Kevin Zanit

Hi, Yes those were the PAR cans pictured, though they are not only used in theater, every single movie lightning rental house rents PAR cans with the TVMP adapter as standard. They balance fine I guess, they are not very heavy.

I pretty much agree with all the above. My guys, when I have talked to them about, have always preferred American C-Stands. Avenger does have some nice hardware though. I bought 10 bale-blocks (TVMP adapters) for some lights I own, and after looking at Matthews, and American, the Avenger seemed a lot more heavy duty.

RIP, a shame. He always seemed to be around at every event I have been to, he really made himself available to talk with, hell he could talk your ear off, which was amazing. He had so much great info and experience that he was very generous with. I have always made it a point to talk with him some when I saw him around, at this last Cinegear, I saw and him, but never got the chance to go over and talk. I am glad I did have many opportunities in the past, he will be missed. Kevin Zanit

How can you control an effect that is "completely random"? Putting the fluorescent on a dimmer usually works, however usually also ruins the ballast.

Because a net does not really diffuse the light, just cuts it down in intensity.

Gaffer - You need to go to "My Controls" and set your display name to your real name per the forum rules. If you don't, your accountant will be removed. Thanks.

Well it also softens the light, a scrim does not.

I don't have a clue what you would use a small black silk flag for. I do know (and have played with) black silk in the form of large overheads. Conrad Hall used to use them on day EXT with his thinking that it was a better way to control contrast, and I agree with him. The logic is that white silk (or anything else white overhead) not only softens the light, but also lowers the contrast more because you get light "bounce back" from the actual overhead material. Black silk doesn't have that problem. The main reason I have never used it much is that you loose so much light through it that I usually can't light up the foreground enough to balance to the background. Kevin Zanit

I just did a music video that I wanted various shafts of light in a bar/ club scene. It doesn't have a ton of baring on what you are trying to do sunlight wise, but it does show the beam effect of some various sources with smoke (or in this case haze, I prefer to use the DF50 haze machine over a smoke machine). This image shows the difference between the beam of 1k PAR cans (w/ MFL globes) and 1.2k HMI PARs (with a narrow lens). These pictures are terrible, in camera the beams are correctly exposed, and very blue: Another shot showing two 1.2k PARs: And you also asked about multi source through one frame, here are 3 PAR cans going through a 6x6 half grid, aimed through the frame to hit different parts of the dance area: Kevin Zanit

Its the same as shooting on film. As long as the camera is shooting at a "safe speed" (ie 24fps), you don't need an electronic ballast for your HMIs. Kevin Zanit

Please try and gather your thoughts into one post rather than a sequence of three. I think the general consensus here is to just drop the ego a bit, step back and be realistic about your piece and take in what other professionals here are advising. I don't really want to address your posts, as I can barely make sense of them to be honest, but plenty of "un-American" films have made money, hell Max is giving you advice and he isn't American, so I am sure he can be objective(ish). If it weren't for 2/3rds of the other mods participating in this thread I would have closed it by now ;) On second thought, closed . . . this topic is definitely not going in a good useful direction.

This has been discussed a lot in the past, try a search for more info. The blue flare is from typical of anamorphic lenses. The well known blue flare is usually from Panavision Primo anamorphics. There are filters available to create this effect, streak filters may be do the trick, but they will not be blue, they will be the color of the light source. I think someone may have made a filter that specifically recreates the effect you are after, but I can not remember off the top of my head. For some reason I think it was Hawk Anamorphics that made the filter (don't quote me on that though). Ahh Michael beat me to it ;)

I use more than one light through one frame of diffusion all the time. It helps to create a more "wrappy" soft source.

Lifehouse had a big single or two a while ago. I have worked with more "high profileish" artists, and have found that sometimes they are more demanding of how their image is rendered, as well as their management. They realize this piece is going to be seen by many, and is just a small part of a larger image machine. That said, sometimes they are more open, sometimes their ideas are good, sometimes they are not. You have to be a diplomat, as it is their money paying for the shoot. I am just the DP on these things, so I can either not take the job, or just say "yes sir (or mam)". A lot of it also depends on the director, but in the end, a lot of it is out of my hands. Kevin Zanit

I've shot some for MTV (not the "reality" shows), and also knew a 1st years ago who worked on Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach was/ is SDX900s, but MTV owns tons of DVXs and HVXs as well as standard broadcast gear. I think most of the look comes from just slightly warming everything up in camera, as well as shooting nice B-roll type stuff during pretty times of day. None of the shows look that special or hard to achieve to me, just warm. Kevin Zanit

There are motors I believe. Did you try cleaning the contacts on the mag port that power and control the motors in the mag? Also, it doesn't sound like it had anything to do with this, but that camera needs to be lubricated at high frame rates very often, I think every few thousand feet of film. Kevin Zanit

I agree with most of the above. Though I must say, Wooden Nickel's gear has come A LONG way in quality over the years. I've rented from every rental house from WN, Hollywood Rentals, and Paskal and honestly, WN's stuff is as good or better in a lot of cases. They are a good company, Brian is a good guy. Kevin Zanit

Good luck David. I just shot in NJ and NY a month or so ago, it was nice. Where is your camera package coming from? Kevin Zanit

There is no such thing as a flicker free ballast in extreme high-speed work. At a certain frame rate you start to see the actual arc moving around giving the appearance of flicker, though its really just the arc moving.

Painting always solves this problem relatively easily. Also, do a search as this topic has been discussed quite a bit on here, and there are some good tips in those various threads. Kevin

Most Kinos have holes on the 4 corners of the unit, you could screw through them and use a washer.

I've worked with Airstar's and Skylights balloons. Same thing really. The design is different depending on what style of balloon it is. The longer balloons have a wiring harness that goes down the length of the "envelope" (the balloon), it suspends several globes roughly in the middle of the balloon, with the cable coming out of one side. The tungsten ones are several 1k globes. Kevin Zanit

Whatever ones your crew carries.

The camera was from Dalsa, it is definitely a real big step forward in digital high speed cameras.

Its a difficult situation. My long time gaffer and good friend (Chris Hughes) decided to leave the industry and is now in the Navy. Obviously it is tough because he is also a good friend of mine, but also because I have done well over 30 projects with him, he is the best gaffer I have worked with, and we worked very fast. I have learned it is a matter of becoming friends with your new gaffer, and if your personalities work well, then the actual gaffing work will come easier, as you can really just talk to him about what you want/ develop some sort of compromise of working styles that is good. I am still getting to know my new gaffer and he is getting to know my style better with each job we do. I was lucky that we became friends around the time my old gaffer was leaving, and I realized that he may be a good replacement. He is a lot less experienced than my old one (my old gaffer was 728, and I think his last big show he worked on was Transformers), but with each job our working relationship gets better and better as does his experience level. Kevin Zanit