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Stop Motion Animation Lighting
Hello all,
I’m new here and new to lighting in general. I’ve been working with stop motion a bit and want to take the next step with investing in a decent 3point continuous lighting set up. I’ll mainly be shooting indoors at night, the subjects will be 12″ figurines, and I’ll be using both real backdrops as well as green screen.
I was planning on spending a few hundred, but if there’s a system absolutely worth it, I’m open to spending more..
Any advice is more that appreciated.Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Dary -
6 Replies
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With that kind of stop-mo, I would think something really long-lived and stable is what you want, to help prevent obvious shifts in color balance or levels as bulbs change over time or God forbid, blow out in mid-shot. To me this suggests LED based lighting would be superior, though it costs more.
There is no law that says all stop-mo light has to be flat and soft. Look as some Brother’s Quay stuff and you’ll see some fancy lighting tricks and moody lighting here and there. But a soft light setup is hard to screw up, and the flat soft kind of lighting makes shifts less noticeable.
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Thanks Mark!
Could you suggest any specific make/model brands? Any kits you have in mind?Thanks in advance!
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Not yet. Can you give specifics about the set? Size, type of shots, etc.?
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The set is going to be extremely small, we’re talking 4′ x 4′ with 4′ green screen panels as a backdrop. I love the lighting in the brother’s Quay stuff you referenced. Clearly that’s a rig out of my league, but that style lighting is actually sort of what I’m after…
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Well, if your look is to be an outdoor daylight set, then one somewhat diffused LED or Flo bank, perhaps with some reflectors for fill, should do it. Or am I off base here?
For interiors, your light would need to be harder and more directional, looking like it came from a “motivated source” on the set. I saw a behind the scenes shot of the Starship Enterprise from the first Star Trek movie, when it is in “space drydock” with a bunch of spotlights on it. That was really one or two big lights with spot beams directed using a flotila of dental mirrors on articulaetd holders.
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When I’ve lit miniatures/models I used dedolights (especially with the projection attachments) and ARRI pocket Pars (with the fiber optic attachments). You could also buy (or rent) a simple fiber optic illuminator and create your own lighting “instrumentation”.
Don’t discount the effectiveness of 150 watt and 300 watt fresnels, nor the simple MR-16 “birdie”.
Use an overhead Kino-Flo (or make your own space light) to create your base illumination.DS
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