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László Kovács was the Director of Photography on Ghostbusters.

Career[]

László Kovács was an influential and award winning cinematographer who worked over 70 movies such as "Targets" (1968), "Easy Rider" (1969), "What's Up, Doc?" (1972), "Paper Moon" (1973), "At Long Last Love" (1975), "Nickelodeon" (1976), and "Mask" (1985) and was credited in part for developing the American New Wave cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Ghostbusters[]

In the months after Ghostbusters was greenlit, Laszlo Kovacs joined the production crew. [1] As preproduction continued and work began. The Ecto-1, in particular, was originally envisioned to be an all-black vehicle. Kovacs pointed out an all-black car would prove difficult to film in the night shoots. Soon enough, the white and red trim design was adopted. [2] During principal photography, Kovacs and his crew lit up Columbus Circle and all visible side streets with giant power-draining arc lights to accompany the 500 screaming extras running away from the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. [3] He used the largest arcs every built in Hollywood at the time. 16 were built and he used 14. He specially built shutters for them to simulate a lightning effect.[4] One of the main issues for Kovács was shooting in 35 mm for live action and in 65 mm for special effects. For special effects, a depth of field was needed but Kovács had to establish a lighting level and keep it constant.[5] Kovács encountered this issue in long shots with a fully lit face and then not being able to create the same shadows in a close up.[6] As filming went on, he got coverage down to a science because the 35mm cameras had to exclude the angle that the 65mm cameras saw, where the ghost would eventually be inserted, otherwise it would show up in the 35mm angle, too.[7]

Filming at the Temple of Gozer set provided some issues with the 65mm cameras for Kovács. Boss Films preferred him to achieve a certain stop — f/5.6 — but due to physical limitations, he was unable to give them more than f/4.[8] Lighting the set took six weeks of rigging and testing. Kovács' gaffer, Colin Campbell, built light racks behind the painted over 400 feet long and 60 feet high New York backing. Ultimately, 7500 pieces of 300-watt mushroom globes were strategically located behind windows, skylines, and the like. On the day before shooting started, they finally achieved the right light intensity.[9] John DeCuir worked closely with Kovács and Campbell on set design to make sure the architecture complimented their efforts and even built places to hide the lights.[10] For the scene when Gozer arrives, Kovács used both a strong backlight on the whole stairwell and cross light. This helped create an overexposed effect with everything bathed in light.[11]

References[]

  1. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 11. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "In the months that followed, cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs joined the group, as did costume designer Theoni V. Aldredge and editor Sheldon Kahn."
  2. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 67 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "Dan Aykroyd's original Ectomobile was an all-black rather sinister-looking machine with flashing white and purple strobe lights that gave it a strange, ultraviolet aura. Though kept essentially intact through all the drafts, the vehicle concept -- suggesting a hearse rather more than an ambulance -- was clearly more in keeping with the darker tone of Aykroyd's first draft than with the lighter ones that followed it. It was cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs, however, who first pointed out a serious problem with it."
  3. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 188. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "Entertainment Effects Group stagehands prepare for a bluescreen traveling matte shot of the Stay-Puft marshmallow man's grand entrance. For its accompanying live-action element - shot in New York - Laszlo Kovacs and his crew had Columbus Circle and all visible side-streets lit up for blocks with giant power-draining arc lights. Five hundred screaming extras stampeded on cue, running headlong through the streets and climbing over cars."
  4. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "We had a pretty close communication between Ivan, Richard Edlund, ASC, supervisor of visual effects, some of his matte painters and artists, and myself. We had actual sketches available to all of us to give us a very strong idea of what to expect and create. Everybody has to have an idea of what is going on in the scenes, especially the gaffer. Certain things had to be pre-planned and set up, lighting-wise. Without the storyboards, we couldn't have done that because, for certain things, you can't wait until the day of production. A lot of things have to be prepared before then. For example, I used the largest arcs ever built in Hollywood. They built 16 of them, and I used 14! I had specially built shutters for these arcs, because we needed to simulate a lightning effect. So every shot had to be very carefully designed."
  5. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "It was really difficult because of the amount of light required by the 65mm format. Not only that, but the BFC people needed as much depth of field as I could give them. This way, it's more believable to create the unseen third dimension later on in their work. And for them to be able to match my work, I had to establish a certain light level and keep with it. I really tried to understand their problems. There were some really brilliant people there. I hadn't had this kind of experience before, and I learned a lot from them."
  6. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "There was always a problem of compromising, since ideally speaking, you light for one angle. But, when you have two or three angles, and especially closeups, it is very difficult, because you have to make a multiple choice. In a long shot, the face is fully lit, but you create all kinds of other shadow areas in a frame. Then, when you cut to the close-up, you have to create the same shadows and the same kind of a feeling. If it's a fully lit face, it doesn't work and wouldn't match with the intercuts. Hence, the necessity of creating a compromise. You really have to light the close-up in the long shot, as refined as if you were doing the close-up separately. I figured out a way, which was to do the close-ups at the very end. That way, we could really refine it and change it. It was very interesting and, at times, it was really a problem."
  7. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "Ivan asked me to utilize two 35mm cameras and, whenever I could, cover the scene at the same time in a close-up and a medium shot, or a full shot and medium shot, depending on how he wanted to present the action. The 35mm cameras had to exclude the angle that the 65mm cameras saw, where the ghost would eventually be, otherwise it would show up in the 35mm angle. The coverage was very difficult, although, after a while, we got it down almost to a science."
  8. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "It was especially difficult on Stage 16, where a lot of 65mm effects had to be shot. One day, we had two or three 65mm cameras and three 35mm cameras lined up, doing the same setup. I had to light basically for the 65mm, in order to achieve the certain stop — f/5.6 — that they preferred. But, in certain situations, I wasn't able to give them more than f/4 due to physical conditions."
  9. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "The set presented an enormous logistics problem. For instance, Colin Campbell, my gaffer, built light racks behind the painted New York backing, which was over 400 feet long and 60 feet high. There were 7500 pieces of 300-watt mushroom globes, strategically located behind windows, skylines, etc. Even the park lamps were little Christmas lights. That created depth and life in a basically immobile backing. The rigging of that stage alone took six weeks. Just the rigging — without the labor — such as equipment rentals, cables, generators, etc. cost $300,000. Again, that created a problem because it was supposed to look real. We had a lot of tests made with different degrees of light intensity coming through the windows, the skylight, etcetera. And, for a while, nothing worked! But, miraculously, the day before shooting, on the last test, we came up with something that we thought was really believable."
  10. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "All of our lights were 60 feet above ground. At the end of the stairway on the set is Gozer's pyramid. Its peak was right at the rafters. Then, on top of the pyramid, I needed another Titan. We figured that the only way we could do it would be to take out the rafters and put in a bed which is hung from the ceiling — which is, of course, higher than the rafters — and put the Titan there. But we only had to do that for that one light. John DeCuir went over things very carefully with my gaffer and myself, to leave us places for the lights. He always creates every set keeping in mind how it should be lit. He provides little architectural elements where you can hide lights, and a little visual interest which would catch a little more light or some kind of a texture."
  11. American Cinematopgrapher June 1984 László Kovács says: "The idea was to use a strong backlight on the whole stairway, and also use cross light. First of all, I had to build the stop up to about f/16 because, when the ghost appears, we wanted to create this overexposed effect with everything bathed in light. I had to give the 65mm camera an f/8 stop. I used the same f/8 stop on my camera, but it needed two more stops overexposure. That's why I needed all this tremendous amount of power. Also, creating the backlight effect is really not using the full extent of the lights. If you front-light you've got overexposure much sooner. It's very difficult to overexpose with cross light and backlight."


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