Is this a good lighting kit for moody stylized lighting?

[Edith blazek]

Hi, before we start, my main lighting inspirations consist the Hannibal tv series, Euphoria, and the works of David Fincher and Rina Yang for having an ambient based exposure with top or backlight, and movies such as Mandy, Suspiria (1973), Only God Forgives, and the works of Vittorio Storaro and Benoit Debie for having bold splashes and tints of color. Basically I'm trying to compile a set of gear for achieving stylized lighting of a set and my method was to mostly lean on practicals or supplemented practicals with a top light for ambience with a hard backlight. Keep in mind I have only so much power to work with as I'm putting all of this in my car with a small generator so basically I'm limited on space and power and those are my major cost factors for me as I need the space for other things as if I had all the space and power in the world I would probably just use a bunch of arrimax 18ks, Wendy lights, softsuns or God knows how many digital sputniks but I don't have that so I have to make sure with what I can do. For the film lights I would make sure that the company provided photometrics actually line up with the claims made as for equivalency and my source for verification was Arris photometric calculator as I could input distance and approximate beam angle to see what the actual equivalents are. The lights I have chosen for my kit are there to fill in roles for other equivalent lights but at lower wattages and with hopefully good light quality and not just output. And keep in mind these lights would be in near constant rotation in terms of what role they would be playing on set. Also, another factor would be how well I can rent them or resell them for which is why I'm looking at the lights here.

1x hive wasp plasma par 1000 (equivalent to an Arri m18 and considering that light is reputed to be brighter than some 2.5ks it lives up to that but it's nowhere near a 10k tungsten like once claimed at trade shows and on some sites by hive)

1x prolycht orion 675 w/ fresnel (it does seem to line up to the claim of being roughly equivalent to a 5k tungsten if just below it and it lines up with an Arri m8 so I'm satisfied).

These would be used with the lightbridge crls c100 kit

2x litepanels Gemini 1x1 hard (these didn't make equivalent claims but according to their company provided photometrics and beam angle they seem to line up with a 400w hmi like a joker with the frosted fresnel lens)

Practical/other film lights

1x astera titan 8 light kit

1x astera helios 8 light kit

2x astera nyx 8 bulb kit with impact octacool fixtures

2x litegear literibbon cine five 5m

And the full set of rosco Storaro gels.

If there are improvements I can make on this let me know.

[Matthew Parnell]

What grip lighting gear will you have?

Achieving the looks of your reference material, especially on the budget you have, you will find your grip gear is going to be way more important than the lamps you have. 

[Edith blazek]

1 hour ago, Matthew Parnell said:

What grip lighting gear will you have?

Achieving the looks of your reference material, especially on the budget you have, you will find your grip gear is going to be way more important than the lamps you have. 

I was gonna base my grip roughly on what lights I get while making sure I could still use them if I do upgrade as on one hand I don't want to get crank stands when I only need combos for example but on the other hand I don't want to have to radically change my grip kit if I do upgrade my kit. And though I didn't mention it, I understand that negs are going to be my golden ticket and that my most used piece of lighting equipment will probably be a large black textile.

[Albion Hockney]

Hi Edith,

your inspirations and approach are great but every project is different and the lights and gear needed do vary quiet a bit. If your interested in owning this size package w/ grip gear is your plan to work as a gaffer or rent it out?

If not, I would suggest working with a lighting rental house if you need this big of a package. With grip gear and that many fixtures it sounds pretty much like a 1/2 ton or a 1 ton package which is a small truck or vans worth of gear.

[Edith blazek]

1 hour ago, Albion Hockney said:

Hi Edith,

your inspirations and approach are great but every project is different and the lights and gear needed do vary quiet a bit. If your interested in owning this size package w/ grip gear is your plan to work as a gaffer or rent it out?

If not, I would suggest working with a lighting rental house if you need this big of a package. With grip gear and that many fixtures it sounds pretty much like a 1/2 ton or a 1 ton package which is a small truck or vans worth of gear.

Oh I was definitely going to rent it out, that's why I'm looking at stuff like the asteras.

[Albion Hockney]

If you want to be a Gaffer/Truck owner I would buy industry standard fixtures like an M18 which people will request, though the 1000W plasma light which I have never heard of sounds interesting.

Also at this size the vehicle and organization systems start to matter quiet a bit. You would ideally want a small cargo van fitted out with shelving and ideally a lift gate. Also Carts.

If you can't afford that I'd scale back. I have seen some gaffers with ultra tiny packages work out of Mini Vans or Hatchbacks, but at that point you can really only fit enough gear for interviews or very small setups and with out a vehicle renting it out can be challenging.

 

 

[Edith blazek]

On 5/8/2022 at 2:56 AM, Edith blazek said:

Hi, before we start, my main lighting inspirations consist the Hannibal tv series, Euphoria, and the works of David Fincher and Rina Yang for having an ambient based exposure with top or backlight, and movies such as Mandy, Suspiria (1973), Only God Forgives, and the works of Vittorio Storaro and Benoit Debie for having bold splashes and tints of color. Basically I'm trying to compile a set of gear for achieving stylized lighting of a set and my method was to mostly lean on practicals or supplemented practicals with a top light for ambience with a hard backlight. Keep in mind I have only so much power to work with as I'm putting all of this in my car with a small generator so basically I'm limited on space and power and those are my major cost factors for me as I need the space for other things as if I had all the space and power in the world I would probably just use a bunch of arrimax 18ks, Wendy lights, softsuns or God knows how many digital sputniks but I don't have that so I have to make sure with what I can do. For the film lights I would make sure that the company provided photometrics actually line up with the claims made as for equivalency and my source for verification was Arris photometric calculator as I could input distance and approximate beam angle to see what the actual equivalents are. The lights I have chosen for my kit are there to fill in roles for other equivalent lights but at lower wattages and with hopefully good light quality and not just output. And keep in mind these lights would be in near constant rotation in terms of what role they would be playing on set. Also, another factor would be how well I can rent them or resell them for which is why I'm looking at the lights here.

1x hive wasp plasma par 1000 (equivalent to an Arri m18 and considering that light is reputed to be brighter than some 2.5ks it lives up to that but it's nowhere near a 10k tungsten like once claimed at trade shows and on some sites by hive)

1x prolycht orion 675 w/ fresnel (it does seem to line up to the claim of being roughly equivalent to a 5k tungsten if just below it and it lines up with an Arri m8 so I'm satisfied).

These would be used with the lightbridge crls c100 kit

2x litepanels Gemini 1x1 hard (these didn't make equivalent claims but according to their company provided photometrics and beam angle they seem to line up with a 400w hmi like a joker with the frosted fresnel lens)

Practical/other film lights

1x astera titan 8 light kit

1x astera helios 8 light kit

2x astera nyx 8 bulb kit with impact octacool fixtures

2x litegear literibbon cine five 5m

And the full set of rosco Storaro gels.

If there are improvements I can make on this let me know.

As an update to this Im not doing the wasp par and instead went for another Prolycht 675 so here is the updated list so imagine it like 2 Arri m8s or 5k tungsten fresnels

2x prolycht orion 675 w/ fresnel (it does seem to line up to the claim of being roughly equivalent to a 5k tungsten if just below it and it lines up with an Arri m8 so I'm satisfied) and lantern.

These would be used with the lightbridge crls c100 kit

2x litepanels Gemini 1x1 hard (these didn't make equivalent claims but according to their company provided photometrics and beam angle they seem to line up with a 400w hmi like a joker with the frosted fresnel lens)

Practical/other film lights

1x astera titan 8 light kit

1x astera helios 8 light kit

2x astera nyx 8 bulb kit with impact octacool fixtures

2x litegear literibbon cine five 5m

the full set of rosco Storaro gels.

A 12x20 black textile

If there are improvements I can make on this let me know

[Albion Hockney]

no other frames, but one 12x20 solid?

bold.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Albion Hockney

[Edith blazek]

5 minutes ago, Albion Hockney said:

no other frames, but one 12x20 solid?

bold.

Yeah my plan was to just assemble a frame from speedrail to the size I need, I'm just not sure which type of diffusion or bounce to go with, I have my eyes on unbleached muslin though.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

I would get a few Aperture 1200Ds. 

I would also get LiteMats; either Spectrum, or the updated ones. 

I would drop the Geminis, the Spectrum LiteMats are in my opinion much better. Especially the 4 or the 2L

I love John over @ Hive but the Plasma 1K never really took off. I do like their WASP RGB LEDs, and I THINK (keyword there) they are designed to interface with film lighting gear a little bit better then Bowens Mount stuff. But, The Polly-Cat (which is what I‘m calling that light from now on!) has better name recognition. 

If you wanna splurge splurge, get Vortex8s in place of the Spectrum. They are FAR more robust. 

Titan is a good call.

NYX is a good Call.

Lite-Ribbon on it’s own is kinda “eh” but if you built it out into a kit that you can use for car rigging then that would be a killer addition and great add on to have on any show. Kino used to make car kits, as did lite-gear. I don’t know if they still do, but If so, get that. 

I kind of personally dislike the CLRS kit— it doesn’t really fit into the style of shoots I have been on recently. That said, I think it is a good item to have around because it is specialty and rentable to other productions to certainly keep a hand on that.

I also think you should look into wireless DMX (CMRX) for all of this via either Blackout or Lumier, just because it seems that that is a type of control we are moving towards and on smaller shows, with your own, already paired lights, it can be a major time savor. 

I don’t know what kind of rental houses there are in Maryland, but there are a few in Philadelphia and New Jersey which may have many of those units in stock. It might be well worth while to ask if you can go in and see them and see if they would be interested in a consignment of your gear with them when you aren’t using it. 

This would mean a lot more if you happen to go with the name-brand stuff which seems to be out on ever show. 

[Edith blazek]

On 6/10/2022 at 8:51 PM, Adrian Sierkowski said:

I would get a few Aperture 1200Ds. 

I would also get LiteMats; either Spectrum, or the updated ones. 

I would drop the Geminis, the Spectrum LiteMats are in my opinion much better. Especially the 4 or the 2L

I love John over @ Hive but the Plasma 1K never really took off. I do like their WASP RGB LEDs, and I THINK (keyword there) they are designed to interface with film lighting gear a little bit better then Bowens Mount stuff. But, The Polly-Cat (which is what I‘m calling that light from now on!) has better name recognition. 

If you wanna splurge splurge, get Vortex8s in place of the Spectrum. They are FAR more robust. 

Titan is a good call.

NYX is a good Call.

Lite-Ribbon on it’s own is kinda “eh” but if you built it out into a kit that you can use for car rigging then that would be a killer addition and great add on to have on any show. Kino used to make car kits, as did lite-gear. I don’t know if they still do, but If so, get that. 

I kind of personally dislike the CLRS kit— it doesn’t really fit into the style of shoots I have been on recently. That said, I think it is a good item to have around because it is specialty and rentable to other productions to certainly keep a hand on that.

I also think you should look into wireless DMX (CMRX) for all of this via either Blackout or Lumier, just because it seems that that is a type of control we are moving towards and on smaller shows, with your own, already paired lights, it can be a major time savor. 

I don’t know what kind of rental houses there are in Maryland, but there are a few in Philadelphia and New Jersey which may have many of those units in stock. It might be well worth while to ask if you can go in and see them and see if they would be interested in a consignment of your gear with them when you aren’t using it. 

This would mean a lot more if you happen to go with the name-brand stuff which seems to be out on ever show. 

Alright, if I was to get the astera titan and NYX's, how many kits should I get of each? I honestly have left them out now since it would get me into the 10s of thousands of dollars to have enough replace all of the lights on location say in an office, at least if the cinematographer for the dropout is to be believed.

[Edith blazek]

On 5/12/2022 at 3:10 AM, Edith blazek said:

As an update to this Im not doing the wasp par and instead went for another Prolycht 675 so here is the updated list so imagine it like 2 Arri m8s or 5k tungsten fresnels

2x prolycht orion 675 w/ fresnel (it does seem to line up to the claim of being roughly equivalent to a 5k tungsten if just below it and it lines up with an Arri m8 so I'm satisfied) and lantern.

These would be used with the lightbridge crls c100 kit

2x litepanels Gemini 1x1 hard (these didn't make equivalent claims but according to their company provided photometrics and beam angle they seem to line up with a 400w hmi like a joker with the frosted fresnel lens)

Practical/other film lights

1x astera titan 8 light kit

1x astera helios 8 light kit

2x astera nyx 8 bulb kit with impact octacool fixtures

2x litegear literibbon cine five 5m

the full set of rosco Storaro gels.

A 12x20 black textile

If there are improvements I can make on this let me know

Alright, here's an update, I dropped the Geminis and asteras for more 675s and added digital sputnik apollo 1s (they're basically the ds1s but more refined) as the battery powered light for when I need that and added the c-go reflector kit so here is the kit, let me know what I can do differently (keep in mind the stuff here would be rented out as in my area no one has a lot of the stuff here)

4x Prolycht Orion 675 fs (close to being equivalent to a 5k fresnel tungsten, which it's marketed as)

4x digital sputnik apollo 1 (brighter than a 300w tungsten but less bright than a 650w fresnel, marketed as being equivalent to a 500w tungsten)

Lightbridge crls c drive+ kit

Full set of rosco storage gels

20x20 negative fill

Also, can you fold fabrics like unbleached muslin to use it on smaller frames?

[Edith blazek]

13 hours ago, Edith blazek said:

Alright, here's an update, I dropped the Geminis and asteras for more 675s and added digital sputnik apollo 1s (they're basically the ds1s but more refined) as the battery powered light for when I need that and added the c-go reflector kit so here is the kit, let me know what I can do differently (keep in mind the stuff here would be rented out as in my area no one has a lot of the stuff here)

4x Prolycht Orion 675 fs (close to being equivalent to a 5k fresnel tungsten, which it's marketed as)

4x digital sputnik apollo 1 (brighter than a 300w tungsten but less bright than a 650w fresnel, marketed as being equivalent to a 500w tungsten)

Lightbridge crls c drive+ kit

Full set of rosco storage gels

20x20 negative fill

Also, can you fold fabrics like unbleached muslin to use it on smaller frames?

*Storaro gels

[Edith blazek]

Update: I cut the orions down to 2 and have finally come up with flags and frames to have

1x Matthews 40x40 kit

1x Matthews scrim and flag kit

1x 8x8 unbleached muslin

1x 8x8 china silk

1x 8x8 matthbounce/black

Let me know what changes I can make.

[Edith blazek]

Okay it's been awhile and since my last update I've had multiple realizations in terms of priorities, the biggest one being the need for powerful, color tunable lights (that hasn't changed) but also lights that are small and can be put on a c stand. With all of this in mind, I've updated my theoretical kit to the following

2x hive lighting super hornet 575c lights with double bracket and super spot reflectors (I was highly hesitant as at 60 lumens per watt they're not the brightest or most efficient light on the block (still brighter than an Arri orbiter lol), but ultimately, it's the only light in this category I feel comfortable putting on a c stand at 6 pounds per head and more and more these days for owning and operating, size is of big importance to me as Im not running around with a grip trucks worth of space for my daily driver vehicle and to me, and one of the upsides of led lighting is reduced size for similar power, seeing these other units out nowadays the size that they are just makes me feel like we're losing something in all of this.)

Chimera silver octa beauty 30 in

Chimera lantern 30 in

2x litegear litemat spectrum 4s with mercury curve 4 softboxes

Light bridge c-go 2.0 kit

Matthews roadflags 48 in kit with 1 magic cloth floppy, 1 unbleached muslin floppy, 1 matthbounce floppy, 1 negative fill floppy

F&V ultracolor 720s dmx ring light

2x Matthews 3 c stand kit

Evalux control one Dmx controller

[Albion Hockney]

I would just get 600'ds over the "super hornet"  they are often requested as a rental item.

Lit mat 4's are pretty soft as is, don't see the benefit of the curved soft box but maybe a personal pref?

I might swap one lit Mat for a 2L so you have 2 sizes if you need something small like in a bathroom or small room.

I would get a 6x6 kit. 6x6 frames are easy to fit in most vehicles and quicker to setup as a T-bone for interior shots then the break apart frames.

 

[Edith blazek]

7 hours ago, Albion Hockney said:

I would just get 600'ds over the "super hornet"  they are often requested as a rental item.

Lit mat 4's are pretty soft as is, don't see the benefit of the curved soft box but maybe a personal pref?

I might swap one lit Mat for a 2L so you have 2 sizes if you need something small like in a bathroom or small room.

I would get a 6x6 kit. 6x6 frames are easy to fit in most vehicles and quicker to setup as a T-bone for interior shots then the break apart frames.

 

As much of a better value the aputures would be, and as nice it would be to be in the dopchoice ecosystem on that note of rentals, I can't deny the fundamental fact the light would be too heavy for my needs as for the weight of one 600c, I can use 2 super hornets in a frame and comfortably be on a c stand as i wouldn't dare put a 600c dual array on a c stand (also i can hollywood with a super hornet), and unlike the aputures, i can use reflectors while the lights are mounted to their respective double bracket while I can only use a softbox when mounted to the double rabbit ears and the f10 fresnel doesnt have a speeding option. Also I prefer the setup of the color array on the hive to the aputure but considering aputure literally just bought prolycht I have a feeling im not gonna be saying that for long.

Also, the reason I was planning on one of a litemat instead of 2 sizes in this setup is so I can use them side by side as one light with another accessory from sodyum that I don't remember the name of.

Yeah the 6x6, I just didn't think any of the lights I would have would be powerful enough to warrant a 6x6 frame but I guess it would be nice for overheads for the sun for instance.

[Edith blazek]

32 minutes ago, Edith blazek said:

As much of a better value the aputures would be, and as nice it would be to be in the dopchoice ecosystem on that note of rentals, I can't deny the fundamental fact the light would be too heavy for my needs as for the weight of one 600c, I can use 2 super hornets in a frame and comfortably be on a c stand as i wouldn't dare put a 600c dual array on a c stand (also i can hollywood with a super hornet), and unlike the aputures, i can use reflectors while the lights are mounted to their respective double bracket while I can only use a softbox when mounted to the double rabbit ears and the f10 fresnel doesnt have a speeding option. Also I prefer the setup of the color array on the hive to the aputure but considering aputure literally just bought prolycht I have a feeling im not gonna be saying that for long.

Also, the reason I was planning on one of a litemat instead of 2 sizes in this setup is so I can use them side by side as one light with another accessory from sodyum that I don't remember the name of.

Yeah the 6x6, I just didn't think any of the lights I would have would be powerful enough to warrant a 6x6 frame but I guess it would be nice for overheads for the sun for instance.

*speedring option and I just realized I could use the hard light reflector with apurtures side by side so forget that, everything else still stands 

[JB Earl]

Don't get the Road Flags, you want flags ready to go, not have to assemble them.

Lights should go on light stands, not C stands. 

you are getting a truck?

 

 

 

[Edith blazek]

4 hours ago, JB Earl said:

Don't get the Road Flags, you want flags ready to go, not have to assemble them.

Lights should go on light stands, not C stands. 

you are getting a truck?

 

 

 

No, I'm getting a minivan

[JB Earl]

i'd suggest looking at a rental house website for the contents of a grip package.  Just copy it and you'll have everything that's most useful and marketable.

as far as lights, the standard items will always work for you (that's why they are standards ? )    I understand wanting your own preferences instead, just know that there will be times you won't rent or get hired because of it 

Edited November 2, 2023 by JB Earl

[Edith blazek]

3 hours ago, JB Earl said:

i'd suggest looking at a rental house website for the contents of a grip package.  Just copy it and you'll have everything that's most useful and marketable.

as far as lights, the standard items will always work for you (that's why they are standards ? )    I understand wanting your own preferences instead, just know that there will be times you won't rent or get hired because of it 

I absolutely get the standardization bit, I was gonna change everything here for more efficient, powerful counterparts so I'll share it here

1x Digital Sputnik ds6 and ds3 with dopchoice rabbit ears for ds6 and modular yoke to make a ds9 array and holographic diffusers for all of it

2x aputure nova p600c with dopchoice rabbit ears per light and dual yoke to make dual light array

1x each Dopchoice 3 foot lantern and 5 foot octa

2x Hive lighting hornet 200-c/x with source four mini and chimera lantern (not sure to go with pancake or standard)

1x Chimera panel frame 6x6 (not sure what fabrics to spring for)

1x Matthews minivator ii

1x Matthews trio stand lit

2x kupo low mighty stand

Now can anyone tell me what the industry standards are for ring lights? I know of the cinering but that's rental only, and I could probably make one with litegear literibbons

[Albion Hockney]

if your getting a mini van you can fit 4x4 frames in them.

 

 

[Neel Potgieter]

Perhaps already mentioned here 
Aputure 600c with projection lense...these are really great for little golden spots.
All these lights are great if you use the falloff of the light...so dont point it directly at the subject, but just let the edges of the light fall where you want and you get a very natural look

[Edith blazek]

Alright, it's been a while, some companies have come and went, and so has what my kit would be. My strategy was to have scalability of concepts wherein I would have a big and a small version of a type of light.

1x Nanlux evoke 900c with fl-28 fresnel

1x (maybe 2) Hive lighting super hornet 575c with super spot reflector

1x each Hudson spider redback and mozzie deluxe kits (they fit in the same case together so I thought screw it)

1x Joker² 1600 beamer kit with 2k adapter

1x Astera hydrapanel 4x kit with dopchoice snapbag for 4 light kit

1x Astera nyx 8 light kit

4x DMG dash dot diffusers with adapter backplates

4x Aputure infinibar pb3

3x either Nanlite Forza 60c with fresnel and projection mount or fiilex Q3 with dedolight dp2.2

1x each Dopchoice rabbit rounder medium dome and 3 foot octas

1x each Chimera octaplus 5 foot with 7 foot expansion kit and medium video pro strip softbox

1x each Dopchoice/Lightbridge snapbridge 5ft and 3ft with Lightbridge c-go kit

1x Matthews road flags kit with 1x each negative fill floppy, maathbounce floppy, unbleached muslin floppy, and a black China silk scrim

1x Matthews trio c stand kit (this will mount the road flags kit as well)

Edited August 21, 2024 by Edith blazek