AudioMedia - February 2009 - (Page 53)

video guide A Sound Pro’s Guide To Video Light & Lighting – Part Two n e ws The film version of the Broadway musical Nine, based on a stage play that took its inspiration from Frederico Fellini’s semi-autobiographical film ½ (), is currently in production, with studio shoots at Shepperton Studios. The story revolves around the making of a film and was adapted for the theatre, so this cinema adaptation has a coming together of movie and theatrical lighting styles. Equipment is being supplied by rental company ELP, which provides lighting and control systems for movies and TV dramas, and has a burgeoning business in LED. Director of Photography Dion Beebe is working with Broadway lighting director Mike Baldassari on the design and set-ups, something ELP Managing Director Ronan Willson says is a growing trend. “It’s becoming more common to see crossover of techniques from various production disciplines into the world of film making,” he says. ELP has supplied theatre-style trussing and hoists to give greater flexibility and so save time in setting up shots, which would have been difficult with traditional scaffolding. Gaffer John Higgins also specified pre-rigged six lamp bars, again kit found more commonly in theatres. but which only now can be produced in sizes large enough to match tungsten and HMIs. LED, and OLED (organic light emitting diode), has moved beyond being just a small electronic display for digital watches. The corporate presentation sector is already using LEDs as ‘scenic lighting’ to create backdrops, and cinematographers are coming around to the possibilities offered by the technology. equivalents in both the home and for business. Different European governments have differing approaches and timetables to EU legislation designed to make a switch-over to more energy efficient means of illumination; the UK plans to phase out incandescent bulbs by . GE is working on a high efficiency incandescent lamp, due to be on sale by , while David Cunningham, developer of the Light Palette, amongst other luminaires, has registered a patent for a similar device that uses an inner coating to produce more light. Lighting rigs on the set of Desperate Housewives. and stabilised generators. Variations on the theme followed. CID (compact indium discharge) and CSI (compact source iodide) are both enclosed arc discharge lamps, like the HMI, and similarly produce a lot of illumination from a relatively small device at low wattages. The CID did break into film, although not on the same scale as the HMI, but the CSI did not adapt well to movie and television production. The next significant development came in with the introduction of the German designed and manufactured Kino Flo, a combination of soft light in modular, portable housings. The current range includes the True Match lamps, Diva-Lite, VistaBeam and ParaBeam fixtures, and the Kamio light rings. The light ring has become a popular tool in the last ten years and several models are on the market from different manufacturers. Consisting of either a circle of individual bulbs or a curved length of fluorescent tubing, the ring fits round the camera lens and is effective for close-ups and ‘glamour shots’. Soft light from fluorescent luminaires is now used widely for studio shoots, and is a shift away from tungsten bulbs. This does not mean that old technology like tungsten and, to a lesser extent, HMI, is finished – at least not just yet. Arri, a major maker of film equipment in general, not just lighting, is seeing continuing demand for older styles of unit, including Fresnel (pronounced Frennel) spots. The Arri-Sun is still very much in use, and the recently launched True Blues are based on the company’s developments of the past years. The current trend is for luminaires based on a technology that has been around for some time, Among the pioneering manufacturers is Litepanels, which uses ultra-efficient diodes to generate bright projected soft light that can be used both in the studio and on location. American manufacturer Rosco produces fluorescent units and moved into LED only two years ago. But it has already produced the second generation of its LitePad; the LitePad HO (high output) is claimed to be percent brighter, with a real daylight temperature, than its predecessor. The LitePad DL (Daylight) is still available and is intended m o re fo r d i s p l a y, architecture, and event applications. Barger-Lite produces the Light Panel and this is being used on Desperate Housewives, for which DoP Lowell Peterson ASC has opted for a mix of quartz and LED lamps. How artificial light is produced is an on-going process for the film industry, but everyone, at home and in general business as well as in the movie studio, has to come to terms with new sources of illumination as governments restrict the use of hazardous materials like mercury and encourage the use of low energy bulbs to stem the production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. According to European Union figures, the amount of carbon dioxide produced by incandescent light bulbs can be reduced by million tonnes a year through the use of energy saving Pioneering Efficienc y Anyone who has already made the shift to low energy bulbs may wonder how the technology will produce enough light to illuminate a film set. Low levels of lighting are the trademark of the brooding thrillers that have assumed the mantle of film noir, and cinematographers and developers of lighting systems feel there will be an increasing move to use more natural light. The new digital cameras have a greater sensitivity, so using daylight through a window augmented by a few lamps is a viable proposition. But at a time when appearance is everything, creative lighting, especially on the soft side, will still be demanded by all-powerful film stars fighting against nature. Next month’s Video Guide will look at dailies and the nuts and bolts of camera operation, including focus pulling and the important role of the clapper loader and time-code. Bring M e A (Low Level) Light! AUDIO MEDIA FEBRUARY 2009 53

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AudioMedia - February 2009 Contents Recording News Post News Broadcast News GEO Focus: USA What's Up UK NAMM Review For the Record Project Profile: Hallelujah HHB CDR882 KORG MR-20005 Chandler Germanium Brauner Phanthera Final Cut: Lesbian Vampire Killers SE Electronics RNR1 The Royal Opera House Fairlight XYNERGI Limiting Loudness Product Sampler: Studio Consoles Video Guide AMSR News Stone Temple Pilots Fly Again Rode M2 Yamaha IM8 Series

AudioMedia - February 2009

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