Jason Fratis

High Lumen video projector with digital rainbow/prism footage. If you try a prism you might find you will need a very large one to cover the face. You might be forced to move the prism too close to the face and will look too immediate giving away the gag. I mention digitally created prism look because the light from an actual prism is very saturated and you will want to mimic this. Im sure you could just shoot footage of a prism effect with different angles of the colors as well. You could also try using a zoom leko with a removable side door. With the door open you could try to focus the beam into a prism and use the front elements to widen out the effect. Kinda doubt it would work but its worth a try. What i think will be the biggest issue is controlling the size of the rainbow. You might find a small one looks right but if you decide a larger more full-face effect would fit the story better you need to be prepared for this. Whatever method you find works its possible you will need to flag/scrim the spilling light that hasn't been separated off the talent so as to not compete with the effect. Let use know what you come up with.

If you visit and know them im sure your experience would be different. Basically the "combo" stands they sent me could not be identified by manufacturer. They not only were junior stands with no combo-ability but they each incorporated parts from every stand building company. Was kinda amazing actually.

Had a friend put a piece of tape on a ballast and wrote "flicker free" on it. He even drew the button.

Pyramid films does not refurbish lights at least the ones they sell. They also will advertise a picture of one light and send you something that looks 10 times worse. I have refurbished many MR lights including 200 mini moles. Have the housings soda blasted and repaint with MR paint. They sell the paint in rattle can form. Just a note: Bondo will hold up on a 5k but glazing putty will not. If you buy anything used from Pyramid expect to get sticky. Im not squeamish around dents but i couldnt even use what they sent me.

The thing people need to understand when getting into the equipment business is that its never ending. You need everything and you need more of it. You can not light everything the same way with the same tools. You can not put yourself out there as a lighting vendor and expect people not to inquire about one of the most common tools used. Of course people are going to ask about Kinos just like they are going to ask for your jokers. I didnt even want or care too much for the jokers as i already had small HMIs but this is what people ask for so it was a must have.

Is it supposed to be day or night?

Kino is pretty good about making components available. Buy the connectors and make a pinout chart. "red wire to pin#3" etc. The order of wires and color is not important as long as it matches on both the ballast and head side. The cable is just conduit and doesnt matter.

Awesome suggestions. Being from Hawaii i havent had to do this yet. Id use blades off of used skates and fabricate a base that is height adjustable. Id also experiment with ways to smooth the ice between takes manually. Not sure the rink people would be fond of the idea of hot-ironing their ice between takes but im sure something can be figured out. Skates would be more unidirectional. The unit in the clip is aluminum.

I have filmair track and have made covers for it using pvc. They snap on and off quickly. Only a couple nicks over several years. As far as fixing I like the jb method mentioned. If you put your wheels on the track you can see the exact contact line. Very little of the track's surface is actually used to make contact with the wheels. I'd fix only the area where the wheels ride on. Even then if its a nick all you really need to do is make sure there is no aluminum protruding outwards.

The ballast is the real heart of the system. I always buy new ballasts but heads can be used. Have spare ignitors and everything else is pretty easy to deal with. Having spare ballasts is always a good idea. I use power-to-light ballasts and so far not one problem in several years. You can basically make any ballast work with any head. I have LTM, Mole, Arri heads and all work off the same ballasts. You can either make adapters or unify the connectors and pin configurations. Im using Mole/Cinemills and have converted all to that. I also make all my own head feeders. This is crucial. It doesnt wind up cheaper, but this is one area you dont want failure because its so easy to keep from happening. If a ballast goes because of an internal failure then at some point that cant be helped. If it goes because you had a head feeder failure, that is avoidable, that it a terrible feeling. More often then not people dont even want to open a connector and look inside. This practice is scary. If you havent inspected your feeders then do so before using again. Do get a spare. I suggest a new PTL ballast and use the one you have as the spare.

Was in New York a few years ago and was amazed to see banks of these still being used. I have also worked with a DP who still prefers 9 lights over HMIs. Its a pain to keep all the bulbs and to keep them alive. Had to scrounge a rental house to find the units and had to rewire them to make them work. Every time i turned them on another bulb was out. You might find it fun to fashon a chimera of some sort on the front of the unit as well.