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“My concept lighting-wise was to recreate the look of those old CRT TV's which tend to flicker a bit. To boost this effect, we used a row of SkyPanels and LiteMats with SNAPBOX® and SNAPGRIDS® in a long array.”
Four decades ago, the 1972 Summer Olympics became the site of an international tragedy which would go down in history as the “Munich Massacre.” The stunning events of September ‘72, are brought to life in the new film “September 5” from director Tim Fehlbaum and cinematographer Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK (“Red Notice”, “Constellation”, “Independence Day: Resurgence”). Told entirely through the perspective of the ABC Sports News team that documented the tragedy live, the thriller serves as a chilling allegory for modern media's complex and at times deadly role in shaping events. Förderer relied on DoPchoice SNAPBAG® and SNAPGRID® with ARRI SkyPanels and Litegear LiteMat to recreate the ABC Sports News Studio at the heart of the film.
“That Olympics was one of the first big events to be broadcast worldwide live,” explains Förderer. “Satellite TV was still brand new. That's also why terrorists chose the event–the international spotlight.” Terrorists broke into the Olympic village, killing two athletes and taking another nine hostage. Over the course of less than 48 hours, police would attempt multiple raids, which failed in part because the terrorists, like the rest of the world, were watching the ABC live broadcast of the rescue attempts.
Prepping for the film involved extensive research, from studying photos and videos from the period to interviewing individuals who used to work at the studio. “The film’s central set is the ABC Sports control room. All the editing decisions were made around this big wall of TV screens,” describes the cinematographer. “Working with gaffer Uwe Greiner, we came up with a concept lighting-wise to recreate the look of those old CRT TV's which tend to flicker a bit. To boost this effect, we used a row of SkyPanels and LiteMats with SNAPBOX® and SNAPGRIDS® in a long array.”
“I know Stefan from my days back in Munich film school,” the cinematographer confides. Throughout the cinematographer’s extensive filmography, SNAPBOX®, SNAPBAGS® and SNAPGRIDS® can almost always be found on set. “It frustrates me when someone sets up a light and then out comes a team of grips to set up five flags. That approach takes up so much floorspace and limits where you can point your camera. But if you bring the light control onto the lighting fixtures with DoPchoice then you have only one stand to work around.”
As such on “September 5” Förderer decided to create a controlled flickering TV effect, placing a row of panels fitted with SNAPGRIDS® to help approximate the ambient TV glow. For close up shots, the cinematographer introduced a LiteMat with DoPchoice accessories.
“That way we could still control the spill, but if it drifts in glasses, you don't see that checkerboard black-and-white reflection which gives your lighting away.” DoPchoice rose to the occasion, supplying production with white SNAPGRIDS®. Made with DoPchoice proprietary material the white grid offers the same precise spill control as the standard grid. “It worked great. If it drifted into the glasses, we didn’t see the tell-tale checkerboard,” confirms Förderer. “We could even make the LiteMat look like the reflection of a TV that the character was looking at.”
The filmmakers set out to make “September 5” as close to reality as possible, from meticulously recreating sets to lighting set ups that imitated the imperfections of a 1970s studio, from CRT TV-look-a-likes to imitating flickering fluorescents with Astera tubes. “We use a little bit of archival footage for super wide shots, but almost everything else was recreated. It's interesting to see the reviews when the film premiered at Venice and compliment our integration of archival footage. I take it as a compliment that they cannot differentiate the two.”
“September 5” opens in theaters in the United States on November 29, 2024.
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What is your Lighting Fixture?
Search by DoPchoice product number