The story starts in a deserted, storm-battered drilling station in a remote region of the Sahara Desert. Filming the interiors, however, took place in a disused champagne factory in Budapest, where ETC's Source Four luminaires and Congo lighting control desk helped to create some of the special effects. The equipment - which included 21 Source Four 19° and six Source Four 26° profile spotlights - was supplied through Visionteam (Budapest) and TSF (Paris).
Director of photography Roger Simonsz had a few different lighting challenges to overcome. The brief required him to create the feeling of a building surrounded by a sandstorm as well as an ambience of moonlight with a sinister, paranormal tone - all in the same limited area. A newcomer to the Congo lighting desk, he was surprised at how intuitive it was: "I felt the interface was very clear and making alterations to a chase was incredibly straightforward."
(Jim Evans)
