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HMI or KinoFlo?
Hello All!
This is my first post on Creative Cow so I’m hoping this turns out useful! I’m currently meditating on the idea of doing a short film I’ve written – 3 to 5 min – almost all of which takes place in a car on a process trailer. I’m currently trying to figure out how big of a lighting package I would need so I can approach a rental house for price quotes.
I want to produce a very bland flat look in the car (it’s about cubicle workers and ‘the system’) so Kino Flo’s were the first thing to pop in my head… that and they eat less juice which I figured would be good when doing process trailer work. But will these produce enough light to expose both the interior and exterior of the car? If not, what kind of HMI’s are usually used in this close proximity?
I’ve DP’ed for my own stuff in the past but it was on lower quality and in more controlled circumstances. I’ve read and been taught a fair deal about lighting, how to use a meter, etc… but I can never figure out how to make the first judgment call from a pre-production standpoint how much light I will need. Any good rules of thumb for that?
Thanks!
Jared -
6 Replies
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Jared,
Kino Flos are not a particularly good choice for process trailer job, except maybe at night and placed inside the car as sources like instrument panel illumination.
More likely units are 2.5k or 4k HMI’s. Many process rigs have generator or batteries (with inverter) mounted in tow vehicle. Reflections in the windshield, mainly from the sky can be an issue so sometimes a black “roof” needs to be rigged to avoid these, but must be able to withstand wind generated by car travel.
Both lighting and grip technology is important as well as proper camera mounting, so it’s good to collaborate with crew that has some experience in these matters.
JS
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Well Jared welcome,
I have worked on plenty of process trailer jobs and have seen many different setups so depending on the time of day/night you choose to shoot and the field of view you are looking for would help us help you.
It sounds like day time and a couple of 4K PAR HMI’s (medium or wide lenses) would be nice, and diffusing the windshield (applying some diffusion, 216/250) would give you a nice solid source. If the side windows are down you might want to rig a net (single or double) out side the car to control the back ground. This is in most cases the standard rig. And I assume you will have a real camera car with a small generator to run the lights.
If you did shoot at night you might get away with Kino Flos but it would be very moody.
Good Luck
Michael Palmer -
Thanks for the prompt responses guys!
I had a feeling you might say the things you did. I was talking to a rental house in Chicago about renting the camera truck with the geni as well as the crew and rigging required (I certainly wont be touching it, haha!). Just to keep everyone up to speed, It is a day shoot – preferably a cloudy day – and the kinos I was thinking of were the large 4x banks they use most often to light green screens, not the small in-car moody style ones (I know what you mean by them). I was hoping this could cut some costs by loosing the rigging used to diffuse the HMI’s but it seems that I’ll be lacking photons inside the car.
Either way, thanks for the info, it helped a lot!
P.S. this car shot was likely only going to be one head-on exterior from the front of the car looking in… supposed to have a staged play-like feel to it with awkward, exaggerated acting.
Thanks again!!
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IF you need a front (head on) view you will need to either live with shooting threw the windshield or pull the windshield out, or find lipstick cameras to rig is side the car to avoid pulling the windshield. You will need to rig a large solid over the front end of the car that will control any reflections and or remove any front light on the talent. IMO the best solution is to pull the windshield and rig an 8×8 solid over the windshield, and use the 4k Pars with a double diffusion rig that will give you the cinematic liberty of choosing the right lens and camera position for the project.
Good Luck
Michael Palmer -
If it doesn’t matter what kind of car… a convertible solves all kinds of lighting problems 🙂
I’m betting that’s not the look you want though.
Did you ever notice in older movies how many car scenes were in ragtops… even when it was obviously too cold for top-down driving?
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I did expect to shoot through the windshield with a roof or at least wall of solids to cut reflections along with a pola filter to fight any residual tint. In the worst cast scenario, because it’s a static shot I could do a color correct masked to the windshield shape to compensate for tint. Again, with a flat-toned look, I doubt this will cause alarm.
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