Music Video lighting

[legacy1436]

I've seen alot of behind the scenes footage of music videos and noticed that they all seem to use a circular flourescent light setup. It is usually used with one or two people performing in front of the camera. Does anyone know what this light setup is called and where to get them.

Here's a link that I see them using this light setup, in the picture it is used underwater, but mostly I've seen them used above water.

 

http://www.hydroflex.com/

 

Go to pictures, then click on music videos, and click on aaliyah.

[David Mullen ASC]

The most common versions of the ringlight that you see these days are the LED-type:

http://www.ringlite.com/html/photoslarge.htm

 

Or the fluorescent-type:

http://www.kinoflo.com/sales_catalog_2004/...s/kam6_kit.html

[Wendell_Greene]

That Aaliyah video for "Rock The Boat" was directed by Hype Williams.

 

In many of the behind the scenes photos from his video shoots you'll notice custom made rigs like the one in the photos made of several 6 or sometimes 8 foot kino flo tubes arranged in a circle or some other pattern [i saw one that looked like a spiderweb with different colored kino tubes] with an opening for the camera. Often times you''ll see the tubes reflected in the sunglasses of the artist, as in the video for "Mo' Money, Mo' Problem By Ma$e featuring Puff Daddy and Notorious BIG.

[Matt Sandstrom]

i've built my own using regular household bulbs. if you use enough of them, at least 10 or 12, they become a soft source. the more the better i assume. i screwed sockets in a round piece of plastic, wired them up (a bit tricky to find the best solution for that), and attached to the camera using a magic arm or simply put it on a separate c-stand for tripod shots.

 

/matt

[Rupe Whiteman]

... You can also make your own type of ringlite with photoflood bulbs mounted in ceramic battern fittings. The bulbs rate up to 500w. Using high-grade wiring and heavy duty 3-pin connectors gives a soft light that can be used again and again. Though the bulbs don't last a huge amount of time. Roger Deakins is known for his use of battern lights - he uses them to create his beautiful wrap-around lighting by using a number of them around actors with different combined wattages - ie, the back-light higher to the foreground light lower... You can make up small units to hide on sets and use wire-mounts to fit diffusion....

 

'Endeavor to persevere...'

 

Rupe Whiteman.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I regularly use an off the shelf "circline" fluorescent tube to do ringlight work.

 

Most recently, I used it on an industrial - it's good when doing macro shots of bits of mechanism.

 

Phil

[Michael Nash]

Hi,

 

I regularly use an off the shelf "circline" fluorescent tube to do ringlight work.

 

Most recently, I used it on an industrial - it's good when doing macro shots of bits of mechanism.

 

Phil

 

Good for close inserst, but not bright enough or soft enough for a waist-up shot of a performer. It becomes an eyelight at best at that distance.

 

Do you gel the circline tube to correct, or just live with the odd spectrum? All the ones I've been able to find here are either the usual cool white, or overly-warm/pink "warm" variety.

[Matt Sandstrom]

Do you gel the circline tube to correct, or just live with the odd spectrum? All the ones I've been able to find here are either the usual cool white, or overly-warm/pink "warm" variety.

when i've rented kamios they've come with "regular" osram bulbs. the daylight ones are balanced while i find the tungsten ones to have spikes all over the spectrum, sometimes looking green, sometimes magenta, depending on subject and distance.

 

/matt