The Last of Us crew’s new lighting solution was born out of Calgary’s weather adversity

Forward of the newest The Final of Us episode airing, SlashFlim sat down with episode cinematographer Eben Bolter to speak about how the complete episode was shot to seem like it was being lit instantly by the moonlight.

Bolter additionally talked in regards to the efforts undertaken by the manufacturing group to shoot and illuminate the scenes, a few of which had been filmed on a soundstage. Bolter described the scenes within the latter half of the episode, set in a cul-de-sac in Kansas Metropolis, as “a large, costly enterprise” that required filming for 4 consecutive weeks at evening, and that it was “in all probability the toughest factor I’ve ever needed to gentle in my life.”

The group’s goal was to create a naturalistic lighting search for the episode, fairly than a refined, cinematic look, which they believed might seem “too lit, and too slick, and too pretend.” Alberta’s unpredictable climate didn’t make issues simple both, forcing the group to search out artistic options to the lighting issues.

The scenes weren’t shot in small areas both, which is generally the case for moonlit photographs. “I needed to scale up the idea of how I might’ve lit it on a small scale, on an enormous scale,” mentioned Bolter, whereas describing the two,000ft cul-de-sac.

Harsh Calgary snow and robust winds didn’t assist the group’s case both, which made it essential to invent a brand new lighting answer.

“Should you’re in an inside, like a soundstage, we’d simply rig them within the ceiling. However we had been out in the midst of nowhere. In Calgary, the wind can stand up to 100 miles per hour. So if I used to be utilizing balloon lights and the wind will get up, they must come down, we must cease filming. And we had an excessive amount of to do, we couldn’t do this.”

The group arrange 4 grids of 100 gentle every with no cloth. The choice to should cloth was to permit the wind to move by. “In whole, we had 400 of those lights on these large cranes hanging over the set, which gave us the mushy atmosphere however with none materials,” Bolter mentioned. “In order that when the wind bought up, and it did stand up to 50, 60 miles per hour, it simply handed by them and we might preserve filming.”

The lighting resulted in beautiful cinematography for the episode that showcased the depth of violence in each the human and monster of the world.

Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin additionally talk about the episode’s distinctive set and lighting within the newest episode of HBO’s The Last of Us Podcast.

Picture credit score: SlashFilm

Supply: SlashFilm