Casting Shadows with Cookies: A Recipe for Success

In the video world, cookies aren't tasty baked treats to eat with a glass of cold milk. To video pros, cookies are lighting accessories used to cast shadows to decorate a set and create illusions. Whether you wish to create tree leaves, windows, doorways or random patterns of light, a batch of homemade cookies may be just what you need to make your next shoot mmmmm good!
A cookie, also known as a cucalorus, is traditionally a small plate of metal with shapes cut into it, inserted in an ellipsoidal spotlight. By placing the cookie in the path of the light, the cut out areas create light and shadow shapes that are projected onto a background.
A relative to the cookie is a gobo. Gobo is short for "go between." Gobos are placed between a light (or camcorder) and the set. Shining a light through shapes cut in a large piece of cardboard, wood, plastic or posterboard creates the effect. Gobos are easy to make and have a definite place in your video production bag of tricks.
In this article, we will look at cookies and gobos, describe how to use them and provide easy step-by-step instructions for making your own.

The Internal Cookie

If you have access to an ellipsoidal theater light, you can place a small cookie in the pattern projector slot to cast an image onto a wall or floor. You can create these small cookies using a soda can, carefully cutting out a small rectangle as wide as the opening in the ellipsoidal. Make the rectangle a little longer than needed so that you have something to grab when you remove the cookie from the light. Trace your design on the piece of metal with a felt-tipped pen and carefully cut your design out of the soft aluminum using a sturdy cutting blade. Once you have cut out the design, carefully burn off the painted label by holding the cookie with a pair of pliers and holding it over a hot flame. Be sure to do this in a well ventilated area because the paint will smoke quite a bit. Once all of the paint is burnt off, you are ready to use the cookie.
Carefully slide it into the ellipsoidal slot and focus the image onto the back wall or wherever you need to project the shadow. This works great for any type of image. Some specific uses are business logos, station call letters, window frames and leaf patterns. One word of warning, use gloves when removing the cookie from the ellipsoidal. It will be very hot!

The Movie-set Cookie

If, like most of us, you don't have access to the fancy lights big studios and theaters use, you can still easily create and use cookies. Movie-set cookies are large flags with patterns cut into them and mounted between a powerful hard light and the set.
To build your own cookie, start with a piece of 1/4-inch plywood, rigid posterboard or foamcore. With a marker, trace your design onto the material and cut it out with the appropriate tools. If you want to project leaves, cut a pattern with a number of small irregular shapes making sure you leave about six inches on the sides to provide support. To create clouds, cut out a number of irregular oblong shapes, leaving at least two inches of material between them. When making a leaf or cloud cookie, make sure the holes you cut out are smooth and form no noticeable pattern. You can cut out many other shapes the same way, making sure they are smooth and supported by the material left behind. You will be creating the pattern by what you don't cut out, so be careful when designing your pattern.
When the pattern is complete, you'll need to mount it to a stand and position it between your light source and your set. Now you're ready to go. Make sure you have sandbags or some other heavy object on the bottom of the stand so that it doesn't fall over. Place the cookie as close as possible to the surface you are projecting onto. The closer it is to the surface, the more defined the shadows will be. If you position the cookie close to the light source, the edges of the shadows will be very soft and washed out. If you are projecting leaves on someone's face and the background, you can have a helper move the cookie slowly back and forth to create the feeling of wind.

The Gob…