J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 I just got around to reading the AC article on 'Vanity Faire' and Declan Quinn mentioned that he used a softbox to light candle light interior scenes and "...put four or five lights in there..." Now when I think of softboxes I'm thinking of the normal cones that go on single lights and the big ones made of speed rail that you would fly. This sounded like something rigged from the floor. I could see using a big silk etc. though I wouldn't call it a softbox. Does anybody know what else he could be talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted November 8, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted November 8, 2004 Homemade softboxes like coops can have multiple light bubs in sockets behind the diffusion frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR Posted November 8, 2004 Author Share Posted November 8, 2004 (edited) Yeah, I was thinking it could be some kind of coop arrangement. Just didn't know if there was a standard way to setup an arrangement like that. Edited November 10, 2004 by J. Lamar King Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted November 8, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted November 8, 2004 Hi, I have this insane scheme for an MR16 array. Such things do exist commercially, but the idea was to simly clamp the lamps between two sheets of appropriately-drilled metal in groups of 20, so I'd end up with a 1KW 240V cluster. You folks 'cross the pond could do parallel groups of ten. With a layer of diffusion say a foot away, it'd be possible to make a very bright softlight this way. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adam Frisch FSF Posted November 8, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted November 8, 2004 Coops are nice because the bulbs are often mirrored at the tip reflecting light back up into the coop and then out. This makes them softer. Would be easy as hell to build yourself, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cineshooter Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 If I may add my two cents on the topic of homemade coops...A couple of years ago I shot a commercial for a Paul Mitchell based hair Salon I made 2 coops which we sat on the floor in a studio with a hard white cyc. We made these coops from 2X4's (cut at angles to alLow the face of the unit to angle up toward the models faces) of (if memory serves me correctly) 12 feet long. we boxed out the coops 12X4X3 covered thE exterior with black duv. and stapled 216 to the front of the coops. We then put 4 open faced 2K fresnels (Moles) inside the coops on pigeons. positioned the coops so that one side was about 1 stop over the other side and bingo we had a beautiful source of light. We then added some backlights (also 2K's if memeory serves me correctly). The light was nice enough to leave alone all day, no matter which model we used (blond, asian, redhead, and brunette) and everybody was happy. The only downside was the heat....every time we stopped shooting (re-load, change models, etc) we had to turn off the lights and vent the softboxes....we were also able to control any spill from the coops by using 4X4 flags clamped right to the softbox coops. Thanks for listening, hope this helps anyone looking to build there own softboxes. JD Cineshooter, LLC WWW.CINESHOOTER.COM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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