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...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
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.
