lightning effect

BlakeConway · January 22, 2004

Hello

I need to find the best way to make a lightning effect that will illuminate an actor and the surrounding street location, outdoors, at night. I really want the lightning to look as realistic as possible, blowing out the film in a bright "pop."

The only method I know to do at this point would be to manually flag a large source, like a 5k, that is a couple of stops over my average reading.

I would like to know both how to do lightning the "old fashioned" way like this, or if there are any newer methods using pyro technics or something to give a more realistic look. The film will NOT go to digital post.

I have selected 7218 for the scene, and might push up a stop. The shot will be fairly wide, full body on the actor, with some background. Total square footage would be maybe 100 sq. ft. of shot area. Wide on focal length. I have 1 5k, 4 2k's, 6 1k's, and some 300 arri fresnels. We are renting anything else needed.

Thanks,

Blake

Mitch Gross · January 22, 2004

You want a Lightning Strikes unit. These are very powerful strobe lights that are designed to specifically look like lightning flashes and they work great. Understand that you'll need a dedicated generator for this unit as it draws considerable power and spikes the electricity as it flashes.

BlakeConway · January 22, 2004

Thanks Mitch!

I will look into renting this device. Now, I have a new question. Can I achieve the same effect with my photographic studio strobes. ( I have 2 speedotron 2403c packs and strobe heads) My thought was that the burst of light would be much too short. I believe the burst is around a 500th of a second at the full 2400w/s output, but the total burst time is probably a 64th of a second. I just don't know if this is long enough to register on film effectively at 24 frames.

If anyone has used studio strobes for lightning, please let me know how it turned out. It can save us some money!

Phil Rhodes · January 22, 2004

Hi,

Well, with a 180-degree shutter, you'll have a 50/50 chance of catching it, although you'd probably have the same issue with a Lightning Strikes unit unless you specifically put it in the longer-flash mode. Also your studio strobes won't recycle fast enough to do multiple strikes per second, which Lightning Strikes do very well.

Phil

Jeff Tanner · January 22, 2004

Look into using data flashes. They are pretty standard "rock and roll" lights that you manually fire using a remote button. Check with a vendor in your area that specializes in stage/live event lighting. You can gang several of them together using XLR cables and they will stay on as long as you hold the button...up to 3 or 4 seconds. Any longer than that and they have a protection feature that shuts them down automatically. You then need to disconnect them from power and reset them (it sounds more troublesome than it really is). They do a really good job for tighter shots or interiors at night when budget's won't allow for lightning strikes. Mitch is certainly right though, if you can use lightning strikes do so. There really is no comparison.

Jeff Tanner

Jeff Tanner · January 22, 2004

Sorry, I just re-read your post...

wide shot+exterior= Lightning Strikes

Jeff Tanner

Kevin Zanit · January 22, 2004

On a side note, if you rent the older Dataflashes called AF100(?) they don?t have the problem of having to unplug them, etc.

You can also just use a small DMX lighting controller to program various chases. This gives you a lot of freedom with the strobes.

Kevin Zanit

Phil Rhodes · January 23, 2004

Hi,

The one problem with using DMX controllers for lightning effects is that the basic DMX-512 updates the whole 512 addresses at only 48Hz. This is not fast enough for some lightning effects.

Phil

Mitch Gross · January 23, 2004

Forget about using your little photo strobes for an exterior night lightning effect. The Lightning Strikes is several orders of magnitude bigger and brighter, like a mouse to an elephant.

John Pytlak RIP · January 27, 2004

Anyone still using carbon arc for producing "lightning" flashes? The operator brings the rods together to produce the flash, but doesn't allow the arc to establish. Much longer duration than xenon strobes, so capturing the "flash" is not a problem.

Bob Hayes · January 27, 2004

Lightning Strikes are the best way. I have also had good luck with manually operated shutters on big lights. It was a good way to add additional lightning efects to a scene. It even looks a little more realistic if the flashes are not flashing exacting at the same moment.

Bob

L. E Bailey · February 7, 2004

Probably have done your shot by now or perhaps not. Lightning Strikes is a great unit to do lightning. You need alot of power to do it though. I learned a very interesting trick on an AutoZone commercial. Like the post above it uses shutters. Here a little more info on how it can be done one way.

It still runs so you might catch it one day. Its raining at night. Lady comes in to get wiper blades. AutoZone employee goes out into the rain with yellow raincoat to install them.

There's not any Lightning Strikes units in that scene. The cost of the second generator needed to run the strikes was not in the budget. I think the lightning looks pretty good for a trick.

5k HMI (could have been a 12k its been several years)

three Hi Boys with lollypop grip heads.

1 large unit used to cover up a fan (used in homes and in a factory that allow you to open and close the vents when not in use).

Rig vent to lollypops safely

1 man on a ladder with a grip on the vent control rod and give it the old up and down motion as fast as you can. The person that will have to do this over and over, well be prepared for the jokes that will come their way from the crew. :lol:

flags would be really hard to do fast enoughIMO

PS.

Just notice the signature by itshoots.

This wouldn't be don't let that Silver Bullet hit me on the headm Jeff Tanner would it.

Phil Rhodes · February 8, 2004

Hi,

In "Titanic," there's a scene with flashes of light coming through the dome above the main staircase as the ship is sinking. I've seen the units that're doing it, but they don't look like the lightning strikes I've seen. Anyone?

Also, if you are particularly nuts, and if you can find a couple of old projector carbons (or carbon rods from a battery) you can mock up flashes quite well. Connect them across a car battery and tap the ends together (having gripped them in mole grips or something), but make very sure you are wearing heavy, fireproof clothing and gloves, and a welding mask. This actually works better for electrical arcing effects, and can be extremely bright (Way too bright for video, I found)

Phil

Kenny N Suleimanagich · April 12, 2007

You can use scissor-arcs which are basically a bunch of positive carbons and a bunch of negative carbons, both charged with I BELIEVE 115V and then when you need the flash the scissors close and produce the huge flash. Its like when you're striking a carbon arc but much more and much quicker.