Keith Blankenship

Like Mitch, I've taken a 200a breaker box and had a machine shop add wireways to each side and mounted the receptacles. It worked fine and never had any problems. One side (leg) for sound and the other for lights to eliminate any RFI from old/cheap dimmers. ;) As to the 2.5k HMI, the answer really depends on the voltage and phase requirements of the fixture. If 2.5K @ 120v then you could you could actually run 1 from each "leg" (2 fixtures). Figuring 2800 watts (2500 + 300 for the ballast)/120 volts would be 23.333 amps. Given 240V, 3wire (2H/1N) 30amp dryer plug, you could run 2 fixtures - without the transformers. Depends on the fixture power requirements. Instead of getting a transformer, you could always get a multi-tap ballast (if not already installed) and re-wire for whatever voltage you will be using.

The car shade is a good idea. I may have to try that sometime. Handy and functional and not a complete loss when shooting is done. Plus, they would be easy to store. Along the same lines, we made some out of cardboard and/or plywood covered with aluminum foil. Depending on the mood, we would have foil (crinkled or uncrinkled) taped or glued with the shiny side or the matte side out. Later, we discovered they had some stuff called cinefoil; wow! :o For the night shots, you could always get some buddies together and try to use their cars headlights. You can always tape some gel in front of them if you like; the lights, not your buddies. A 4x4 with a roll bar topped with lights may be helpful. You will find you will be limited to certain angles, to keep the background from looking like it is lit by headlights, but it may work for you. Just a thought... For indoor lighting, another idea which is cheap but a little more permanent and costly, is to use coffee cans or the large food service tin cans and mount a lighting socket in them. You can use a variety of lamp types in them but I wouldn't suggest a lamp of more than a couple hundred watts. Each light is fairly limited but you should be able to afford to make a few as they are still cheap (about $15 each). Just make sure you over-insulate (read taped) where the wires enter the can as the tin will cut into the wires in a heartbeat! Of course, you will ultimately be responsible if anything bad should happen. Just some advice and a warning! Good Luck!

I can't help you much with the film aspect but can tell you that getting readings during the sound check wouldn't be a problem. Most times, the lighting techs will use the sound check to finish aiming so there should be lights on. If not, the techs or LD likely wouldn't have a problem turning them on for you; they will likely be around somewhere. The only problem with this may be that they usually have the house lights on - there will be people working that need them. Therefore, it may not do you much good. However, tell the light tech/director what you are doing and they will likely help you out by setting up some scenes with different light levels. A stage that looks correctly lit, even on film, will make them look better too. You could also use your assistant as a stand-in and/or have them get levels from the stage. Good luck. ---Edit Another thing to remember is that during the sound check, they typically don't use the follow spots.