M. Vian Posted April 21, 2005 Share Posted April 21, 2005 Hello all I'll be shooting a no budget short in 1 week and a half, 16mm, where I have a night scene in the woods. Since I have no way to power lights in there, I decided for a day-for-night. The problem is that the caracter is holding a flashlight. I'll be using Vision2 500t, and I'll be underexposing the woods at about 2.5 to 3 stops (I still have to test it with still camera). Since I'll be underexposing it all, the flashlight that the guy holds, needs to be really bright... I'd like to have it's light hitting the trees close to him and be well exposed... Wich means that my flashlight has to give me enough light to make it 3 stops brighter than the ambient light in the woods... I thought about the Xenon flashlight, but they're out of my budget, and the short is in Prague, so I wouldn't even know where to get them here. I also thought of getting a pocket par 150w, and try to power it from a car, but the actor will be running, so cables and heavy batteries sound bad... So now I have two solutions left, I think: I could shoot all this scene at an hour that the light in the woods is down (just before night), and then the flashlight would be visible, but I know that this won't be enough for all the shots the director wants to make... Or, I thought about rigging a 12v lamp in a flashlight, like I read about here, but I really don't know how to power it... Any suggestions that are not heavy batteries? Or any other suggestions? Thank you! M. Vian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Vian Posted April 21, 2005 Author Share Posted April 21, 2005 I forgot to say that the short won't have a final print, everything will be finished on video, so I can ajust a few things there. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member John Pytlak RIP Posted April 21, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted April 21, 2005 Perhaps you could borrow a XENON arc flashlight? Osram makes one. If not, perhaps you could mount a low voltage tungsten halogen lamp that has an integral reflector into a flashlight housing? Some 150 watt lamps run on only about 20-24 volts, which could be provided by a battery pack: http://catalog.myosram.com/srvc/z_myosram6...TY2MTE0NTE2MA== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted April 21, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted April 21, 2005 I'm sorry but day-for-night doesn't work when the character is holding a flashlight. Unless you are in an open area and the flashlight isn't hitting any objects and you can just add a bright glow from it in post, like "Cast Away" did for an early beach scene at night. But in the woods, the flashlight beam should be brightly lighting trees and bushes. Realistically, in the woods at night, the flashlight should be BRIGHTER as a source than moonlight. So day-for-night only works when the moonlight would logically be the major source of light. I'd shoot the flashlight shot at dusk and then have the character motivate losing it or having it go dead, and THEN go into day-for-night photography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Vian Posted April 22, 2005 Author Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi, thanks for the replies! I also think it is really difficult to have both the day-for-night and the flashlight, cause the flashlight would have to be much brighter than the daylight... I will try to shoot the shots with the flashlight visible at dusk (I can go back to same location for 2 days, so I can use the best hour for those shots... and then, the close-ups and other shots without the flashlight visible, I can do them in brighter hours, and underexpose them... If they look like the other shots (in terms of background and subject lighting ratio), I can cut them togheter, since the flashlight shots will create the contrast and the viewer will not "adapt" his eyes to the underexposed shots... I dont know if I made myself clear on this... I hope you understand what I mean... And about the 12v. bulb... Does anyone know what kind of battery I would need to power it? 12v 18Ah should be enough, right? Since these bulbs are used in households, Im not sure of the power they need... if it is 50W, 12v, I need 4.1 Am I right? Sorry and thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boy yniguez Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 Hi, thanks for the replies! I also think it is really difficult to have both the day-for-night and the flashlight, cause the flashlight would have to be much brighter than the daylight... I will try to shoot the shots with the flashlight visible at dusk (I can go back to same location for 2 days, so I can use the best hour for those shots... and then, the close-ups and other shots without the flashlight visible, I can do them in brighter hours, and underexpose them... If they look like the other shots (in terms of background and subject lighting ratio), I can cut them togheter, since the flashlight shots will create the contrast and the viewer will not "adapt" his eyes to the underexposed shots... I dont know if I made myself clear on this... I hope you understand what I mean... And about the 12v. bulb... Does anyone know what kind of battery I would need to power it? 12v 18Ah should be enough, right? Since these bulbs are used in households, Im not sure of the power they need... if it is 50W, 12v, I need 4.1 Am I right? Sorry and thanks again! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> hi, i know this arriving to you very late as i saw it only now but others may benefit. so have the production designer conceal a dedo 150 unit in a flashlight casing, tape the wiring on the underside of the actor's arm inside his sleeves onto a 12v battery attached to his belt in the back. also shoot in the darker parts of the forest where the dedo will make a dent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Stephen Williams Posted May 25, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted May 25, 2005 hi, i know this arriving to you very late as i saw it only now but others may benefit. so have the production designer conceal a dedo 150 unit in a flashlight casing, tape the wiring on the underside of the actor's arm inside his sleeves onto a 12v battery attached to his belt in the back. also shoot in the darker parts of the forest where the dedo will make a dent. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi, The Dedo 150 is 24v so I would use the Dedo 100w 12v. As for battery power 12w @ 12V is 1 amp hour so to run a 100w dedolight for 30 minutes a 5 amp Hour battery would just handle it, and be small enough to hide. Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boy yniguez Posted June 25, 2005 Share Posted June 25, 2005 Hi, The Dedo 150 is 24v so I would use the Dedo 100w 12v. As for battery power 12w @ 12V is 1 amp hour so to run a 100w dedolight for 30 minutes a 5 amp Hour battery would just handle it, and be small enough to hide. Stephen <{POST_SNAPBACK}> thanks for the correction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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