As a young electrician, Franck Barrault was part of the lighting team for Delicatessen and La Cit des enfants perdus : two legendary films, directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who shook up French cinema in the 90s and brought out the immense talent of Darius Khondji AFC, ASC, a young DP at the time.
Darius was really my mentor during all these years, explains Franck Barrault. I started with him as an assistant in 1986. He accompanied me, nourished me and allowed me to evolve. As I could not see myself spending my life loading magazines with film, I turned to the lighting team, first as electrician and later as lighting director. Since my student days, my passion has always been to work with light. But my true sensibility in this field was built on Delicatessen' and City of Lost Children,' with Darius and gaffer Bernard Gemahling, who has great knowledge and a true sensitivity. That's where I learned the most: Worlds of pure fiction where you could invent anything, and a pool of talent at all levels. DP Philippe Le Sourd ASC, with whom I started out as a gaffer on Cantique de la Racaille' in 1997, was also Darius assistant.
ARRI Orbiters illuminate a commercial shot by DP Philippe Le Sourd ASC
Philippe Le Sourd, who later established himself as a great international DP, working with Sofia Coppola, Wong Kar-Wai, and Ridley Scott, remained loyal to Franck Barrault on his French productions. They collaborated on Peut- tre, an ambitious film directed by C dric Klapisch, and Atomik Circus by Didier and Thierry Poiraud. With Philippe, I have a certain complicity. We have the same references, and we understand each other with very few words. He is a very demanding person. He always pushes to the maximum until he gets what he wants. He doesn't compromise and I have to live up to that in terms of lighting.
With Darius Khondji, Franck Barrault has only worked once as a gaffer, on Stephen Frears' Ch ri in 2006, but the experience was memorable. What I like about working with Darius is that he completely integrates the lighting director into the creative process. During the prep, he took me to see all the sets, right down to the choice of wallpaper, the color of the curtains or the material of the costumes. He invited me to tests and projections, so that I could discuss all the lighting details with him. This adds a vision to my work. It's fascinating and, above all, indispensable if you want to do the lighting right on a feature film. Ch ri' was a founding film for me. Suddenly, I was shifting into high gear.
Since that time, light sources have changed with the arrival of LED fixtures. Franck Barrault quickly realized what ARRI SkyPanels could do for his craft. I was one of the first to use them. I immediately understood their potential. The simple fact of being able to dim without changing the color temperature: It was a real joy! No need to lower the lights and change the gelatins to adjust the colors. Not to mention that everything could be controlled from an iPad or a console. It was a true revolution that completely changed my job as a gaffer. ARRI brought a stable product to a market that was a bit of a jungle. The SkyPanel immediately became a standard of quality, a sure value. Today, I would like to see ARRI develop the product further, including an IP64 version and integrated power supplies. That would save us installation time. At the end of the day, the real benefit of LEDs is that they allow us to work much faster, which is important with the reduction in turnaround times. It gives us more time to fine-tune the light on set.
The ARRI Orbiter and SkyPanels on set of Netflix series D tox
In his career, the gaffer has regularly worked on genre films that require the creation of unusual lighting atmospheres, far from the ambient naturalism. It interests me to get the image as close as possible to what the director has in mind, Franck Barrault explains. On How I became a superhero' (Netflix), a fantasy film where we had to create improbable atmospheres, we built the villain's hideaway in an old, abandoned racetrack. DP Nicolas Loir AFC had this idea to have very dense green curtains installed all along a large bay window. On the outside, I had a scaffold built with eight SkyPanels that lit the window a little bit below, so that the light would come up through the curtains. Inside, I used SkyPanels to reduce the contrast of the image which was quite dense. It created a very interesting atmosphere.
On Seuls,' another fantasy film I worked on, we had a sequence with children driving an armored van they stole at full speed. In the studio, I had set up a lighting installation with thirteen SkyPanels S120 dedicated to the green screen and sixteen SkyPanels S60 illuminating the interior of the van. All of them were connected to a DMX console and all I had to do was to program them. With SkyPanels, it's very easy to create traffic effects for chases while integrating flash effects of police cars-all with the same light. SkyPanels have really brought that speed of color change, even within a shot. I could create effects that were previously complex with ease now. Suddenly, a lot of things became possible.
A shot behind the scenes of Seuls from director David Moreau
For Franck Barrault, creating the lighting on a set not only consists of adding lights. The gaffer has developed an original method to create light subtraction without deploying installations that are too heavy. On Le Semeur,' a beautiful feature film shot by DP Alan Duplantier in the C vennes mountains, we had little resources, and 70 percent of the film was shot on location in summer. Rather than trying to bring the light in a soft mood (shadows or clouds), I suggested removing light to create contrast on the characters. It's a
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
As a young electrician, Franck Barrault was part of the lighting team for Delicatessen and La Cit des enfants perdus : two legendary films, directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who shook up French cinema in the 90s and brought out the immense talent of Darius Khondji AFC, ASC, a young DP at the time.
