Coloring bulbs

[Mark Suszko]

Use LED replacement bulbs and there is no heat problem; you could wrap standard gels around them or use washable car window markers or craft paints (like from a kid’s stained glass window kit).

Or several strands of blinky xmas lights in a tangled wad; they become suitably random very quickly.

Hardware stores still sell a little screw-in module that makes any Edison socket blink, for like, a dollar or two. 4-5 of those plus the LED bulbs, and you’re good to go.

[Todd Terry]

It’s too bad that dye is no longer available, that stuff looks pretty cool.

I would think that exact precision on the colors is not that important, and most big-box hardware stores (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) sell colored bulbs (usually calling them “Party Bulbs”) in yellow, orange, and red… I’d think that would be more than close enough.

I’m a huge LED fan, but in this instance I will part with Mark and not recommend LEDs, this is a tungsten job. Couple of reasons, if you just go with household Edison-socket bulbs, LED bulbs are going to be about 10x the price of tungsten… and you need a whole bunch of them. More importantly though is dimmability… only the more expensive household LEDs are dimmable… and they aren’t dimmable 0-100%. Usually they will dim down to about 20%, and then go off. Then when dimming back up, you get nothing until about 30-40%, and then they are suddenly on and will ramp back up to 100% (trust me on this, I have tons of LEDs at home). I think in this instance plain ol’ tungsten bulbs are called for.

And as Mark said, you can always gel ’em to tweak the colors more.

Fun project.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Mark Suszko]

If you’re not dimming, just randomly flashing, then the cheap LED bulbs will work and you can gel them or paint ’em with anything. “Dimming” could be achieved by altering the facing of the bulbs into/out of a reflector/absorber card(s).

[Rick Wise]

Thanks very much, all of you. I did get to a similar place: buy already colored bulbs. Found one supplier that seems to have a decent collection of the colors I’d like, including amber, yellow, red: https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/colored-light-bulbs/ I think one of the characteristics of believable firelight is a base, warm intensity that doesn’t flicker. Then randomly flickering ambers, yellow, reds. To get enough umph I suspect I’d need 75 watt pars, which seem to be the strongest bulbs offered this way. I think the Medusa rig (https://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/07/building-medusa-the-perfect-diy-fire-light/) is too complicated. I suspect one could screw around 7 porcelain bulb bases to a piece of 1/2″ plywood. Add a couple of strips of 1×1″ molding to the back side to provide some space, wire each base with a female edison plug on the end. On a separate board set up 4 household dimmers the Medusa proposes. Hook up 2 red bulbs to one dimmer, hook up the center/yellow bulb to a dimmer — this one to provide the base level and won’t flicker. Distribute the remaining bulbs across the 2 remaining dimmers. Once the base level is set, that dimmer remains locked in place. That leaves 3 sliders to ride up and down, which probably one person can do.

Rick Wise
Cinematographer
MFA/BFA Lighting and Camera Instructor Academy of Art University
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com

[Todd Terry]

Glad you found them…. 1000bulbs is a good source, I’ve bought from them before (HMI globes and tungsten bulbs).

The Medusa device is pretty cool… but I agree that it is very overly-engineered and likely much more complicated than is necessary. A much simpler, more elegant, and easier-to-use solution is no doubt possible.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Jason Jenkins]

[Todd Terry] “A much simpler, more elegant, and easier-to-use solution is no doubt possible.”

Yeah, like building a fire.

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

Check out my Mormon.org profile.

[Mark Suszko]

Or projecting video of a real fire onto a reflector….?

One of the reasons I got an LED PAR can and DMX controller was so I could replicate things like lightning flashes, neon hotel signs, cop lights, and campfires with it.

[Rick Wise]

Indeed, an actual fire can work in some settings. Not in others. Usually they are propane powered rigs.

Rick Wise
Cinematographer
MFA/BFA Lighting and Camera Instructor Academy of Art University
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com

[Todd Terry]

Might consider some completely different light sources, such as monitors… sort of like when they shot the greenscreen footage for the movie “Gravity,” big displays were used as lighting sources, the displays showing the images that would be seen by the talent, so that the lighting would be true in the end composition.

In an extremely poor-man’s version of that, I once had the need for a shot of someone with some police lights flickering on them. I didn’t actually have a real police bar (and does anyone else morn the loss of the squad car “bubble gum machine” lights with the real rotating blubs?… I do)… so I made a short video clip of police lights with the proper white/blue/red strobe pattern and ran the video in a big monitor, which was my light source (with its brightness cranked up to the max). This was on stage so it was relatively convenient… it would have been more troublesome on location.

I’m thinking the same method would work for firelight. It’s not for every situation, they obviously have to be scenes that are dimly-lit enough that a monitor can actually provide illumination.

More than one way to skin a cat. Or light one.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Rick Wise]

I’ve been doing some research on the candle and fire lit scenes in the BBC mini-series, Wolf Hall. It turns out those night interiors were shot without any electrical units at all, just the light of candles and of fire places. The camera was an Arri Alexa Plus, and the lenses a set of Leica Summilux-C Primes. So the advanced vision of Kubrick in Barry Lyndon with his special lenses and triple-wick candles can now be achieved with far more crispness and detail. One suspects that new cameras, including the new Sony 7ll, will be less expensive alternatives to the Alexa. Getting the right glass, though, will be a challenge to any limited budget.

In the mean time, augmenting candle and fire light with some electrical help is probably worth the effort and costs a whole lot less. Unlike firelight, candle light does not flicker unless there is some draft of air in the room or the candles are outside. Lighting so that it appears the scene is lit solely by candles remains a skill. I’ve found China Lanterns can be a great help in that endeavor.

For some details on shooting Wolf Hall see this article: https://www.tvtechnology.com/multiformat/0112/wolf-hall-ancient-intrigue-modern-imaging/275826

Rick Wise
Cinematographer
MFA/BFA Lighting and Camera Instructor Academy of Art University
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com