Tim O'Connor

I love the movie Before Sunset. It takes place in real time at the end of the day. Does anybody know how they nmaintained the look, if they had short shooting days (although I think that they did the movie quickly) and what sort of light exactly is that in the DVD glimpse of the production that looks like a Chinese lantern on a pole for the long walking shots but must ? have some kind of HMI unit int it? I mean, a 500w daylight balance tungsteb bulb wouldn't be used would it?

Just remember that a single 1200w HMI or a 2K tungsten will max out a 20-amp circuit-David Mullen Obviously I don't know how to use the quote tool but Mr. Mullen, even using a factor of ten for safety, as opposed to 8.5, wouldn't that have a 1200w unit drawing 12 amps? Why would that max out a 20A circuit?

Film Lighting by Malkiwiecz (I'll check spelling -book not with me) is great if you can get it. Lots of information from great cinematographers and gaffers on everything.

Okay, back to the 80s. Ghostbusters. I walked out . Couldn't stand to sit there. A gal I was asking out told me that it was the funniest film she'd ever seen. I still liked her though. That was Then This is Now. Emilio Estevez rewrote the ending to S.E. Hinton's novel and changed the action his character takes at the end, seemingly to make him the hero. What a rip-off and insult to the author. Stripes. The first half, I thought hey, they're serious about this (that doesn't exclude it being funny) and then it turned into a cartoon. My cousin, a lt. in the Marines, loved it though. Risky Business. I like it a lot but the second half wasted what it could have been by going from sharp satire to broad comedy. Live fish flopping out of the Porsche the next day when it's on the lift? Come on!

Excellent advice from Mr. Mullen. I went to Lowes and got porcelain sockets that are good to 600w. Also, and this may be obvious, when I hang the lights I always check to center the bulb so that it hangs as far away as possible from all sides of the lantern's inner walls. I have three Chinese lanterns that I use all the time and I believe that they're 24" whereas you mentioned 18". (I got them from Barbizon-about thirty bucks.) If you have high ceilings or room on your set, you might consider the larger lanterns. they certainly should enhance your margin of safety. They can be fragile. I had a shoot in a parking lot in February and while i was a little concerned that the light might sway, I figured that we could secure it and I wanted that beautiful light to model the actress's face and to keep power demands down as we were running off an inverter. I asked the gaffer to mount the light and a bit later when I asked him where it was he pointed to the ground. The wind (it was very windy) had SHREDDED the lantern.

The 1200w HMI pars are great because they come with different lenses so you can get a beam with real punch to it or, with another lens and perhaps some diffusion to your liking, come a lot closer to a fresnel effect with the same light. Plus you can plug them into the wall and they put out more light than some bigger units that would require a generaator or tie-in.

This is kind of a generic answer but I know from shooting many television sets that usually the set has been adjusted correctly when the actors in the scene say that it looks "too dark". I always have to tone televisions down with brightness and contrast controls. Most of my experience shooting with television sets in the shot has come from video, in which it's been easy to check the productin monitor. With film I've used a spot meter. Michael Nash is right on that t.v.s are generally much brighter than they appear to the eye.

This stuff is great! Thanks. I just got in and I've been looking forward all day to hearing what people have to say. It's like a present in the mailbox.

Thanks!

I identify myself as a DP because I do indeed get hired to shoot a lot, mostly low-budget projects with first time filmmakers. Consequently, I tend to use the tools I've started with rather than risk somebody's money on something that I can learn about on one of my less frequent bigger budget projects. So, I was on the set of a friend's low-budget HD feature and the gaffer brought the lights. Basic stuff such as Lowell DPs. He also used two 3200K four tube Kine-Flos. They seemed nice and all but what's the advantage to them -unless you just happen to own them anyway -compared to say bouncing an open- faced Lowell Omni 650w off of a piece of Foam-Cor? (okay, sure, each is 250w less but that wasn't really an issue. The whole shoot was so low wattage that there were no tie-ins/generators and the most draw was 3k (!) which pretty much anyplace could accomadate by running a stinger or two to another room.) This is my second and last question of the day. I don't want to hog the postings but I'm burning to know these things -"To kine-flo or no to kine-flo" and my other post "shooting "24" daybreak scene". Thanks everybody. This is a great site and when you share your wisdom you really help people!

The finale of "24" takes place between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.. That airport scene must have taken at least a day, Im guessing. I've shot quick daybreak scenes in twenty minutes and been able to use stronger warm lights than they did or probably could at two in the afternoon in the wide open. The scene did have a warm look. Do you think they used some kind of filtration and if so, what? (Or was it all adjusted in post?) Thanks!