-
Recommendations for travel green screen lighting
Dear Lighting Design Pros,
I am about to be on the road for two weeks with a 9 foot cloth green screen for an non-profit training video series. Its a tight budget and I am working alone. When I am not traveling, I light my backdrops with fresnels – 2 Arri 1Ks at a minimum or two 4 foot Kinos.
I need light weight and inexpensive lights that travel well that will evenly light my backdrop. I was thinking two Tota’s with 1K bulbs, but I don’t like how much power they use or hot they get and I’m not sure if they will throw enough to fill the screen. I have thought about cheap fluorescent softboxs from china on eBay, but I have heard they are too fragile.
The shot will be a waist up stand up and I’d like to have enough room on either side for natural hand gestures and perhaps a handheld prop or a small high table with a prop.
Any suggestions? Thank you!
————————————————–
Justin Francese
ju****@************se.com
http://www.justinfrancese.com
————————————————— -
3 Replies
-
Hi Justin,
I would definitely look at Kinos for the green screen, it’s so much easier and flatter than open face lights, plus you have the luxury of dimming for fine tuning. For front lighting, I would do what you are used to.
Personally, I would rent 4 Diva Lites. 2 for the screen, 1 for key and 1 for the back on the opposite side.
You could go through Borrowlenses or others and have the lights shipped to your location. You should be getting a pretty good deal on a 2 week rental.
Just bring the sticks and screen / camera with you, and if you’re driving, bring the Kinos you own.
Vince Becquiot
San Francisco Bay Area
-
When I do location greenscreen work like this, I light the screen with a pair of Lowel Rifa lights, which store VERY compactly. Rifas have the option of halogen or cool, low-power-drain fluorescent, in a switchable holder.
If Rifas are too costly, the Chinese knockoffs will work if the interiors are silvered, and if you can put a powerful enough LED bulb in them.
Before we had the Rifas, I used Totas and/or Lowel Omni’s with diffusion for this task.
-
All good solutions. I love the idea of renting Diva’s; Rifa’s also sound great.
But when traveling, a big concern is keeping the package as portable as possible. So I use Mole Nook-lites, which are very even broads, with barn doors and dimmers. Tota-lights also work, but you may need blackwrap to keep stray light from the subject.
Waist-high shots are easy; a pair of little broads would more than suffice.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up