Ville Pakarinen

Yeah, change of plans. The producer talked about having our power needs met by an electric company. Quite expensive, but they could bring us a distro box on location. Do you think I'll survive with my rudimentary understanding of electricity when the power company is doing all the messy stuff? I can calculate loads and stick a plug into a socket :)

I think we could get a 4K or 6K. How wide an area can a 6K cover in shade? Also, how useful are HMIs in creating a golden hour look when you have to use CTO? Wouldn't some big tungsten fresnel be better taking into account the cost and light loss of an HMI?

Yeah, very true. Did some research and found out 1.8K is some five stops dimmer than the sun - depending on distance and other factors of course. But... The scene in question is actually only about 20 seconds long. So, I was thinking we may be able to shoot the coverage and master in a very short period of times - thus using the sun as the key in all shots. That would make things a lot more convenient. So I was thinking of placing 12' x 12' reflector on the right side of the bench, then firing some additional fill with two open face 1.2Ks. Now, when using a reflector to bounce back warm sunlight, doesn't it ruin the the golden hour effect where the opposite side should be lit by the cooler ambient light from the sky? So I was thinking of cooling down the opposite side with two 1.2Ks and half CTB.

You mean enough light on the people or enough light on the background as well? The trees behind the bench are almost completely in shade, so the sun can't reach them in the wide shot.

I think I found a perfect location for this kind of low budget outdoor shooting. Basically, it's just a minute-long scene of two people sitting on a bench talking. It's supposed to look like it's spring, so I think we'll go for golden hour look. The street is almost perfectly aligned in the east-west direction. There's a university on the south side, providing shade for the close ups. I think it's summer in that satellite image, so the shadow of the building isn't covering the entire bench or the trees. But we'll be shooting at the end of this month, so the sun will be much lower here in Finland. Now, my plan is to shoot the close ups during the day when the sun is hiding behind the university building. I'll use the biggest and badest HMIs we can afford to model the golden hour sun shining from the west. Then, when the sun reveals itself in the west, we'll shoot the master as wide as possible with the HMIs we can afford. The great thing about this location is that the trees behind the bench form a sort of niche where the sun can't shine, so it will look pretty much the same in the noon and during sunset. Also, it's a very quiet street on the weekends because no one lives there. AND, some of the students were celebrating the start of semester on the bench, and I asked if it was possible for us to use the schools electricity. She said the school is very cooperative :D What do you think?

Not sure we can afford a 4K, or even two HMIs. Although one guy said he could rent two 1.2Ks very cheaply. But the brand sounded obscure: Cinemobil 1.2k HMI open face. Anyone know these lights? We would like to power the HMI using only nearby wall sockets. How much can you do outdoors with one or two relatively inefficent HMIs?

Wow! Thanks for a very detailed description!

I'm trying to zero in on an HMI that would be useful as a general fill in rather cramped interiors and powerful enough to fill in the sun - OR work as the sun - in one exterior scene. The exterior scene will be just two people sitting on a bench, so it doesn't require a huge lens to cover an area the size of a soccer field. How possible is this for one HMI? Is 1.2K too small as sunlight or filling in the sun? How about 1.8K? Also, I'm not quite sure I understand how PAR differs from open face and fresnel. What I've read is that PARs can be focused very well into hot spots. But how does this differ from fresnel? Is PAR still less controllable than fresnel with the benefit of more bang for the buck? Also, what's the difference between PAR and open face when punched through diffusion? Danke! Thanks!

Turning the aperture ring a notch certainly does sound a lot more appealing. Thanks!

Yeah, thanks guys. I guess I'm just eager to give the colorist perfectly exposed shots since this is my first pro shoot :lol: If was shooting for myself and doing the grading, I wouldn't care half as much. The camera is my Black Magic Cinema Camera.

Sure, no one's going to notice such a small difference. But let's be perfectionists here for a while :D In the context of the question, if I really want to be adamant about the F-stop, are there any other options: 1. Use a gradual ND 2. Cut the light from the windows by closing the blinds a little (if possible) 3. ...

The problem with natural light is that it does not decrease or increase in full stops or half stops or third stops. It changes gradually. I'm shooting a scene in a room with natural light from the windows working as a general ambient light. I have decided on a fixed aperture (let's say F2.8) that gives me consistent DOF in all shots. For all setups, I first meter the ambient light always at the same location - let's say the back wall - then underexpose two stops to make the room murkier and the windows less over exposed. Let's say I get F1.4 at the back wall. Perfect! F2.8 is exactly two stops smaller aperture. Then I light the talent to match F2.8. Perfect! The talent is two stops brighter than the back wall. Now, I shoot a wide master, then move on to coverage. I turn off the lights and meter the back wall again, this time getting F2.2. The light from the windows has increased 1 1/3 stops! Now, what do I do when changing the aperture isn't an option? I want it to be F2.8. There is no 1 1/3 stops ND, I would really like to refrain from using any gradual ND filters. What are the options? Also, how often do you recomment I check the exposure at the back wall?

How pricey are those Phillips tubes?

Well, UK is cloudier.

I'm actually not sure I'm going for tungsten because there might be windows in the warehouse. Are daylight tubes more available? EDIT: I mean in different pin configurations

That's what I suspected. We only have a couple of tubes in the ceiling and a local rental house rents fluorescent tubes for only a couple of euros. I'll ask them about the pin configurations. Thanks!

Why Optima 32's? Is it a safer option than Kino Flo tubes when used in this manner without a ballast? It says here that the CRI is only 82: http://www.naturallighting.com/cart/store.php?crn=597

Is there a possibility of flicker when I'm shooting 24fps with 50Hz mains frequency?

Hello, everyone! Feeling excited about my first cinematography job and registering on this forum. We have a scene in a warehouse where I plan to replace the existing tubes with tungsten tubes. Now, I'm puzzled: are film tubes technically equivalent to regular household tubes, or are there some additional considerations to the wattage? Thank you! -Ville