Aputure
The Creator still

Reinventing Sci-fi Cinematography in The Creator

The Creator poster

Production

  • The Creator

Production Info

  • Director: Gareth Edwards
  • Cinematographers: Greig Fraser ACS, ASC, and Oren Soffer
  • Year: 2023
  • Production Company: 20th Century Studios

How co-cinematographers Greig Fraser ACS, ASC and Oren Soffer used a guerilla lighting toolkit to realize an ambitious sci-fi epic.

Challenge

For The Creator (2023), Gareth Edwards sought to return to the style of guerilla filmmaking he used on Monsters (2010). With a relatively modest $80 million budget, co-cinematographers Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer had to rethink the traditional cinematography toolkit of a mid-budget sci-fi action movie. There wouldn’t be time to stop and rework a plan if delays caused an intended daylight scene to become a night shoot, for example.

The lighting and camera package would have to be small and versatile, able to fit into a van instead of multiple trucks, and usable without large generators. Without a massive lighting package, the camera would need to be light sensitive without sacrificing visual fidelity.

Solution

Fraser and Soffer built a toolkit around the tiny, full frame Sony FX3 cinema camera and a core set of Aputure Light Storms, Novas, MC Pros, and other LEDs that they could expand on when needed. The FX3 could easily capture practical light in locations and the core light kit kept the team nimble and able to deal with a wide range of challenges.

The Aputure Light Storm 1200d became the shoot’s go-to light, and its high output saved shoot days in surprising ways. When cloud coverage ruined a plan to shoot with moonlight, the team used three Light Storm 1200ds to light a huge field, something that would typically require massive HMIs, tow-in generators, and hours of setup.

For interiors, Fraser, Soffer, and Gaffer Pithai Smithsuth pushed Nova P600cs through exterior windows and placed quick "gaffer slashes" with Light Storm 600x Pros and Spotlight Mounts to enliven the backgrounds. Gobos were aimed like turrets to experiment until an interesting slash was found.

Lastly, Aputure MC Pros were placed around the set whenever the frame needed a splash of light, or integrated into the set design itself in collaboration with the art department.

Results

The final film’s gorgeous visuals speak to the effectiveness of Fraser and Soffer’s plan, and the co-cinematographers were nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2023 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards and longlisted in the Best Cinematography category at the 77th British Academy Film Awards.

The scrappy, guerilla-style production has also inspired the next generation of filmmakers, who see an opportunity to make striking visuals at far more accessible cost, size, and power requirements.

The filmmaking team on location
The filmmaking team on location

The hardest thing is…what everybody expects of a cinematographer. This is a $100 million movie, you get ten weeks of prep, and this is how you work it. This is a low-budget movie, you get two weeks of prep. We turned all that on its head.

Greig Fraser ACS, ASC

Cinematographer

A Light Storm 1200d mounted to a cherry picker for night shooting
A Light Storm 1200d mounted to a cherry picker for night shooting

For the outdoor night scene, the team intended to use the Sony FX3 to shoot with real moonlight, but cloud coverage ruined this plan. Instead, they created fake moonlight with Light Storm 1200ds mounted on cherry pickers. The 1200ds were so bright they were run under 25% intensity in some cases.

Sign up for announcements, exclusive offers, original stories, and more.

By signing up you agree to receive marketing emails from Aputure. View our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.

The field scene as it appears in the finished film
The field scene as it appears in the finished film

Those 1200ds were amazing. Let’s find lights that do a lot of things so that you can have a small little kit.

Greig Fraser ACS, ASC

Cinematographer

Fraser and Soffer took inspiration from films like Alien (1979) where night scenes were lit with one big light source plus a backlit foggy background.

A Light Storm 600x Pro aimed to create a “gaffer slash” on set
A Light Storm 600x Pro aimed to create a “gaffer slash” on set

Soffer likes to activate backgrounds by creating what he calls "gaffer slashes," interesting textured lighting meant to mimic light coming through a window or door. Traditionally, gaffers create these with lighting control, but on The Creator, the team used Light Storm 600x Pros with spotlights and gobos as “turrets” to quickly audition slashes until an interesting one was found.

An example of a “gaffer slash” in the finished film
An example of a “gaffer slash” in the finished film
Light Storm 600x Pros on location
Light Storm 600x Pros on location

The Light Storm 600x Pros with Spotlight Mounts were also deployed to create harsh daylight, like in the scene where Joshua (John David Washington) is questioned by Harun (Ken Watanabe).

The frame in the finished film
The frame in the finished film
An MC Pro placed on set to provide “screen light” in a closeup
An MC Pro placed on set to provide “screen light” in a closeup

We shot the NOMAD control room scenes entirely in one hectic day (with about 30 different scene headers as this sequence is intercut throughout the third act of the film) in a lecture hall in the IMPACT convention center that was completely converted by the art department with sci-fi desks, computer screens and interactive lighting, and projectors on the walls projecting interactive graphics. MC Pros were peppered throughout the control room to provide motived lighting from the screens.

Oren Soffer

Cinematographer

The “screen light” in the finished film
The “screen light” in the finished film

Watch the Interview

Learn how a run-and-gun approach to lighting scales to a sci-fi feature film.

Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC

Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC is an Oscar-winning Australian Cinematographer celebrated for his visually stunning and emotionally resonant imagery.

A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Fraser's dozens of cinematography credits include Let Me In (2010), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and The Batman (2022). He received a BAFTA win for Best Cinematography on Lion (2016) and an Academy Award for his work on Dune (2021).

Fraser has developed a reputation as an innovator, pushing the limits of both cinema production technology and collaboration as he continues to lens some of the world’s biggest films.

Oren Soffer

Oren Soffer is an Israeli-American cinematographer known for his dynamic visual storytelling in both independent and mainstream cinema. At New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he was nominated for the American Society of Cinematographers Gordon Willis Student Heritage Award in 2015.

Soffer's feature film credits include A Nightmare Wakes (2020), Allswell in New York (2022), and Fixation (2022). Recognized as a rising talent in the industry, Soffer was listed among Variety's "10 Cinematographers to Watch" in 2024.

Sign up for announcements, exclusive offers, original stories, and more.

By signing up you agree to receive marketing emails from Aputure. View our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.

Featured Products

STORM 1200x
STORM 1200x
1,200W tunable white high fidelity point source lamp with ProLock Bowens Mount
LS 600x Pro
LS 600x Pro
600W tunable white point source lamp with enhanced connectivity
Spotlight Mount 26° Lens Kit
Spotlight Mount 26° Lens Kit
Spotlight Mount with 26º lens
Nova P600c
Nova P600c
600W tunable color soft panel light
MC Pro 8-Light Kit
MC Pro 8-Light Kit
8 MC Pro mini panel lights in protective charging case