The Dark Spark

Can't you use a +Green gel...?

What HMIs have you got? And where are you shooting? Sorry about the typo. Basically the last time I did it I used two 3/4 backs with full diffusion to break up their faces. Basically, as soon as you put too much light on their faces, you get this lovely soft sheen which looks superb (in my opinion), so basically chuck a lot of light at them, and then us some frontal bounce. As usual you really have to make sure you get under their brows to lift their eyes a bit. Sometimes it's worth (for C/Us) putting a poly board just underneath the camera's lens and bouncing something into it to loft their chin and brows. Concerning HMIs try and bounce them wherever possible. They should only ever be used direct when lighting inanimate objects (like houses, or streets...). HMIs have some peculiarities. To be honest I prefer tungstens, as they're more reliable, and have a nicer quality of light. Also, thanks to the way HMIs work, they always make what they're lighting stick out slightly, no matter how well you colour balance them. Obviously this can be sorted out in the grade but it winds me up. Pfft I'm rambling. What exactly are you doing with these HMIs?

Try using source 4's. You can get iris' to go with them which make the spot infinitely controllable. They even have leave's built in, within the barrel which mean you can change the shape of the spot into almost anything. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.stagelight.com/images/source4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.stagelight.com/rental-fixtures&usg=__oqsb6-Vhd2fnd7wVaTzDRcLCCZ0=&h=354&w=300&sz=36&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=snDCaAuBqAHSmM:&tbnh=149&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522source%2B4%2522%2Blight%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1417%26bih%3D751%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=490&vpy=60&dur=4953&hovh=244&hovw=207&tx=152&ty=166&ei=ywHITNulJceFswb2-NHUDQ&oei=ywHITNulJceFswb2-NHUDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

Well if you find the right size of end caps, you can run kino flo tubes from practical fittings, using a standard mains supply with a Fluorescent starter (preferably as powerful a one as possible). The only thing to bare in mind is they won't necessarily be flicker free after this process, as they'll be running of mains (which I believe in the US is 60 hertz...?)

In my experience, lighting African American skin tones isn't particularly difficult. The react well to Tungsten light, although you do have to throw an awful lot at them, but once you do, it's very easy to create a soft slight bloom effect, which works very well as a rim, or potentially even from your key to accentuate the face's contours.