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Lighting van interior


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Hey Everyone,

 

Its been a while since Ive posted here now, but wanted to come back to the community to seek advice. I am gaffing a reality based tv series and one of the ongoing components of the shoot will be a member of our talent being driven in the back of a cargo van. One camera will be back there with them as they talk about their experience on the show thus far and what they think they will face when they arrive at the location.

 

I want to use kino tubes affixed to the celing of the van, which can be done easily, but powering the units is another issue. I had hoped to use the cigaret lighters and run inverters to power the fixtures, but those have all been stripped out. Someone suggested wiring the inverters straight to the battery, is this the way to go?

 

Anyone else have thoughts? Someone suggested a 20amp generator strapped down to the roof since the van is traveling slow on closed streets, but that would ruin the exterior shots so that is not an option.

 

I also am considering 1x1 light panels with battery packs for simplicity, but they are a little to hard of a source in my opinion for this particular application. If necessary though, I am considering that as my back-up option.

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I'd tend to keep everything 12 volts if possible and perhaps wire in an extra 12v car/van battery in parallel to the van's own battery, so it keeps charged up and you're not draining the vehicles own battery too much. You can also trickle charge this battery after you break for the day.

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In addition to Kinos, You also might want to consider Litegear's Very High Output LED Literibbon. The adhesive backed strips have some great photometrics and are available in 3200 and 5600 kelvin. Litegear has a great write up on Mike Bauman's work on last year's VW punchdub super bowl commercial. For some past work, he had built arrays of the litegear ribbon affixed to thin plexi scored every inch horizontally, which allowed him to create curved lightweight and low profile sources that could be taped wherever needed. http://www.litegear.com/literibbon-on-the-job-vw-punchdub/

 

As for power, your post brings to mind member Guy Holt's write up on his "Battverter" rig for the feature "Shuttle." He custom built a rig with two marine batteries, an 1800w inverter, and was ultimately able to power something like four 4' 4Banks rigged inside and outside the vehicle. To keep the batteries charged, they wired a stick of 2/0 off the bus' alternator. http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=37098&st=0&p=305094&hl=+shuttle%20+bus\&fromsearch=1entry305094

 

Noticing that you're in LA, you might want to give Kino Flo's rental department a call. They have a readymade inverter and marine battery (battverter) rig in two flightcases for rent.

Edited by Ross Neugeboren
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