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Muslin Background
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Jeez, too much Testosterone in here? Mellow out guys, it’s all just talk.
If a real Source 4 is too much for you, if you shoot in mostly darkened rooms/stages, Ikea had a tiny little 50 watt ellipsoidal that they sold for quite a while, not sure if they still are. They are great for interviews and I believe they sold a whole kit for $100.00 with colored glass filters, several cutouts, an iris, focusing lenses, the works. I bought two of them about a year ago and I do periodically use them. I did have to go to FilmTools to get a 5/8″ Matthews receiver to put it on a lightstand.
If memory serves, it was called “Isobryte” or something like that, you know their crazy made-up Swedish names there? I thought so much of them, I bought two. So far, they have held up well. It’s just with 50 watts, you can only use them effectively in fairly dark situations, they lack the horsepower for brightly lit environments.
Killer find though.
Dan
Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs
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Had a friend some time ago who had some Light Breaks — he loved them because they rolled up to pack easily. Where can you find them now?
Also, I agree the Source 4 ellipsoidal is a great idea, if you have a heavy-duty stand to travel with you.
Jay Curtis
Blue Vase Productions
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Hoo boy. This topic brings back memories….
For this project, the producer wanted the same look for all interviews – a medium grey background, draped artfully, with a primary color party gel raked across the fold. Heavy backlight on the subject. The background was some synthetic that didn’t wrinkle much.
We did a trip to Las Vegas. From the time our plane touched down we were late. It was rush, rush. I didn’t see my hotel room until midnight the first night. The second night was later. The third night later still. At each location we had little time to set up and light. Little time to safety the cables, block out ambiant light, and shut down noise making machinery. No time to sit the interview down and tweak the lights so it looked as good as could be. But in a former life the director had been…. a draper! So there was ENDLESS time to get the folds in the background “just right”. Sheesh.
My advice – experiment with a background to see what you like. But don’t obsess over it.
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I’m glad my question opened some helpful dialogue. The lightbreaks are found at: https://www.lightbreak.com/ Had a shoot a few weeks ago out of state where had to get 25 shots in 5 different buildings in two days, including testimonials. My client’s client wouldn’t increase the budget so that we could do it right…so there wasn’t time to experiment with lighting and in some cases, we settled…but that’s a different topic.
Jeffrey S. Gould
Action Media Productions -
I’ve actually never used LightBreaks, but I’ve been making my own smaller homemade versions of them for years.
Go to an office supply store (Office Depot, Staples, etc.) and you can find packs of clear 8 1/2 x 11″ printable acetate. They are made for printing transparencies for overhead projectors.
Then just draw a black-on-white (or white-on-black) pattern (in Photoshop, or whatever) and print it out on the sheets (you use one side of the sheet for ink jet printers, the other side for laser printers).
We’ve used these with random patterns to break up lighting, and even sometimes printed clients’ logos on them to lightly ghost over a wall or other surface.
It’s super easy and super cheap to do.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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When the Source 4 leko first came out, well over a a decade ago, I started doing the same thing — making gobos to use in them.
DS
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Dan,
I’ve never seen the Ikea but I’ve run across two architectural instruments that might be similar.The “micro-ellipse” from Altman:
and something called a “Gecko” from DHA:
https://www.dhalighting.com/support/literature/projcat.pdfThe Gecko may not be available in the US since I’ve never seen it’s price listed in Dollars.
I’ve seen the altman used and it will work well if, as you say, the the light level is low and well controlled.
-joe
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I will check those out, they look interesting. I did a little more research and unfortunately it looks as if Ikea has discontinued their little ellipsoidal, at least in the U.S.
Here is a little more about it https://qhib.blogspot.com/2005/08/isbrytare-spotlight-from-ikea.html
Dan
Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs
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The Altman Micro-Ellipse is a great, energy efficient CDM ellipsoidal fixture. I use them a lot. But for those on the “IKEA/HOME DEPOT” budget, the $500.00 price tag may seem a bit high …especially when the Source 4 Junior provides more opions for less money.
DS
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[Jeffrey Gould] “So what does everyone else use when the only location you have is the back of a warehouse?”
Answer: the back of a warehouse. Sounds pretty interesting.
Center Stage in Baltimore, a quite decent regional theater, often makes an interesting set by putting minimal elements in front of their weird, oft-patched back brick wall.
Bob C
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