGS with Director SETH GORDON on set during the filming of New Line Cinema’s comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

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Page 1: PRG Case Study - Horrible Bosses - Gekko Karesslite

The “drag racing” Toyota Prius and the Volkswagen Jetta that zoom through Horrible Bosses hit Director of Photography David Hennings with that familiar challenge faced by many cinematographers: naturally lighting the actors inside. The dark comedy about three friends’ bumbling attempts to murder their abusive employers includes several scenes that follow Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day in their unassuming getaway cars. “We had so many night driving sequences,” says Hennings. “And the last thing you want to do inside a car is blast an actor with something that looks fake. You know, the stuff that comes from underneath and makes it look like a freakin’ Halloween movie. You want something that’s invisible and organic.”Hennings turned to Gekko Technology LED lighting fi xtures for their high-quality white light, fl exibility, and durability. He chose the Gekko kicklite® to achieve the natural illumination he wanted inside the vehicles. “Sure, I could stick a traditional light under their noses and you could see them, but that little kicklite allows light levels that are so organic that you believe it,” he says. “I used those more than anything else. Without them I couldn’t have done what I did with as much subtlety.”At seven inches (108 millimeters) long and 0.2 pounds (0.112 kilograms), the 3200K and 5600K kicklite is designed for high output in tight spaces and unusual situations. Hennings says their extremely low power requirement 3.5 Watts was particularly critical in stunt sequences using a Padelford Remote Drive System POD which created a unique set of challenges.

“The Padelford rig allows us do these crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy sequences. That’s the good news,” he says. “The bad news is you’ve got nothing for lighting. You’ve got zip, because the car’s driving on its own. It’s night time, it’s a free drive car and I’ve got no way to power it, no way to get lights in there.”

So he pulled out a set of kicklites and got creative. “I lined the hell out of that car,” says Hennings. “I think I had about ten of them. Everywhere I could hide one, I put one: up in the visor; stuck in the dashboard; in the instrument cluster;

Lighting Dark ComedyGekko Technology LED Fixtures Shine on Horrible Bosses

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures(L-R) JASON BATEMAN as Nick, CHARLIE DAY as Dale and JASON SUDEIKIS as Kurt in New Line Cinema’s comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Photo by John P. Johnson (L-R) Cinematographer DAVID HENNINGS with Director SETH GORDON on set during the fi lming of New Line Cinema’s comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Page 2: PRG Case Study - Horrible Bosses - Gekko Karesslite

down on the area where the radio typically is; in the headrest (because there’s an actor sitting in the back seat); in the handles of the doors in the backseat. And what’s particularly cool is I’m powering all those guys off a little battery in the trunk.”With a total film budget of less than $40 million, Hennings says the pace was fast and furious which required everyone—and everything—to do things right the first time more often than not. “We didn’t have the luxury of some of these great big car movies where they do two shots a night,” he says. “We we’re humping it. And the kicklite was not only a very durable light, but easy to adjust and very, very dependable. That’s extremely important, because to put in a product that all of a sudden doesn’t work brings things to a screeching halt.”Hennings also got creative with Gekko ring lights george™ and kisslite®. He says he used george for about 80% of the film which was dark in more than its humor. Low light scenes in bars, restaurants, and prowling around houses at night gave Hennings the opportunity to use the ring lights for something beyond beauty shots. “There were so many times when I got shoved into a corner,” he says. “I could get key lights in, but it was so hard to get an organic fill light in there. So I started and have continued to use george and kisslite for that purpose, because it’s a very sneaky way to get some fill light in there. And we’re talking very low levels, three stops under, but enough for when you’re stuck in a sequence where there’s just no place to

hide it. And with the handheld dimming device, I could adjust where that fill was no matter how close or how far away that actor was from the camera which is marvelous.”He says he uses Gekko LED products, because he can always count on them in the toughest crunch times. “Again, speed is money,” says Hennings. “Yeah, great if you have some billion dollar movie and you can sit there and futz around with gels to get it right. But you don’t want to do that. You want a light that you can turn on and guess what? It’s right. And the guys who made these lights, they got it right. The color temperature is spot on. The things I have to be very sensitive to—color balance and bad contamination of green or magenta—were never a problem. Up until now there really weren’t a lot of LED lights that were color accurate.”He should know. He’s been filming with LED white lights for five years. Hennings has witnessed the growth of LED lighting for film and television as more and more of his peers turn to LED fixtures to get things done faster and cheaper without sacrificing quality.“It’s starting to happen,” says Hennings. “They’re starting to figure out. It’s just a matter of time.”

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