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Light rays for a zero-budget film


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Hello everyone,

 

I need a suggestion for a student short film.

Is it possible to achieve visible light rays using an Arri Blondie 2kW, casting light through cracks in a wall and hitting smoke and dust floating in the air?

 

The fim will be shot in S16mm, and my school doesn't have any HMI par lights available, so I figured out a strong light source would do the job.

Also the budget is basically zero for the camera department, as the school provides everything (stock and lab expenses included).

 

Any suggestion?

 

Thanks a lot.

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yes, you can get light rays; but it'll require something in the air, like haze, to be visible. Also, the further you back the light off the "sharper," it'll become (the more point source it is). Now, whether or not that 2K will have the output you need is another story and will depend on your overall scene lighting.

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Hello everyone,

 

I need a suggestion for a student short film.

Is it possible to achieve visible light rays using an Arri Blondie 2kW, casting light through cracks in a wall and hitting smoke and dust floating in the air?

 

The fim will be shot in S16mm, and my school doesn't have any HMI par lights available, so I figured out a strong light source would do the job.

Also the budget is basically zero for the camera department, as the school provides everything (stock and lab expenses included).

 

Any suggestion?

 

Thanks a lot.

 

 

Any light source coming in the form of a beam or a certain shape (due to gobo or flags or just the path it is taking to reach the destination) and is slightly over the exposure of the scene (preferably) and not in the same axis that the camera (preferably side lit or from above or front of the cam) will give you light rays if there is particles in the air (dust or smoke or haze) that will be exposed.

 

Jad Beyrouthy

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Thanks a lot for the replies, I do have a few more questions if you don't mind.

 

Is it better to spot meter the light ray or get an incident reading (without the haze)?

Also, if the beam is large enough, would it be possible to have visible particles floating? Like using dust or sprayed water?

 

Thanks a lot again, it was really helpful.

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Yes you can get visible particles so long as the particles are large enough-- water for example would need to be back or side-lit. I'd incident read it. I only really spot when incident isn't practical or when I'm worried about a specific thing being too far over or under.

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