Lit by Aputure: Marshall Adams, ASC | Better Call Saul
Emmy-nominated Cinematographer Marshall Adams, ASC Blends Old and New Tech
Artist Spotlight
Breaking Bad revolutionized television, ushering in a new era of how cinematographers approached lighting episodic television. So, it’s not surprising that its famous spin-off Better Call Saul followed suit, honoring the groundbreaking cinematography of its predecessor, while blazing its own trail and developing a unique visual tone that perfectly encapsulates the show’s tragedy and comedy.
One of the individuals at the helm of this show’s distinctive visual style is Marshall Adams, ASC. Adams has been working on sets since the 1980s and has seen the evolution of television cinematography firsthand. His influential body of work has seen him nominated for a Primetime Emmy and multiple ASC Awards.
Let’s dive in to two of his scenes and see how he achieved each look with the help of Aputure fixtures.
Scene 1: Inside the RV
In one of Better Call Saul’s most-watched episodes, “Breaking Bad”, Saul is trapped inside an RV, his head inside a mesh bag that distorts his view, rendering him unable to make out most of his surroundings. The actual RV was an oversized set piece that allowed space for just enough lights to capture this bleak, yet fast-paced scene.
Ambience is Key
This particular scene was heavy on practicals and required just enough ambient fill to bring them out.
Adams utilized two Aputure Nova P300c fixtures directly above Saul to provide the necessary fill and illuminate the entire RV set piece. Dialing the Novas [roughly] to tungsten allowed them to accurately imitate and supplement the sodium and mercury-vapor practical diodes.
Practicals… Practicals Everywhere
While LEDs laid the foundation for the scene’s fill and ambience, Adams’ gaffer utilized incandescent bulbs for the many practicals in the scene.
The sequence required an unconventional approach to lighting where small, heavily frosted practicals essentially operated as the key, accents, backlights, and more.
Gelled incandescent bulbs in the scene were placed in the lamps to authentically imitate various practicals that were part of the scene.
Adams then added depth using small, single-diode LEDs with gels placed on stands behind the curtains to function as the city lights moving far in the distance.
Scene 2: Recreating an Iconic Moment
“Color was such a predominant character in Saul’s first scene in the desert. I wanted to make sure I got it right.”
Another notable scene in this episode was a recreation of a Breaking Bad scene filmed a decade ago. Adams was tasked with directly recreating the lighting, color, and tone as when cinematographer Michael Slovis shot the same location so long ago (gotta love a well-made callback!)
On set, Adams had several still frames from Breaking Bad to use as reference. There was pressure to produce a perfect recreation of the original scene with an emphasis on nailing the colors accurately.
Harnessing the high color fidelity of Aputure’s RGBWW technology, Adams opted for a Nova P300c just off-screen that was bounced into a 12x12 frame. Aside from the practicals of the car, this was effectively the only light in the shot.
Powerfully Practical
Supplementing the Nova P300c were two PAR cans pooling onto either side of Saul.
Though narratively, their purpose was to mimic the headlights of the RV, Adams placed them on preemie stands just off the ground. Placing them at such a low angle accentuated the harsh shadows of the dirt and the hole in front of Saul.
This created a heavily contrasted image that further emphasized the intensity of the scene.
Less is More
Oftentimes in cinematography, we approach lighting our scenes in a highly methodical way that calls for a dozen lights per setup. While those shots have their place, sometimes you really only need one or two lights to produce a great image.
In the reverse shot of this sequence, the crew took a 60-foot scissor lift on a just-off-camera dirt road that curved around Saul. Once again, Adams utilized the color capabilities of the Nova P300c to accurately reproduce the hallmark colors of the original scene from Breaking Bad.
Aside from the practicals of the RV’s headlights, the P300c was the only light used to illuminate this iconic scene.
Remember: sometimes less is more!
Scene 3: Breaking and Entering
A classic archetype of filmmaking is shooting flashback scenes in black and white. When done correctly, this can have a powerful emotional effect on the audience.
For this breaking and entering scene, Adams again took a minimalist approach and lit the entire sequence with a single Nova P600c placed on a scissor lift, and another Nova P600c on a Condor high above. While each shot called for different approaches to shaping these lights, the key and fill were, by-and-large, in the same spot for every shot in this sequence.
EXT. NIGHT
Lighting cars at night can be a highly intricate procedure. Even with very few lights on set, Adams needed to be methodical about his approach to the scene and ensure the visual tone was matching the high tension and grittiness of the narrative.
Far above the camera was a Nova P600c placed on a scissor lift and raised above the taxi to imitate moonlight. This light served as the scene’s key.
To complement the Nova, Adams utilized an additional Nova P600c on a Condor high above the set to serve as fill and ambience for the overall scene.
Again, less is more — the night scene didn’t call for much more than these two lights, so Adams left it at that.
INT. CAR
The next shot was inside the taxi and utilized the same lights as the foundation — a Nova P600c facing the front of the car provided the driver’s key light and an additional P600c for ambient moonlight fill.
When moving in for closeups on the characters, though, Adams brought in additional tools to help breath a bit of subtle life into the scene.
Creating Life with the Nova P300c
In this same shot, the taxi driver turns his head to the right, watching with unease as Saul performs the breaking and entering. Adams paired a Nova P300c with a variety of diffusions covering the passenger-side window to provide a soft fill onto the driver’s face and, more importantly, create a catch light in his eyes.
“I’m a firm believer that you can get away with a lot less light if you have just a twinkle in somebody’s eye; just get some life in there.” — Marshall Adams
One of Adams’ favorite secrets to lighting is the catch light. No matter how little light he is using in the scene, no matter the character, no matter how dark the story might be, Adams always uses an eye light to bring out humanity in the characters.
Supplemented by the ambient fill of the P600c in the Condor, the Aputure P600c and P300c Nova panels proved to be sufficient in providing both the key and fill for this particular shot.
Negative Fill
The subsequent shots in the scene follow Saul as he now actually breaks into the house.
The Nova P600c in the Condor from earlier was the only light illuminating this particular shot. Despite only using one light, Adams found himself needing to use lots of duvetyne on the walls to prevent bounce-back on Saul and keep him in silhouette.
This heavy use of negative fill allowed for deep shadows in both the room and the character, creating an ominous and mysterious image reflective of what’s happening in the scene.
Shaping Your Environment
Like the previous shot, the final shot in this sequence was lit solely with a single Nova P600c.
The roof created a soft edge at the top of the frame, which prompted Adams to once again utilize duvetyne to create a second cut at the bottom of frame. This created a visual cue of “leading lines” right up to Saul.
Finally, in order to reduce the brightness of the frame-right wall, Adams utilized a double net specifically for that portion of the frame. This reduced the intensity of the light to ensure that the focus was on Saul’s character.
A recap of what we learned from this scene:
- Sometimes, less is more: this entire sequence was lit almost exclusively with a single Nova P600c. Not every scene requires extensive lighting.
- Catch light: even in the darkest, bleakest scenes, with low-key or moody lighting, always have an eye light to bring out the humanity in your characters.
- Shaping your light and working with your environment is key (no pun intended).
