Mercury Vapor China Hats

James Brown · May 21, 2009

Hi,

I have an upcoming film with a prominent greeny/blue look throughout.

I'm looking to fit Mercury vapor 1K clear bulbs into china hats to have in shot as a pseudo street light. Has anyone does this? Understandably i need custom fitted hats but wondering the best way of approaching it?

Also looking for fit the same type of bulbs into China Lanterns for some soft bluey/green edges - best way of achieving this?

Thanks in advance-

Regards, James........

Adam Howden · May 21, 2009

The first thing you need to do is go to China as this is where the best China-men hats are...

Secondly, you need to go to Mercury, this is where the best Mercury Vapour is...

Finally you need some Vapour, maybe from you bung hole?

Ha Ha Ha Ha, see ya this morning buddy, I'm sure Nicky Two-Tone is gonna ROCK!!!

Ads :-)

David Mullen ASC · May 21, 2009

My suggestion is to find some daylight compact flos to put inside a paper lantern (maybe two bulbs) and then find a way to green them up a bit... because real metal halide globes take forever to come on and it's going to drive you nuts to wait five minutes everytime you want to restrike your paper lantern.

Tom Jensen · May 21, 2009

Hey, sorry to hijack the thread but since David has already answered the question, do any of you Aussies know grips David "Crossy" Cross or "Magic" Mark Hennesey? Script Kira Bohn, UPM Heather McFarlane, Melanie Brunt, AD JP? AC Miranda and I can't think of Penny's last name. I did a show in Fiji about 4-5 years ago. Australians and Kiwis are the best. 4:00 tea time drove me nuts at first and now I don't know how a crew can live without it.

Richard Andrewski · May 22, 2009

...because real metal halide globes take forever to come on and it's going to drive you nuts to wait five minutes everytime you want to restrike your paper lantern.

Not to mention too that you may have flicker issues if you mean real mercury vapor lamps which often have very simple magnetic or cheap electronic ballasts. And you may find if the wattage is high enough and your lantern small enough, your paper lantern might burn.

James Brown · May 22, 2009

Thanks David and Richard.

You're right with the Lanterns - heaps better idea. Still not sure about the Prac lights in shot though.......Is there anyone that has made controllable Halide fixtures????

"Magic" Mark Hennesey? and I can't think of Penny's last name.

Magic is still gripping away in Melbourne and Penny is probably off lifting the biggest lamp he can find......Great guys.

Regards, James

Richard Andrewski · May 23, 2009

Is there anyone that has made controllable Halide fixtures????

We've done some work with HID / metal halide bulbs in some fixture with great success and there's a guy somewhere in Australia named Bob Grant that had made some China lanterns with HID bulbs in them.

I would recommend a G12 base single ended 150w metal halide as something thats more easily controllable, there is a good choice of electronic ballasts that can drive it and not a bad selection of color temperatures including some up in the bluer ranges for the look you want. And also small enough and low enough wattage that it shouldn't bother your paper lantern. We like those bulbs a lot.