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Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

For me, contrast is like another character in the film a role which is played by the cinematography

- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"When I work with a Director, Production Designer or a Costume Designer, I have a tendency to make them put less color in front of the camera. I filter color. I try to select colors very carefully. I believe that colors are there for a reason and they need to have a visual coherence. Thats perhaps why I started to use a kind of ENR color process right from the start of my lighting career"- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"This laboratory process that I apply to the positive film the treatment has become a part of me. I dont even think of it as a process. For others its a special treatment, but for me its very normal"


"I flashed the negative in Delicatessen 1/8 or with warm gel or blue gel according to the scene or to lower the level of contrast. Flashing the negative is a slow process and you have to want the effect of it. It can be seductive,

if you do too little, it doesnt show and if you do too much, it flattens the negative"- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"I shot 80% of Delicatessen on Kodak 100T 5248 with the skipped bleach bypass process with accelerator, because I wanted to have a very crisp, hyper realistic look, so you could almost touch the texture"- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"In the skipped bleach (Bleach Bypass) process you put the silver back on the film. That layer of silver gives an opacity to the black. Where the ENR process is a mixture of color and black and white printing processes, which can vary how much color you leave, the bleach bypass process leaves the silver on it which gives you a very black and white process. It drains the color a lot where as the ENR process gives you the contrast, the nice blacks you want"- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"The direction of the light on characters is one of the most important elements in my work if not the most important. The direction of the light counts more for me then its hardness, or softness. Direction is what gives soul to the light, and to the character. The angle can be completely frontal, which I dont do too often, or completely backlit, rendering a silhouette. Another approach is hard three-quarter rim lighting matched by a very soft side lighting from the other side. Classic side lighting is also very beautiful. There are so many variations"- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"Too often lighting is where it should be"- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"I light faces very softly and indirectly, with fluorescents. Even when the light is coming from the side, the quality of the light is very soft; it fills.

Ill soften everything but I still need the structure of the blacks- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"Thats one of the things I like about film; you can really make a statement by underexposing or overexposing your negative. I know some cinematographers prefer to shoot, light and expose film normally and then color it all in the DI.

I respect that, but Im the opposite- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"Gordon Willis ASC was very important to me and still is. Every time I watch any of Gordons films its a major modern thing for me in photography and hes always there in everything I do


"In addition to ENR printing techniques, I use the Varicon a contrast control system - which allows you to flash the negative with color tones as you shoot. This enables me to soften the contrast and to play with the colors.

For example, if I am lighting a scene with warm golden tones, I may not want the shadows to be as black as ENR tends to make them so I flash the film blue to give the shadows an ashy charcoal quality, and push the negative a stop to saturate the remaining colors.

Combining techniques like ENR and flashing gives me real control over color and contrast- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"I believe that its good for actors to be in the dark and not always to be lit brightly when they deliver a line- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"For Glutony there was greasy, white paper in front of the windows, with HMIs rigged to pierce the white layers of diffusion and to filter little bits of light into the room. I was shooting at a very low light level and I had put small pieces of white and silver cards hidden in the corners. I constantly renewed the batteries of the actors flashlights to ensure their brightness and had them hit the white and silver cards which bounced the lights back at them. The rest was done with a little bit of smoke in the rooms and some practicals, which were almost dead. The exterior HMIs were balanced for daylight and I put a 159 straw gel on them, just to get the magenta out- Darius Khondji AFC- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"For me the Glutony scene was about darkness. The room itself was underexposed, but we would overexpose the flashlight beamsto really pick them up, although they were already two to three stops over the room. To have them fill the room a bit, I put bounce cards here and there in the corners and on the floor. I tried using reflector cards but the look was too vulgar- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

"Production Designers know me now for adding practicals in scenes. Im very demanding on what I term points of light. I put points of light even in day scenes. I always feel that there are darker corners in day scenes where its interesting to have practicals for color contrast with cooler daylight

For me a practical is usually orange with a to full CTO or a very cool green. The contrast of color for me is just as importantas the contrast of the light intensity


"We would use Kino Flos as backlight a very soft line of light and Chinese lanterns as top light, our key light. We used that combination often, with one and a half stops to two and a half stops difference between key and fill


A lot of Cinematographers will talk about Vermeer or Caravaggio as influences. I tend to be more inspired by pictures with less obvious lighting themes.

One of my Bibles is Robert Franks The Americans. I take it with me whenever I travel - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I always lit the rainy exteriors with two big sources from above. I backlit the rain with a very cold color, just to enhance it slightly


We shot tests for about 4 days, looked at the results and then reshot some tests. I explored how far I could go in underexposing and investigated certain questions;

what is the reality of the key light, an underexposed key light or top light? How bright can you go, how dark can you go with dark skin? Do we have to make it shiny or can we light it without making it black?


The location was quite difficult to light and we were depending on a whole row of HMIs on the other side of the building to light through our windows. We shot it brutally, with no sophistication and the only available light was coming from way outside. I had no way of diffusing or reflecting light and the HMIs flooded into the rooms wherever they could reach.The rest was done with some Kinos in the hallway ceilings, just enough to see by. I added green to the daylight balanced lights,even adding green onto tungsten lights - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Kino Flos are one of the best lights, and one of my favorites. However, Kinos have such a naturally glamorous quality that they sometimes give off too nice a glow. In some movies you can feel that the actors are lit with Kinos and I try to avoid that. You haveto be careful to give those lights some grit, some realness. You have to put things between the Kinos and the faces, or put the Kinos at an edgy angle so they look as if they are naturally surrounding the actors - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I always add a little color in my way of lighting. I work the color on the set and take some of it away in the treatment - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

We designed the sequence to combine wide shots with close shots, and gliding steadicam shots with brutal shots - not steadicam, just the operator running with the camera. I held a second camera myself and I occasionally would literally throw myself on the floor with the camera. So we were mixing Steadicam shots with locked-off shots and dolly moves. This constant mlange helps give the scene its rhythm - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

We wanted to have this tough, handheld image mixed with some steadicam in the spirit of the French Connection, but also stylized and scary with spiritual lighting, like Klute. Those inspirations, mixed with Robert Franks The Americans led us to shoot in Super 35mm instead of Anamorphic because we wanted this incredibly free camera. We wanted to use the wide frame, so even in the tight inner city locations we could have two close ups at the same time, but we also wanted to be able to move the camera in any direction, at any time, without the heaviness of Cinemascope. We wanted the camera to float

More and more, I just prefer to use the real daylight. I use the skylight as a top light, then negative fill to create contrast. For me this is much more effective then using artificial light - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

The idea of having light fall onto faces from above was inspired by the work of Gordon Willis. My light is often 2 2 stops underexposed; its very slight, but you can feel that there is something drizzling onto the faces

from above. Willis did it differently, using strong light boxes overhead - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Being under or over a few stops Is not much normally, but when you are increasing the contrast so dramatically with a special color process, it is a lot especially when pushing the stock as well


My normal fill light for ambience is usually color corrected to match the shadows, to keep the scene cooler - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Our generation grew up with color films, so for my early work in black and white I had to think of it as a new thing. But black and white had become the basis for my learning lighting, allowing me to discover artificial lights in a graphic sense

after primarily working with natural light - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I have used flashing devices, such as the Varicon or Panaflasher, on every film Ive done. In the beginning I was a bit panicky, but there are very few images where I overdid it.

In fact, Im a little too prudent with flashing. I would like to make a film that is very flashed; it could be very beautiful - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I shot Evita and two other movies with Cooke anamorphic lenses and I love the look of them. They're not quite as sharp as all the other anamorphic lenses and they have a very special quality.

To me, the image they render looks the way an anamorphic image should look, with a shallow depth of field, a very round image, and very beautiful close ups. Sometimes it's almost a deformation of reality, bigger then life


I like the older C series lenses for the same reason I like Cooke Xtal anamorphics. The glass is older and they have a softer, slightly rounder look on faces. The way they render close ups is unique and beautiful. The distortion is also very attractive on nature, the way the trees bend a little


I really like to change things around from picture to picture the light, the glass, the lenses, the format.

If you shoot in true anamorphic its not going to look the same as Super 35mm. I think its beautiful the way you loose depth of field in anamorphic; It makes the backgrounds look like water


I love using very natural light as much as I can. I dont relight exteriors very much unless Im doing a picture where I want a different look - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I lit it all with contrast on one side, but the contrast was still soft, with an extremely soft quality of light. Anamorphic by its nature is beautiful and kind of soft, and I could flash when I wanted to, so I didnt need much fill light;

I used a lot of black screens and flags to eliminate fill - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I used the lightest Mitchell Diffusion, as well as black and especially white pro-mists. I often used a combination of white pro-mistand diffusion together with a net behind the lens three layers of diffusion, but all of them very light. The most beautiful diffusion is behind the glass. Most of the time I work with a black net at the back


Most DOPs go 100% when they use a color process, so it looks almost black and white, but I dont like to do that. ENR works on a scale of infrared, which affects the depth and thickness of the blacks.

You vary the degree of infrared according to the picture. Its a process you can adapt to the type of film and visual style youre doing.Ive used a color process on every movie Ive done since my second picture


I dont feel I have a particular style. Each film I do has its own visual world - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

We shot Alien Resurrection on Super 35mm 2.40:1 ratio, which I had got to know on Se7en. I worked again with those Panavision Primo lenses that I had such a great experience with on Se7en.

The look of the film was a mixture of the Kodak 500T 5279 which was already a bit contrasty and the desaturated colors of the Technicolor ENR process

The exposure I had on Alien Resurrection was the same all the way through. T2.8 or 1/3 under this, although the film does seem over lit to me

- Darius Khondji AFC- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

The whole look of the film can be viewed as a blending of design and lighting. The production thought we were spending too much money building the lighting into the sets, but it gave us a lot of freedom to move about and work very quickly between setups. We could make a set look like a completely different set just by a change in thebuilt in lighting scheme. We could adjust a few channels on the dimmer, turning a high key set into a low key set. Wed then wet the set down, make it oily or gritty, and add smoke; It would become a completely different place - Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

To be able to see and photograph the sets, the majority of the floors were made with metal grating backed with Lee 129 heavy Frost diffusion and quarter CTB, with 2K nook lights hidden underneath. We had about 250 of them on the main set alone, all tied into a dimmer board. The ceiling was also grating backed with diffusion, behind which we had hundreds of bat strips strips of wood with porcelain sockets and 211 PH bulbs which were also tied to the dimmer. For high ceilings we used chicken coops and 10 light cyc strips for more punch. We also had clear 60 watt Lumaline bulbs (16 clear tubes visibly mounted on the walls) periodically built into the set walls down the big corridorson the walls) periodically built into the set walls down the big corridors. The were dimmed way down to just a glowing element- Chris Strong: Gaffer on Alien Resurrection

I lit the Aliens almost exclusively with reflections of fluorescents. I had them constantly wetted with [methyl-cellulose] goo, and then we basically built a cage around them to create reflections

in the moisture. Also, Id often add a little green to the aliens lighting. You couldnt really tell the color is there, but it had an effect. I love the color green. I find it very sensuous in a way, and I think the Aliens have a kind of sensuous design as well


I dont think Ive ever done so many tests for a film before. I experiment a lot during the testing. In my tests I try to damage the negative as much as I possibly can

underexposing and overexposing it. I like to destroy it. From the ashes comes something new, and I sometimes find very strange imagery that I never would have been aware of if I hadnt gone through the tests


Sigourney had some say over the film as an Executive Producer and she was very careful about the way she looked. I lit her with a ring light, like a newborn creature,

and I lit her very evenly, very softly, with a little bit of sheen on her face as if her skin was completely made of plastic- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I always use a Kino Flo tube under or over the lens to add a highlight. Flagged off with some black tape, it doesnt light the face, but just leaves a line across the eyes


I tend to light more and more by eye. I do however use a color temperature meter a lot, because I have difficulties with colored light. I know that my gaffers have a hard time with me because I want to know where the colors are,

I cant stand having lights all over the place in terms of green and magenta. At the beginning of the picture, I put gels on all the lights, we number them so we know the lighting requirements of each light and every week we check them again


From time to time, the audience needs to be blinded by the sun, by daylight. Even if we have put them in very beautiful dark light, sometimes they need a flash of light on their faces.

I feel that you need rhythm in color and in lighting- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I always take quite a bit of time before the film just to learn how to photograph the star. I need to see how he/she takes low light, how he/she takes very bright light, what direct sunlight will do to his/her face, how much light his/her face will bounce back with reflective light. Eventually you see a direction to take with an actor


I love it when things are really horrible but backlit, dark and silhouetted. Then the imagery is more of a product of the audiences imagination rather then what is on the screen.

I find that people can imagine much more then you can ever get on a negative. Thats a very important aspect of all my work in general.

I dont make the imagery dark just out of the pleasure of making it look good; in a way, [by keeping aspects of the imagery obscured], I give the audience something more to look at

- Darius Khondji AFC- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I believe that cutting the light is important, but I believe mostly in the direction of the light- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Every movie to me is a cocktail with the technical side blended according to the kind of image you want- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Green can be sexy on the skin. I use underexposed green all the time- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

My favorite [diffusion] is real 1000H tracing paper - you get really soft light and the subject doesn't feel lit - but gaffers don't want to use it because it's too flammable [Lee 129 Heavy Soft Frost is the closest match]- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

We cinematographers loose something by always going towards sharpness, toward perfection, depth of field, anti halo, anti flare, anti this, anti that. We loose a certain soul we used to have- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

I always soften the source. I put the source very far away and then cut it down and diffuse it, especially for close ups- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

For me the timing process is very important. In the timing I add the last touch to the narrative. At the same time if you do too much in the timing you can destroy a film by smoothing things out too much- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Cinematography often forces you to look at something more closely and really examine its features. In doing so, you become much more connected to the inner essence and beauty of that person or object.

Its a very intimate exchange between the light and the subject- Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Darius Khondji AFC, ASC

Appendix to quotations:

- Page 2: Cnematography Screencraft by Peter Ettedgui (Rotavision) - Page 3: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)

- Page 4: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)- Page 6: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 8: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 9: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 9: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)

- Page 11: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)- Page 14: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)- Page 16: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)

- Page 17: American Cinematographer By Iain Stasukevich June 2014 (ASC Press)- Page 18: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)

- Page 20: Cnematography Screencraft by Peter Ettedgui (Rotavision)- Page 21: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 21: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 22: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 23: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 24: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 25: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)

& American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 28: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)

- Page 30: Cnematography Screencraft by Peter Ettedgui (Rotavision) - Page 30: Cnematography Screencraft by Peter Ettedgui (Rotavision) - Page 32: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)

- Page 34: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 35: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)

- Page 37: American Cinematographer by Eric Rudolph Feb 2000 (ASC Press)- Page 38: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)

- Page 40: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press) & Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)& Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)

- Page 41: American Cinematographer By Chris Pizzello April 2000 (ASC Press)- Page 42: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)

- Page 44: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 45: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 47: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)

- Page 48: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)- Page 53: American Cinematographer by Patricia Thomson May 2005 (ASC Press) - Page 53: American Cinematographer by Patricia Thomson May 2005 (ASC Press)

Appendix to quotations (Continued):

- Page 54: American Cinematographer by Simon Gray April 2008 (ASC Press)- Page 55: American Cinematographer by Stephen Pizzello January 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 57: American Cinematographer by Stephen Pizzello January 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 59: American Cinematographer by Stephen Pizzello January 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 60: American Cinematographer by Stephen Pizzello January 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 62: American Cinematographer by Stephen Pizzello January 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 62: American Cinematographer by Stephen Pizzello January 1997 (ASC Press)

- Page 63: Cnematography Screencraft by Peter Ettedgui (Rotavision)- Page 64: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing) - Page 65: American Cinematographer by Christopher Probst November 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 66: American Cinematographer by Christopher Probst November 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 68: American Cinematographer by Christopher Probst November 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 70: American Cinematographer by Christopher Probst November 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 71: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 71: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)- Page 72: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 73: New Cinematographers by Alexander Ballinger (Lawrence King Publishing)

- Page 74: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)- Page 75: American Cinematographer By Chris Pizzello April 2000 (ASC Press)

- Page 77: American Cinematographer by Christopher Probst November 1997 (ASC Press)- Page 81: American Cinematographer by Eric Rudolph Feb 2000 (ASC Press)

- Page 82: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 82: American Cinematographer By David E. Williams October 1995 (ASC Press)- Page 83: American Cinematographer by Benjamin Bergery July 2009 (ASC Press)- Page 84: American Cinematographer by Benjamin Bergery July 2009 (ASC Press)- Page 86: American Cinematographer by Patricia Thomson May 2005 (ASC Press)

- Page 88: Reflections by Benjamin Bergery (ASC Press)- Page 89: American Cinematographer by Eric Rudolph Feb 2000 (ASC Press)

- Page 90: American Cinematographer by Christopher Probst November 1997 (ASC Press)

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