M Joel W

Thanks for the advice. We used a maglite for our last project and found it to be generally much too dark; we used a $10 "million power" rechargeable flashlight (and/or a china lantern on a pole) off camera to supplement its beam when we did exteriors or big interiors. I think the "million power" light was about 500 lumens, so the 200 lumen surefire and maglites may be enough of an upgrade from our basic one... I guess I'll find out by trying one. Anyhow, thanks again.

I'm shooting a project soon and we'll be doing some scenes with almost no light (mostly night interiors after a power failure happens in the script) and we want to light these scenes primarily with flashlights. For close ups we'll add fill to the faces, of course. We are shooting at ISO 250. What would you recommend? I'm considering using xenon lights (though they are expensive...), or multi-led flashlights, although I'm worried the leds are too blue (8000K or whatever). I'm also worried that all flashlights have too narrow a beam; is it possible to buy a powerful light and jb weld a wide lens on it? Thanks for the help, -Matt

I haven't seen a recent movie that makes good use of hard light (or exclusively hard light) in years, although obviously you're right; you can work with it on any stock and theoretically it could look fine. But even look at the grabs of American Psycho someone posted; I can identify maybe one hard source per each relatively high key frame. If you use a single hard source it's generally fine (and hard back/sidelight can almost always look nice) but once you start getting multiple sharp distinct shadows on a white wall, you're in trouble because this looks terrible. Also, while I'm not that experienced I will admit since I can't get a job, I don't see how DV's low contrast could benefit anything in this situation. Sure, if you have no figure movement it's fine, but if you're relying on a high contrast light near the camera, once the actors start moving their stop is all over the place. The only way to fix this? Move the light back a great distance and make it brighter, thereby making it a lower contrast source per the inverse square law and defeating the whole purpose of the thing. Soft light has a gentler fall off and more forgiving shadows so you can string a few together near to each other in the zone where a character might walk to maintain a roughly consistent stop in that area, and it actually falls off more quickly than hard light in most cases so you can do even more with the background.

White walls are a really bad idea for a horror movie. Most horror movies rely on low key lighting and areas of darkness where you can imagine something might hide. Not only are white walls hard to keep dark (white is much brighter than skin tone) but the white wall acts as a bounce board, making a high contrast ratio on the actors' faces very hard to achieve without a lot of flags or negative fill--which usually take a lot of time to set up on a low budget shoot. Paint or wallpaper are generally the best answers. It's pretty important to remember that noir was in black and white and that made for a much less cluttered frame. The classic noirs were also shot by very talented DPs who used hard light well. Unfortunately, hard light does not look great on modern color stocks (unless you're some sort of genius, but even Kaminski blew it on the latest Indiana Jones) and it always looks bad on video--and hard lighting can create distracting shadows, which look particularly bad in color. My personal recommendation would be to keep the actors a distance from the walls, use hard backlighting to create depth, and use a soft 3/4 key near the camera, which can also function as an eye light. Soft light falls off quickly so your actors won't be too dark compared with the walls, assuming the light is tilted down a bit and not directly at the walls and also that your actors are far enough from the walls. I personally like to vary color temperature and maybe have a warmer key than the backlight/background light, which might be a bit bluer. It can also be helpful, for shots in which there is a lot of figure movement, to allow your actors to go into shadow and become silhouettes against the wall, then maybe walk back into light for more emotional scenes when you need to see their faces. Pointing soft boxes down (so as not to get too much bounce off white walls) can be a good idea; I sometimes even tape compact fluorescents to the ceiling and covered them selectively in gaffer's tape to make a toplight or slight backlight when there's no where else to put one. I did this for a very low budget project so I assume you can do better, but it worked sometimes. Using practical sources to your advantage can also help, since many lamps have colored lamp shades that can motivate a soft, warm light that can put some color and contrast in frame. Just darken the front of the bulb with a gel or a spray so it doesn't blow out so badly and this should look good. Throwing a slash of light on the wall or shooting a cookie at it is fine, but it also has to be motivated and not too distracting and, again, you're adding more light to a wall that's already too bright. I always find set dressing to be a better option to add texture and, also, you can manipulate set dressing creatively for close ups to create nicer compositions. Not to say high contrast lighting isn't the right answer; it is, it's just very hard to achieve noir lighting in a white room without totally blowing out the walls, so you may want to experiment with soft light, too. If you're shooting film this will be easier to avoid, at least, but my experience is solely with video.

The ability to take a range of bulbs really isn't a significant advantage. You generally won't change bulbs on set (I've never heard of it) so unless you know ahead of time that you're working with a specific amount of amps availible and have to limit your lights accordingly, you'll probably be using the maximum output lamp at all times. The light looks fine, though. I rarely use fresnels stronger than 650w due to my preference for a soft key (kinos, bounched light, softboxes), but certainly that's a useful fixture. So what you bought isn't so much an interchangable light as it is a 1k fresnel, which is an okay. Scrims, dimmers (at the cost of color temperature getting warmer), ND gels, flood/spot, etc. can all adjust the amount of light, anyway. It's not like a given light has a set output; pretty much, it just has a maximum output relatively to the distance of the camera that can be shaped any number of ways and then reduced as necessary... And an open face light, fresnel, par, softlight, etc. all have different outputs and different shapes even before you take dimmers, scrims, gels, etc. into consideration so a more qualitative and holistic approach toward lighting I think is common these days, particularly with digital, which I assume you're shooting. It's very hard for us to be honest in our advice because you're not being completely forward with respect to your needs. We don't know your budget, we don't even know the nature of the project (interviews, narrative, documentary?) or the medium on which you're shooting it (film and what speed, digital and what camera) and the aesthetic you're trying to achieve. You say you've shot for quite a while and yet you seem not to know too much about the gear you'd have around you at all times. You say you have a producer backing it, but you're buying and not renting gear and are concerned over a few hundred dollars. All I'm saying is, once we know what the project is, what your budget is, what look you want, what camera you're using, etc. we can answer your questions better. But questions like "is this light as good even though it doesn't take interchangable bulbs" and "how is the build quality on the desisti" are really missing the forest for the trees.

Desisti products seem okay. I've heard awful horror stories about their HMIs, but so far as I know their tungsten lights are fine. I think I used a desisti 1k on a shoot once and it was fine (more fragile than the arri but also simpler in construction), but the light I used have been made by strand. I don't remember. I think there's a reason you don't see a lot of them, though, and that's simply because brands like arri, mole, and lowel make sturdier products for similar prices. I just doubt the construction on the desistis is anywhere near as good as the arris. Just looking at their fresnels, you can see that the enclosure is not nearly as nice. Unless the desisti kit is half as much as the arri kit or you never plan on leaving the house with it, I'd skip it. It will almost undoubtedly produce light that's just as good and just as much of it, and it will probably hold up fine for a while, but the arris will hold up REALLY well--rain, dirt, dust, being knocked around, whatever: they arris are built great and that's why 90% of rental houses stock arri lights almost exclusively among their fresnels. I bought a used kit and have had great luck with it. A company I worked for got an awesome deal on some used arris and they worked great, too, and they were much older. If you need to save money, I'd look into used arris but make sure you can inspect the lights or you really trust the seller. Also, the arri light kits are very nice packages. You get just the scrims you need, extremely nice light stands, gel holders, chimera softboxes (they best softboxes there are), and a very nice and solid case. It's a product that's very well thought out. The problem is that people try to save money because, since arris, moles, etc. are the standard, they are also the most expensive and really theirs is the price against which you'd compare something when you want to claim it's a "deal." Of course, taking into account their durability and the cost of repairs, the higher quality lights will be far cheaper in the long run and (more importantly) far more reliable on set than bargain lights, but that doesn't change the fact that you still have to deal with the higher initial sticker price. If you know a reliable place, I'd look into a used arri kit; otherwise, I'd get a new one. There are other good brands, too, and I don't think desisti is the worst, but I wouldn't get it unless it was way, way less expensive than the top of the line brands.

Spend the money on the arris for your basic kit. Arri fresnels are so versatile you'll use them all the time and the build quality on them is the best. I got a kit like this http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5272...Tungsten_3.html used for $1200 a few years back and have used it on about a dozen shorts, a feature, a few photo shoots, and a lot of other stuff and it's still working very reliably. Of course, I use a lot of other lights in addition depending on what's needed, but the arris seem to get the most use. If you can afford, it I'd recommend a kit with a 1k open face softbox (and the rest fresnels) because your soft key is twice as bright, then, but the kit above is good, too.

I still need help on this if anyone has any ideas?

14 amps at 117 volts. (It says +/-10% so I'm going to go ahead and assume it will work with 110V power). I was going to replace it with the input cable most monitors and computers take, but maybe I should get something a bit uhh...more powerful? I will probably have a shop do it since the capacitors may be charged and I don't know how to discharge them safely.

I took the ballast apart and it seems to be a pretty simple construction. I think I may dremel out the case and replace this part with a 3-pin shroud connector. Good idea? Safe? Anyone who has used quartzcolor or cinemills: is this definitely different from what you've used? I don't want to mess with anything if I don't have to.

Hi, I need to find a mains cable for an old ballast made by an out-of-business company...and don't know where to begin. Does this look familiar to anyone? I've heard it may be the same as quartzcolor and/or cmc/cinemills. Thanks, -Matt

The tech at Arri Burbank says all non-ltm 7-pin magnetic ballasts are wired the same... So I'm giving it a go. If anyone knows otherwise, please chime in!

Just wondering...want to use a 1200w DN labs ballast with an old arrisun 12. Are they wired the same? I think they went out of business but I believe it's either the same as CMC (cinemill?) or quartzcolor. Not sure.

Thanks for the advice; tried it all and nothing. Thankfully the guy at the grip shop from which I bought the light on eBay has been very helpful and we're working something out. Seems like either the bulb or something in the head is broken. Or could be the ballast... But it's clear something's wrong and it's being worked out, thankfully. But thanks for the advice; it's all been helpful. Seems like I'll have to take it from here, though. -Matt

Unfortunately it has socapex connectors and is LTM; my local rental place has veam connectors/arri ballasts. Also, I'm a college student without much money. Can't expensive repairs or rentals. Hence buying a used unit. I cleaned the contacts, checked the connections, etc. and it still has the same problem. There's a small black button on the ballast. Does this do anything? I haven't tried it yet. What is the ignition sequence exactly for these things? Maybe it's different from the arris I've used...

It's an old bulb: definitely par64. Same size as the tungsten lights, but a 1200w hmi. You can find these on ebay for about $350 per bulb. The HMI "bubble" itself is contained in a small bulb within the larger par64 enclosure. I can't find this alleged "microswitch" that you mention and I've read about in my lighting technician's handbook. I don't have the manual so I don't know where it is. I'm wondering if there isn't one because the par64 enclosure kind of acts as a protective lens? But the lamphead is behaving as though there is one and it's not switched on. The ballast pops but the light doesn't make a start up sound or anything. Anyhow, I'll look around... Thanks again, -Matt

Okay, now it won't turn on... The red light on the ballast turns on, as does the one on the lamphead. When I strike it....the ballast pops, but the light itself does nothing. And the ballast hums a bit after this but too quietly. The green light on the lamphead does NOT turn on. Thanks.

Hi, I just received in the mail a 1.2kw HMI par made by LTM. I cannot find polarity markings on either the bulb or the socket and the bulb appears to fit into the socket irrespective of orientation. Will the bulb work no matter what or is there a way to know for sure that the bulb's orientation in the lamp head is correct before I strike it for the first time. Can I damage either the light itself or the bulb if I strike it with the bulb inserted with the wrong polarity? Thanks as always for the help, -Matt

While I'm aware that a 35mm lens provides as good a "natural perspective" as a 50mm lens, I'm directing and there's this motif with POVs and inserts (each used for equivalent function in tonally different parts of the movie) and they all have 50mm focal lengths. Just some sort of unity, I guess. If worse comes to worse I'll go with the 35, but this shot is meant to recall a shot earlier in the movie with a lensbaby and those are 50mm, so I'd need to buy the wide angle attachment for that, too. I suppose since there are only two shots where a hand in frame is important, and only one involves complex motion, I'll try something like the rope, which sounds like a smart solution, and also a shoulder rig. As for format, yes, these are in 35mm 1.85:1 terms. Ultimately, I think I may just have to build a set for this scene, because it's in a small space, which sucks since the rest of the shoot is on location and this is a small scene. Anyhow, thanks for the help. I'm starting to get an idea of what's involved here.

Unfortunately, it's rules, not a budget restriction, although there are budget restrictions everywhere else. I am hoping to have 20/28/35/50/85 for lenses... This scene should likely be at f2.8 which will make it even trickier knowing what to focus on and when, and then rehearsing the focus pull, too, between plunger, background, and the monster. Did I mention I don't have much of a budget, either? Maybe I will practice on miniDV before the shoot? Thanks for the help, though; your advice makes a lot of sense.

Hi, I'm (hopefully) directing a short film that relies strongly on POV shots and, in particular, a few shots where we see someone pick something up and use it from his point of view and we see his hand in frame. In one scene he picks up a plunger, for instance, and pokes things with it. I've done similar things before but the trick here is the restrictions. I'm going to be using (again, hopefully) a pretty big, maybe 20 pound camera. Also, all the POV shots in this part of the movie are handheld and shot with a 50mm lens. I can't use any rigs or any other lenses for this part. But I want a sightly wider shot scale than a 50mm lens provides. Any tricks for this or just back the camera up and have the actor perform actions and move his head and legs in sync with the operator? This may sound dumb but I don't want it to look fake or unnatural...he moves quickly once he sees the monster.

Yikes, that's quite the careful analysis. It's interesting that the faster tungsten stocks are more sensitive to blue; this makes sense, particularly now that people who are shooting digital are noticing lots of noise in the blue channel in low light tungsten situations. I guess even film has trouble here. I assume you're only using the LLD filter with the 500T and not with the slower stocks? Lastly, I watched some recent horror movies and some new trailers, too, and developed a theory about lighting and I'm wondering if you could respond to it. In scenes where there is surprise or scenes that are building up to a jump scare that you don't know is coming, there seems to be unusually low key lighting because you don't want to see the monster or what's around the character who is being surprised. A lot of these scenes are handheld, too. In scenes that are more about suspense or dread, it seems like a lot of the time there's either higher key lighting or the "monster" or whatnot is lit visibly and the camera is much smoother. I suppose it's about range of narration: for surprise you want to know less, and for suspense you want to know more. But it's interesting that this manifests itself in lighting styles, too. Am I on to something or have I been taking theory classes too long?

What approach are you taking toward interiors to make them scary? No fill light and crushed blacks in DI? Hard light rather than soft lights? Any tricks? Color gels? Shaky cam or steadicam? I'm curious since I'm shooting something in a similar genre....on an infinitely smaller scale.

PLease... PAR or fresnel okay. Ideally not scopex or PAR64 but will consider...

Thanks for the advice; I suppose I'll either build something or save up for the photoflex.