LIGHTING SPECIAL
DREAMING IN WORDS Katie Kasperson
Gaffer Christos Georgas details his career, zooming in on standout scenes from Peaky Blinders and sci-fi series Electric Dreams
A s gaffer on projects like Blue Jean , Top Boy , Peaky Blinders , Black Mirror and more, Christos Georgas has enjoyed a lengthy career in production thus far. He first studied cinematography in Greece – his home country – later moving to London, where he chose to instead pursue a career in lighting. “I progressed quickly,” he admits, working alongside cinematographers like Rob Hardy, ASC, BSC, Christopher Ross, BSC, Sam McCurdy, ASC, BSC and long- time collaborator Felix Wiedemann, BSC. While he’s got many celebrated titles to his name, Georgas’ favourite scene is in The Hood Maker , the first episode of Amazon’s anthology series Electric Dreams . Adapted from a 1955 short
story by Philip K Dick, the episode is set in a dystopian future with a telepathic subculture. The plot follows a telepath and a detective as they investigate the emergence of mysterious hoods that block telepathic abilities. During a demonstration, Georgas explains, “they end up at the hood factory, where a fire breaks out. They find themselves on either side of a door, where they share an emotional exchange through a letterbox. “The camera and cast were in very close proximity, but we needed to expose their faces, which were two inches from the door,” Georgas continues. For this, he used the ETC Source Four Zoom 25-50° – “my favourite light,” he adds, due to its versatility. With it, he bounced a sliver of
light on a piece of unbleached muslin that he’d stuck to the door. “The soft, reflected light illuminated their faces and provided an effective eye light that captured the emotional weight of the moment,” he concludes, adding: “It’s my favourite scene I’ve ever lit.” Besides the Source Four light, Georgas also touts the LiteGear LiteMat range and Astera HydraPanel, “which are fantastic,” he enthuses. Georgas’ training in cinematography and his years of lighting experience have taught him how to communicate with DOPs and establish a common visual language that can be translated across the crew. “DOPs create theirs through the camera; I create mine by working closely with DOPs while lighting. One of the main elements, for me, is to be versatile and adapt,” he says. On Peaky Blinders , for instance, Georgas collaborated with DOP Mathieu Plainfossé, with whom he “pushed the creative elements of lighting because it was the last season. We wanted to go out with a bang.” His second-favourite scene comes from the series finale –
GEORGAS URGES YOUNG PEOPLE not to take one ‘no’ too seriously ”
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