portable light?

[bboymute]

helllo

 

Soon I will be shoot my first short film, it will be shot in B/W 16mm. Most of the movie takes place at night and one scene in particular will be shot in the woods. What are some of the ways to make portable lights(if possible)?

 

and also if you know any advice/suggestions in general please let me know

 

thanks-a-bunch

[Ram Shani]

hi

 

b&w woods no budget its a classic for day for night

 

ram

[AStar]

I second the day for night.

 

 

From there maybe look at a high speed stock, most 500 speed stocks can give you about what you see at low light levels with a tad of pushing. From there you might concider low wattage fixures (sub 1000w) and look into using DC inverters hooked to a running car or portable generators rented from an equipment supply. IMO...A couple of 150W china balls on inverters can do wonders to create that kinda sourceless light.

[Bob Hayes]

I've had great luck with small generators and small Tungstun lights. A couple of 650's a couple of 300 watt lights. 3000 Watt Generator. They are noisy but if you get a 300' of extension cords and put a sheet of plywood near the set side of the generator. You should be fine.

 

Also you may be able to find a woodsy location that has power. A friends cabin in the mountains for example. Then you will have enough power and a place to stay warm and dry.

 

Bob

[AStar]

See now Bob is a thinking man...and a smart man.:) Warm and dry are good things that improves everyone adittude toward the project. No one likes to be cold, wet and hungry, especially when making little or no money on the project.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

Maybe it would be worth considering fluorescent lighting. Low enough wattage to run from batteries, soft enough to work for a night exterior, although be careful running most fluorescent ballasts from inverters - many won't like the chopped, square wave or "modified sine" inverters, you'll have to look for a "true sine" type.

 

Phil

[Jayson Crothers]

Those 1,000,000 fc spotlight/flashlights can be used as well - punched into a show card, they can work nicely for portable soft light for tighter shots.

 

You could also look at inverters that run off of car batteries, but even the biggest ones (1000 watts, though you don't really get quite that much) aren't much help for long stretches like an all night shoot.

 

You might also consider shooting Illford; they make a 400 asa B&W stock that I like very much in 16 (love it in 35). Actually, I don't know if Illford is making them anymore........

[Jayson Crothers]

According to their site they still are........

 

The 400 asa stock is HP5.

 

Only trouble I had with the stock is that it's physically soft; lots of emulsion build up in the gate - keeps the AC busy.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I've been asked some supplementary questions off-list; I'll reply here so everyone can have the benefit.

 

> If it's not a bother please tell me more...what wattage is low enough? and what

> kinda of batteries is powerful enough to light them?

 

Well, you can work it out - a battery is rated in ampere-hours, that being the number of amps it can supply for one hour before ending up flat. This is generally a theoretical figure and you can rely on getting around 70% of what's claimed with new, well-charged batteries.

 

As for wattage, you can work it out - watts equals amps times volts. So, if you have a 100-watt lamp, you can calculate 100 divided by 12, and come up with 8.3 amps. Factor in any inefficiency in the inverter, and assume nine. a 6Ah bettery would probably power this for about half an hour. Of course it's possible to get hundred-watt 12V lights, which gets you a small gain in converter efficiency.

 

Caveats include the fact that it is generally not considered desirable to discharge batteries, particularly lead-acid types, at more than about three or four times there ampere-hour rating for any length of time. Therefore, do not try to draw more than about 20A from a 6Ah battery - it wouldn't last long anyway, since the apparent capacity normally falls off at high discharge rates.

 

Phil

[Alberto Larios-Saavedra]

I've had great luck with small generators and small Tungstun lights.  A couple of 650's a couple of 300 watt lights.  3000 Watt Generator.  They are noisy but if you get a 300'  of extension cords and put a sheet of plywood near the set side of the generator.  You should be fine.

 

Also you may be able to find a woodsy location that has power. A friends cabin in the mountains for example.  Then you will have enough power and a place to stay warm and dry.

 

Bob

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hello Bob, I was reading through the archives and found this posting of yours. I might have to shoot at a location where I may need a generator (non-synch of course, it's one of those from U-Haul). Let's say if I run three or four lights with it (no to go over its wattage), will I have any flicker problems? They're all tungsten lights, no HMI's. Also, would it matter what size lights they are? I plan on running 2 2k's, a 500w, and a 650w on a 7000w Honda generator. The reason I ask it's because some time ago, (I think in this website) I read that you need a synch generator to run lights, and I cannot recall if it only applied to HMI's. I couldn't find that thread.

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Alberto

[Paul Bruening]

Hey Alberto,

 

If you're going to rent from Uhaul, consider renting a box truck, too. Roll the gennie into the back of the box. Point the opened back away from the shoot. Hang blankets or other sound deadening stuff on the inner walls (carpet scraps do wonders) to cut resonance off the walls and scraps laid on the roof. You can put a simple box fan at the end to circulate air. It's easy to move that rig around but it means shooting near enough to dirt roads and the like. Local power washing companies put a putt-putt pump in a van and carpet scrap the inside so they can work at night and not miff sleepers.

 

Just a thought,

Paul

[Alberto Larios-Saavedra]

Hey Alberto,

 

If you're going to rent from Uhaul, consider renting a box truck, too. Roll the gennie into the back of the box. Point the opened back away from the shoot. Hang blankets or other sound deadening stuff on the inner walls (carpet scraps do wonders) to cut resonance off the walls and scraps laid on the roof. You can put a simple box fan at the end to circulate air. It's easy to move that rig around but it means shooting near enough to dirt roads and the like. Local power washing companies put a putt-putt pump in a van and carpet scrap the inside so they can work at night and not miff sleepers.

 

Just a thought,

Paul

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks Paul, that's a pretty good suggestion.

 

Alberto