3 Scenes from
IDA
This post complements my article about the stunning Polish film IDA in the American
Cinematographer, and offers video and high-resolution images not available in the print
version. It's also an opportunity to present detailed examples of scene lighting. I first saw the
film at Camerimage, where I met Lukasz Zal.
IDA was directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, with cinematography by Lukasz Zal, PSC, and Ryszard
Lynzewski, PSC. (Lukasz stepped in for Ryszard early on & shot most of the film.)
As I discussed the lighting setups below with Lukasz, he emphasized that the images were the
result of working closely with his director. Pawel shares a similar view: "It's all
about collaboration."
IDA
Ida is a young Polish woman in a convent, preparing to take her vows to become a nun in the
early 1960s. The mother superior sends Ida out in the world to meet her aunt Wanda, a judge
who once sent people to their death in the Stalinist era, and who now leads a dissolute life
marked by alcohol and one-night stands. Wanda quickly informs Ida that she is Jewish, and
that her parents disappeared during the war in mysterious circumstances.
The unlikely pair set out to investigate the deaths,
with the hope of finding the bodies and paying
their respects. Their journey takes them to the
Polish countryside, where they meet with denials
and uncover anti-Semitism and war crimes. The
two women grow to be very close, and Ida
becomes Wanda’s only friend. The film ends with
Ida confronting her faith, and Wanda her unhappy
solitude.
While the film is centered on the growing bond
between a disillusioned Stalinist judge and her
innocent niece, Ida evokes a number of
other themes, giving us a portrait of post-war
Poland infused with communism, Catholicism,
anti-Semitism, and a first taste of the music and
culture coming from the West. The film, says
Pawel, is about all these themes, but mostly about
“identity and faith.”
IDA was shot in 1.33:1 with an Alexa 4:3 camera and Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses provided by
Panavision Poland. The movie was shot in color and recorded in ArriRaw on a Codex, and then
turned into black-and-white in post on a Nucoda at the DI Factory in Warsaw.
IDA won the Golden Frog for best cinematography at Camerimage, and the ASC's
first Spotlight Award.
video excerpt from IDA
The 3-minute video clip below occurs 58 minutes into the film. The sequence of six brief scenes
conveys Ida questioning her decision to become a nun, upon returning to the convent after her
travels with Wanda.
https://youtu.be/2wxczRbtrxg
This powerful sequence is almost wordless. Just about everything is told with images: Ida's
isolation, her curiosity and desire, her humorous estrangement, her questioning prayer, and
her decision to put off becoming a nun. For me this is cinematic filmmaking at its best: showing
rather than telling.
Pawel Pawlikowski keeps his mise en scène here to a bare minimum, with no camera
movement and few cuts. Each scene in this sequence also contains a brief poetic event that
advances the story of Ida's self-questioning: smelling a leaf, an open eye, a changing flame, a
stifled laugh, a flickering candle, an upward look. IDA's filmmaking masterfully
combines economy and emotion.
3 scenes
As with all great films, the power of IDA comes from all of its elements. As Pawel says, "a film
that works is like a table with four even legs: the structure, acting, photography and sound are
all equal."
Let's have a close look at one of the legs: Zal's cinematography in the first 3 scenes of the video
sequence. Lukasz recalls that he and Pawel sought to light IDA's scenes simply, with single
sources and natural lighting.
kitchen, day interior
The scene is broken down into 3 shots:
- a close shot of Ida's hands crafting a head garland.
- a close shot of Ida's face as she works, pausing to smell a leaf
- a wide shot of the three novices
The sequence of shots starts the scene by isolating Ida from her companions.
Her isolation is reinforced when Ida gives a perfunctory nod after a fellow novice tries on a
garland and asks for her opinion.
The framing leaves a lot of vertical space above the hands, face and people in the frame.
This sky room is part of Ida's distinctive look, and evokes both isolation below and inspiration
from above.
Lukasz lit the kitchen interior with 4 sources:
- A 6K key shines sunlight into the kitchen through a silk butterfly outside the window. This
source's light is bounced by the room's light walls and enhanced by smoke.
- A 1.2K is shone through a lace fabric to create a mottled spot of light on a sink in the
background.
This is a simple and elegant way to get dappled sunlight to give some texture to a solid surface.
- A 575-watt shines a beam narrowed by Black Wrap on to the fire stove in the foreground.
The highlights of these 2 inside spots appear to be coming from the window, which maintains
the illusion of a single key source.
- A 4-tube Kino Flo shines through a frame with 1/2 white gel to create some fill on the shadow
side of the wide shot.
For the close-up shot of Ida's face, Lukasz moved the Kino Flo and its diffusion close to the left
edge of frame, and placed a spot of light on the wall behind her to motivate the fill as a
reflection of sunlight from the window. The resulting close-up is a sophisticated balance of
brightness from the right and a subtle rim of fill from the left.
chapel - day interior
The chapel scene is composed of 2 shots:
- A very wide shot from above of the novices lying on the floor
- A closer shot from the side of 4 novices that shows them with their eyes open.
I am struck by the composition of the closer shot, with an eye right on the edge of the bottom
frame line. IDA has several such jarring compositions. Here, it helps the viewer wonder what
the novices are thinking as they lie on the ground.
+++
Lukasz's lighting was inspired by seeing the location with bright sunlight. He took a photo with
his iPhone, and set out to evoke the natural light he had seen using 5 simple sources:
Lukasz had 3 6Ks set up outside shining through the big arched windows, each unit diffused
with Lee 250 1/2 White Gel. Referring to the diagram:
- the top 6K was aimed to provide a highlight on the background on left of frame
- the middle 6K created streaks of light created by holes cut out of black Duvatyn material.
These streaks break up the floor and also single out Ida in the frame.
- the bottom 6K provided general illumination through a big frame inside the chapel.
- Lukasz added a big frame of black material outside the frame on the left. This negative
fill increases the image contrast and emphasizes the direction of the light from the right.
- Finally, he also added 2 Dedolights to give a sheen to the edges of the painting above the
altar.
As with the kitchen interior, Lukasz maintains the illusion of a single sunlight source.
Lukasz's technique of sunlight spots on the left and on Ida helps to balance the sources from
the right, and gives the overall image its subtle, variegated contrast.
kitchen - night interior
The scene is composed of 4 shots:
- A wide shot of one of the novices washing herself with the help of 2 others. Ida moves left to
the stove to heat water.
- A medium shot of Ida stoking the fire and looking up at the others
- A sensual shot of one novice pouring water on the other
- A close-up of Ida looking and then turning away, her face lit by the flickering off-screen
flames. (Naturally, this fluctuation is best appreciated in the video excerpt above.)
It's unusual to have this many shots in a scene in this film. The 2 different shots of Ida heighten
her disturbance of sensual curiosity. Flames are a traditional image for desire.
After cutting off the bather's face and emphasizing her body, the framing of the last close-up
re-establishes the sky room.
These changing shots and perspectives in this scene highlight Ida's disturbance.
Lukasz lit the kitchen interior very simply.
The wide shot key is provided by an Octodome high up, with a small bounce to right of frame.
The practical in shot, says Lukasz, was "a mistake." The bulb was too bright and he asked the
crew to dim it with paint, but he feels it was dimmed too much. The result is beautiful, even if
it may not provide a realistic justification for the scene's illumination.
The close shot of the washing novice is also lit with the single Octodome.
The shots of Ida are also lit with an Octodome from above, with the addition of bounce board
to the left of the frame as fill. Lukasz points out that the Octodome creates a natural vignetting
on the wall behind Ida. He wanted to break up the flat surfaces in the room.
In the close-up of Ida, Lukasz arranged for the fire to be stoked and then burn brightly enough
to become the key light on the actress' face. Lukasz remembers that the fire was so hot she
had tears in her eyes after several takes, but, he says, "she forgave me." Lukasz explains that
for this scene, the fire was as important as the performance.
Once again, this scene starts with the illusion of a single source, but here a second key is
introduced by the fire that evokes Ida's troubled desire.
4 More Scenes from IDA
Pawel Pawlikowski keeps his mise en scène here to a bare minimum, with no camera
movement and few cuts. Each scene in this sequence also contains a brief poetic event that
advances the story of Ida's self-questioning: smelling a leaf, an open eye, a changing flame, a
stifled laugh, a flickering candle, an upward look. IDA's filmmaking masterfully
combines economy and emotion.
3 last scenes
Here we look at the last 3 scenes in the sequence. As mentioned in Part 1, Lukasz and Pawel
sought to light IDA's scenes simply, with single sources and natural lighting, and locked-down
frames.
dining room, night interior
The scene is made of 2 shots, with subtle, underplayed action:
- a 3-shot of Ida flanked by novice nuns on each side.
- a wide shot of the Mother Superior looking at Ida, with 4 other nuns to her left.
As in much of the film, the framing leaves a lot of vertical space above the characters. This sky
room is part of IDA's distinctive look, and evokes both isolation below and inspiration from
above.
Ida looks around and stifles a laugh. She briefly sees humor in her silent meal surrounded by
nuns, revealing her estrangement from the convent setting. This moment of levity separates
Ida from her companions who register surprise, and some disapproval. Ida then looks up, and
glances camera left, aware of those looking at her.
We cut to a wider shot of five nuns, including the Mother Superior on the left, who eyes Ida
intently.
+++
Lukasz keyed the dining room interior with 2 Octodomes above the tables, to convey flat,
institutional top lighting, the kind that could be provided by ceiling fluorescents. These 2 soft
top light sources bounce off the white table cloth, creating a simple and elegant fill on the
faces from below.
Lukasz' lighting scheme involves a total of 7 lighting units.
In the first camera position:
- In the background, a candle is on a cupboard covered by a white cloth. A Dedolight spot is
aimed on the cloth, to simulate candlelight. This bright background accent gives depth to the
frame.
In the second camera position:
- A 6K outside creates a bright vertical glimpse of the window above the Mother Superior. The
window was frosty, creating a nice sheen that bleeds softly on to the wall.
- A door in the background is open, showing a bit of wall lit by a Kino Flo.
Lukasz comments that adding background detail is a lesson learned from his fellow
cinematographer and former teacher Ryszard Lynzewski."Ryszard taught me that: whenever
possible, open the space, show the windows, open the doors."
- A third Octodome adds soft light to the far left corner, outlining a lectern in the background.
- A dimmed-down Dedolight adds a little exposure to a dark statue against the wall on camera
right.
The candle on the table is merely decorative, and adds a bright accent to the top-lit interior.
The challenge of lighting this scene is not to make it beautiful, but to present ordinary,
institutional top lighting, and still add some depth and accents to avoid a completely flat
image.
dormitory - night interior
The dormitory scene is composed of 2 shots:
- A wide shot of the back of 3 novices praying in their dormitory in their nightgowns.
- A reverse close-up shot of Ida's face lit by flickering candlelight.
We dimly hear the other novices praying, but Ida is silent, revealing her isolation. The flickering
candlelight recalls the fire light in the kitchen, 2 scenes earlier in the sequence. But while the
kitchen fire evoked sensuality and desire, the varying candle in the dormitory evokes Ida's
thoughtful uncertainty about becoming a nun.
Lukasz's lighting required lowering sources to keep the 3 candles on the altar bright.
The candle's key light is simulated by a Dedolight placed on the ground in front of the kneeling
novices, and pointing upwards at the altar. This spot creates a shadow of the candles, which
obviously cannot create their own shadows, but I feel that the lighting nevertheless succeeds
in creating a feeling of strong candlelight. The decisive thing is the brightness of the area
around the candles in the frame.
A 6K through a frame with 1/2 White gel outside the window provides a sidelight on the
novices, defining them in the darkness. Lukasz notes that he had to pan the HMI fixture so as
to get less light coming through the window, a technique he often uses to dim sources.
An Octodome above the camera provides general fill and defines the bed frames in the
foreground from above.
For the close-up, Lukasz wanted natural candle light, so he put 6 candles on an apple box right
below camera to light Ida's face.
6 foot candles for Ida's close-up (camera operator Tomasz Novak is on left)
For the close-up Lukasz also brought in a frame of 1/2 White on camera left to soften the
window sidelight. In the background, the Octodome above dimly defines a bed.
To heighten the sense of mystery in Ida's eyes, Pawel had the actress wear dark contact lenses
in the film. The effect of these dark, soulful eyes is really evident in this close-up.
This scene is a great example of using real candle light, and subtly balancing all the other
sources to complement the candles.
garden statue - dark night exterior
The exterior scene is composed of 2 shots:
- A close shot of Ida pacing back and forth in the dark, then finally looking up.
- A wide shot that reveals that Ida is in the convent garden next to a statue of Christ that was
seen at the very beginning of the movie.
Ida then speaks her only line of dialogue in the sequence of 6 scenes:
"I'm not ready. Forgive me."
This is the culmination of the sequence, first Ida moves back and forth to show her agitated
and indecisive state.
Then, alone in the darkness, Ida tells her God that she is not ready to become a nun.
Lukasz sought to light the night exterior as naturally as possible, and he says that this was one
of the most difficult scenes in the movie, because he chose to shoot it as dusk for night.
Lukasz set up for the wide shot first, bouncing 2 6Ks and 1 4K into big frames on the Western
side of the garden, to add a very soft direction to the light. He positioned these big fixtures far
away from the action, about 40 meters, so as to not sense the sources in the frame. He relied
on the sky to provide natural fill from the right. The camera was set up in the convent building
as a high shot with a long lens.
The difficult part was balancing the bounced sources to rapidly darkening skylight. Speaking via
walkie-talkies to electricians near the fixtures, Lukasz had them tilt the units downwards as the
sky got darker, ending up with almost no bounce at all in the final take.
The crew then rushed the camera to the statue for the close-up of Ida. A 4x4 1/2
White frame was brought in behind the actress to provide backlight from the distant bounces,
and a poly was used for fill. Lukasz laughs as he recalls how dark the close-up was. "I couldn't
see anything with my eye, I only saw it in the viewfinder".
This scene is a very compelling and convincing night exterior. The choice of dusk for
night implied shooting quickly and adapting to the natural light. I especially like that you can't
sense the sources in the wide shot because they're so far away.
another scene
To give another taste of IDA, I wanted to describe one more scene, when Ida dresses up to go
to a club to listen to her musician friend play jazz. Although I don't have an excerpt of the
scene to show, you can see glimpses of it towards the end of the trailer:
https://youtu.be/oXhCaVqB0x0
night club - night interior
The club scene is composed of 3 shots:
- a wide shot from behind the audience watching the musicians play Coltrane's love
ballad Naima.
- a wide shot that reveals Ida in the audience wearing a dress
- a close-up of her, entranced by the music
Music plays an important role in IDA. There is an eclectic mix of 1960s pop songs, jazz and
classical.
Mozart's Jupiter Symphony accompanies a key dramatic moment, and the film ends on
a Bach cantata.
Here Ida is clearly taken by Coltrane's ballad, which serves as a gateway to romantic love: in
the next scene, she dances with the saxophone player.
The musicians were simply lit with 2 fresnel spots. The spot on camera left is a kind of soft key,
shining through a frame of 1/2 White, the spot on camera right serves as a backlight for the
band; a little smoke softens the image.
Lukasz lit the shots on Ida with practicals and 5 sources:
- The soft key is provided by a Compact Kino Flo bounced off a poly and then diffused through
a frame of 1/2 White. This combination of bounce and diffusion is often called a "book light"; it
can also be done by diffusing first and bouncing second.
- An Octodome serves as fill on camera left.
- A 2K fresnel is shone into a Full White frame behind a bar with a shelf of bottles, creating
rectangle of soft shapes on the left of frame.
- Another 2K fresnel creates another, dimmer rectangle on the right of frame.
- The background center is defined by 2 practicals and a Dedolight on a poster of Coltrane.
The strength of the lighting relies on the delicate and sophisticated balance of different tonal
values, and Lukasz put all the units on a dimmer board so he could fine tune the look for each
take.
The shots on Ida offer a rich background, with variegated dark and bright variations, and the
book light on Ida is ravishing, especially when the book light is brought in close to her for the
close-up.Lukasz sums up the goal of this complex lighting set-up simply: "we wanted to make
Ida look beautiful."
This scene is a good example of an image that offers a full range of gray tones from black to
white, an important lesson for cinematography in color as well as black and white.
