American Cinematographer - March 2018 - 19

cloths used by catering companies come in
almost every color, including black. "It's
light as a feather and cheap as dirt!" he
says with a laugh. "It's so lightweight we
can clothespin it right to the balloons and
make teasers of whatever length we need.
Then we can clip two or three of these units
together in an 'L' or 'U' shape, float them
up to the ceiling, and we're ready to shoot!
Originally I had weights and things to hold
them in place, but if you clip them together
they don't move around at all. And if you
don't fully inflate them, they flatten themselves out a bit on the ceiling and stay
perfectly in place without any other
devices. You can even blow a fan in the
room, and they won't move.
"My gaffer and key grip laughed at
me when I explained the balloons to them,
but after they'd worked with them for
about 30 minutes they said, 'My god, this is
great!'" he adds. With a nod to the
WagFlag, Wages' crew promptly named
this new invention the "WagBag."
"It's important to note that
WagBags and WagFlags work best with
ellipsoidal sources," Wages points out. "I
usually bounce Lekos into ceilings so I can
easily cut the light to the shape I want right
at the source, and start controlling it before
it even hits the ceiling. That way we don't
have to use flags and C-Stands around the
light fixture."
To move the balloons around the
room, Wages attaches braided black fishing

line to the end of each one; the line hangs
down at just above head height. "You just
need one person at each end to pull them
down from the ceiling, walk around the
room and float them back up," he says.
"You can leave the fishing line hanging and
you'll never see it in shot."
Of the WagBag's durability, Wages
says, "They'll float for two or three days
without needing a pick-me-up. The helium
leaks out, but very slowly. We have also
accidentally punctured them and, in one
case, melted a hole into one of them, but
because they're not under pressure like a
Latex balloon, they don't shoot off around
the room - they just slowly sink to the
floor. You just tape up the hole with cellophane tape and it's good as new!
"It's such a simple thing that it's hard
to talk about without laughing, but the
WagBags work like gangbusters, and I
can't tell you how much time they save.
Another thing about it - and this is really
silly - is that when things get a little tense
on set, it's really hard to get upset when
you're standing in a room full of balloons.
"People tell me I should patent it,
but it's the kind of idea a cinematographer
shares with other cinematographers,"
Wages concludes. "I'd love it if others
would go out and make their own
WagBags and join in the fun."
Ed. Note: This story originally ran in
the July '03 issue of AC.
- JH
www.ascmag.com

drawn off of that circuit before you start
powering up additional equipment. Barring
that, you've just got to use caution and try
to take a visual inventory of what is running
in the location. Anything plugged in draws
power: computers, TVs, clocks, radios, appliances, etc. Even if it's turned off, it can still
draw power.
Another important factor is that one
circuit, protected by one breaker, covers a
number of components within the location.
There will usually be multiple outlets as well
as location lighting on each circuit. The
exception is a red-colored outlet - usually
found in hospitals or around sensitive
computer equipment - which has its own
dedicated circuit.
Unfortunately, there is no rhyme or
reason to the way that buildings are wired.
One entire room might be on one circuit, or
half of the room might be on one circuit and
the other half on another. There are really
only two methods of knowing for certain
which outlets are on any particular circuit.
The simplest method - albeit the most
intrusive - is to turn all the breakers off and
then start turning them back on, one by
one, while checking the outlets. This is best
done in a two-person team, with one
person in the location at the outlets with a
circuit tester or a simple lamp, and the other
person at the breakers. As the breakers are
turned on, label the individual outlets with
their corresponding breakers, and vice versa.
The second, less-intrusive method is
to use a circuit finder, a two-component
system with a plug and a receiver. You plug
the tester into the wall, and then hold the
receiver over the breakers; the receiver will
beep when it finds the breaker that the
tester is plugged into, saving you from
having to disconnect power to map out the
circuits. These kits can be found at any
hardware or electrical-supply store. This is
still best done in a two-person team, but it
doesn't require the power to be shut off to
determine what each breaker controls.
Now it's time for some math. Don't
be scared - it's not that bad. In fact, it all
comes down to a simple formula that can
be easily remembered as the "West Virginia
law":
watts = volts x amps (W = VA)
➣
March 2018

http://www.ascmag.com

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