DAY FOR NIGHT

I’ve always been a fan of day-for-night cinematography.  There has never been a better way to convincingly render expansive exterior scenes that cannot possibly be lit after sundown.  Watch any of the old John Ford westerns – in black and white or color – and you’ll see the effect in its fullest flower.  Back then, ASC members Bill Daniels, Winton Hoch, Archie Stout and a few others had the advantage of 23A56 filters and the occasional shipment of infrared film to get the job done.  Now, of course, the game has changed.  When properly executed, it’s still an amazingly adaptive technique that solves a number of challenges while adding an interesting flavor to whatever you’re shooting.  Despite popular opinion, it’s not difficult to achieve.  The key to making it work is staying consistent in the way you apply a few simple rules.  And, once again, as with everything related to cinematography, most of that is contingent upon substantial testing and how you use your taste.

            There’re lots of sources to consult for specific instructions, but these are your general concerns when thinking about shooting DFN:

            – First, convince the director to endorse the idea (not always a simple task!)

            – If it’s a sunny day: Shoot in full or 3\4’s back light?  Or, do I choose overcast?

            – Filtration: If seeing sky, do I need to use a polarizer or grads to darken it?

            – Use (or not) of fill light: How much detail do I want to hold in the faces?

            – Exposure: How far under- do I need to go while retaining important visual information?

            – Lab or DI processes: How much to print down\crush blacks and\or desaturate mid-tones?

            – Further DI processes: need for secondary correction, power windows or rotoscoping?

            – Should I add some coolness to the image?

            Most movies include a few shots that qualify as day-for-night.  Anyone can pull that off!  The true test is to maintain the mood through a sequence that’s shot over a number of days.  During the film era, that was a big ask.  But thanks to the incredible tools we have in the DI suite, the look has never been easier to realize than it is right now.  Some recent examples include John Seale, ASC’s work on Mad Max: Fury Road (2015; George Miller) – in which he rewrote the rules and brought DFN to a new level.  Also, Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC went so far as to create a special rig to deliver the effect on Nope (2017; Ryan Godoy).  Both results were incredible!

            For my money though, one of the best day-for-night sequences I know of was done by Bill Butler, ASC in Stephen Spielberg’s classic film, Jaws (1975).  His was the worst possible challenge: Shooting on the beach and ocean with enormous, unavoidable tracts of open sky.  As you watch the clip, you’ll see that he sometimes shot directly into the sun, yet the effect – created wholly in-camera – still holds up.  That’s because DFN isn’t about slavishly recreating the look of night.  It’s about recreating the feeling of night.

            And that’s what most of filmmaking is about anyway, isn’t it?