Blanket light..is it a pain in the arse to set up?

DavidSloan · February 23, 2005

You guys already know, I'm a kino die hard. I've never used the blanket light rigged on a ceiling before, and I have a shoot in April in a huge loft and I'd like to rig the blanket light to the ceiling for a soft ambient fill. Has anyone used it and if so how time consuming and complicated is it to rig to the ceiling? I need to know because this AD is hard core! lol Also, what' the Amperage on that baby?

Thanks, a lot.

Nathan Milford · February 23, 2005

They have four, four bank ballasts pulling near 26 amperes @ 120v (6.5 amperes a piece).

It'll give you 80-90 fc at 12 feet... how high is the ceiling? What is the nature of the space? It'll be terribly time consuming to do it safely. The website states that the heads are 30lbs and the frame is 60lbs. If you can't build a solid super structure (read: grid) or modify the ceiling... I'd try something else... mafers, pole cats and screws ain;t gonna do it.

But you'd have to describe the space better, I suppose, to get more meaningful solutions.

- nate

DavidSloan · February 23, 2005

I've read what's on the site...thanks. I wanted to see if some people here have actually rigged it, and if it's a time consuming process.

As mentioned, location is a NYC loft so ceiling is very high-about 20ft. Conveniently, there are long, sturdy, speed rail type rods already attached across the location's ceiling. I just want to hear from some people who have practical experience rigging this thing to the ceiling with regards to time, and difficulty level.

Kevin Zanit · February 23, 2005

It sort of sounds like a situation that would require a lot of (as my gaffer puts it) ?fiddle fu*king around? to get it right.

That said, if you can get in there a little early (i.e. pre-rig) it does not sound so bad, especially because of the pipes you refer to.

I like the idea that you have (I may steal it because I have a similar location coming up). I would bring your key grip and gaffer to help you work it out at the location ahead of time.

If the blanket light is a no-go, maybe space lights would do the trick (while pulling more power).

Kevin Zanit

David Mullen ASC · February 23, 2005

You could possibly build a softbox with some lightweight wooden strips and light bulb sockets in a foamcore box with a duventine skirt.

February 23, 2005

You could possibly build a softbox with some lightweight wooden strips and light bulb sockets in a foamcore box with a duventine skirt.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've done something similar recently. Built four 2x2 foot soft boxes. With dimmers, I think they cost me about $20 each. Puts out a fair bit of light for the price you pay. I used hardboard from home depot with one white melamine-ish face and some 2x2's to lend a bit of structural support. Very lightweight too.

Bob Hayes · February 23, 2005

What is a blanket light?

Adam Frisch FSF · February 23, 2005

Never used it on the ceiling, only on stands as a regular soft light. I really liked the light the put out, clean and crisp and very bright. Besides, you could always turn units off if you wanted less intensity without it getting harder (the lamps are wired so that every second flo goes out, if I recall correctly).

It does come with a rather wieldy alu frame that I imagine would not be very easy to secure to any ceiling. And as someone pointed out, they come with four ballasts that you either have to hang in the ceiling too, or find long cables for if (it's a big room and you need to drop 'em out of frame).

Nathan Milford · February 23, 2005

Although I haven't rigged them indoors I've rigged them outdoors from scaffolding and speed rail for car work. I wasn't the key grip, but the best boy... we all pitched in and it wasn't so bad with scaffolding, on a windless night. Had we a crane... it might have taken much less time. Building the support infrastructure was what was most time consuming.

I wouldn't rig it on the ceiling pipe unless you can confirm it's 2" schedule 40 or better.

You'd be better served to just have your gaffer/best boy fix a bunch of tubes directly to the ceiling and spare the weight of the fixtures. Then you can take a bunch of grid cloth and suspend it in a much more sane way, than supporting the blanket light's frame.

Just my two cents.

February 23, 2005

What is a blanket light?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Basically a big Kino unit with its own 6x6 frame attached.

http://www.kinoflo.com/sales_catalog_2004/...lanket_sys.html

Jason Maeda · February 24, 2005

i've rigged it a bunch of times, it does make a beautiful light but its not perfect for ceiling rigging...better to be hung off of stands or i suppose a crane (but i wouldn't know anything about that stuff). slapping some tubes up with a china silk and duvetine cutters would be just as good under the circumstances.

jk :ph34r:

Mike Hall · February 26, 2005

You know, 20' up in the air, and something that one person can't get a hold of alone, and a built-in time constraint. Sounds like it would be easier and faster to hang 4x4 kinos with either softening gel on them, or something below if you want to stay with cooler lights or space lights if you don't mind the heat.

If there's an easy way to get rope points up, you might be able to build the blanket on the ground, and fly it from the floor.