Lighting 1500ft sq of blue screen, Arri X40/60 HMI Floods?

Toby Tomkins · December 19, 2008

-Shooting on 100T stock

-1500sqft blue-screen (50x20 background with 50x10ft on floor, to be adjusted according to shot (more floor for high angle shots, more vertical backing for low angle shots).

I was thinking of using 6 Arri X40/60 4K/6K HMI floods, 4 on the background and 2 on the floor or 3/3 depending on the set up. (The lights can apparently give even light to within 10% across 80 degrees)

I've been asked to light the screen to 5.6

Am I way off with this set up? Should be using cyc lights and space lights or even flos ?

This is all being done in a dry studio (so no rigging gantries and such, just zip-up towers can be used for rigging).

Any ideas? ;)

Thanks,

Toby

Edited December 19, 2008 by Toby

Serge Teulon · December 19, 2008

Full name pls toby.

Its the rules in here.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Serge Teulon

Toby Tomkins · December 19, 2008

Full name pls toby.
Its the rules in here.

Done. Now what ;)

Jamie Metzger · December 20, 2008

The first time I ever worked with space lights, I was amazed at how easy and quickly they got the job done. Use duvytyne to skirt it where you want.

Figure a 6k spacelight to light 15-20 feet across depending on your stop.

Josh Fritts · December 20, 2008

6k Space Lights are definitely the way to go. Thats what i usually do. If thats is not enough, I would fill in with 5k Sky Pans cleaned up with 250 or 251.

Toby Tomkins · December 31, 2008

6k Space Lights are definitely the way to go. Thats what i usually do. If thats is not enough, I would fill in with 5k Sky Pans cleaned up with 250 or 251.

So do you guys think a 6K spacelight could sufficiently light a 15x15ft square piece of blue-screen to 5.6 on 100 ASA stock?

Can someone please give me some figures here, since I've got 1500sq ft of bluesceen to light and have a very limited budget and need to know (to-the-light) what we need to hire.

thanks again, thanks a lot,

Toby

freddie bonfanti · December 31, 2008

Can someone please give me some figures here, since I've got 1500sq ft of bluesceen to light and have a very limited budget and need to know (to-the-light) what we need to hire.

its not so easy to answer precisely to your question, mate. what kind of studio space is it? does it have an existing lighting rig? what is your budget? and most importantly have you got a qualified gaffer? he should be the one coming up with the plan.

anyway as everyone else already mentioned 6k spacelights can do the job beautifully, but to get 5.6 at 100 ASA i would say you're gonna need lots of them and probably some CYC or other types of tungstens to help, which means you'll need quite a lot of power

David Cronin · January 1, 2009

Can someone please give me some figures here, since I've got 1500sq ft of bluesceen to light and have a very limited budget and need to know (to-the-light) what we need to hire.

its not so easy to answer precisely to your question, mate. what kind of studio space is it? does it have an existing lighting rig? what is your budget? and most importantly have you got a qualified gaffer? he should be the one coming up with the plan.

anyway as everyone else already mentioned 6k spacelights can do the job beautifully, but to get 5.6 at 100 ASA i would say you're gonna need lots of them and probably some CYC or other types of tungstens to help, which means you'll need quite a lot of power

Freddie is right.

This seems quite difficult. I know lighting with (7) 6k space lights with just the silk skirt in a row of (4) 10 ft from a screen and 3 about 20 feet from the screen and hung a little lower will give you a 5.6 with an asa of 400. It was laid out as follows and the lights were hung about 40ft from the floor.

___________________________________________

x x x x

x x x

ASA 400 to 100 is roughly a 2 stop difference. Meaning you will need to provide quite a bit more light. Just rough estimate would put you at about 15 6k space lights to get a 5.6 at 100asa. I really suggest you have a talk with those choosing the film stock, THATs the problem. There is no reason logistically to shoot 100.

David Cronin · January 1, 2009

sorry that x's diagram doesn't look right. :huh: Don't use it.

freddie bonfanti · January 1, 2009

There is no reason logistically to shoot 100.

well, there is, im assuming he's using such a slow stock to give the post production boys an almost grainless picture for the compositing process...

K Borowski · January 1, 2009

Freddie makes a good point. Despite the discontinuation of Kodak SFX stock, and Kodak's claim that all stocks are now compatible with blue-screen work, isn't the 200T '17 still the standard stock for this sort of work?

Toby Tomkins · January 2, 2009

Freddie makes a good point. Despite the discontinuation of Kodak SFX stock, and Kodak's claim that all stocks are now compatible with blue-screen work, isn't the 200T '17 still the standard stock for this sort of work?

Yea, we're using 100T since it's on S16 and the vfx boys need the resolution of 100T

As for the lighting i've been looking at using 6 or so powerful HMI floods (specifically the 4KW Arri X-floods), as these give good even coverage (within 10% over 80 degrees), and then I'll beef it up if need be with kinoflos at the top angled down and maybe some at the bottom.

It's a bit odd but what do you guys think???

thanks again.

Toby

p.s. does anyone know what lumen figure I should be looking for off the screen for 5.6 on 100ASA?