Adam Goral

I saw a BTS picture from the set of "House of Cards" where they were shooting some green screen car work. I am extremely curious to learn more about the interactive lighting boxes hanging from the sides and rear of the car. http://www.hdvideopro.com/images/stories/2013/apr/fincher/2-lg.jpg Does anyone have any experience with this technique? I'm wondering if these boxes are rear projecting the plates or if they are instead banks of LEDs controlled from a dimmer board? I remember reading in another article about the show how they shot the background plates first to get a sense of what the lighting would be like and then I'd imagine matched it as best they could on the green screen stage. Such a great show with fantastic and bold cinematography. If anyone has an insights to their green screen work, I'd be most appreciative. -=adam goral=- DP - LA

Yup, mine are the same type. Your method works fine for smaller wattage bulbs, 100w or less, but lately I've been using 200w globes with porcelain sockets and a gel wrapped around the stems melts after about 3 minutes. I find that the gel needs to be at least one inch away from the globe to not melt. Adding a bit of heat shield inside the gel helps too, but again, it's all really cumbersome. I'd hate to give up on this though! Someone must have encountered this issue in the past!

I love china balls. Fast, lightweight, easy to mount, and beautiful soft light. I use 12" ones for hairlights and 30" ones for key all the time. Recently, I've been trying to add color to them, but have had a really tough time getting a gel inside them. FWIW, I don't use lantern locks because they are ridiculously expensive and, IMO, the sturdiness of the frame removes the advantage of the lightweight wire fixture. Does anybody have a creative and efficient way to properly gel the inside of the china ball? I've been somewhat successful in making a bailing wire cage around the wire fixture to keep the gel off the globe, but it's never been very clean nor easy to change out the gel color. I'd be very interesting in seeing what you've all come up with! Thanks!