1980s trip lightning

S

skycron

Well-known member
Hi,

Quick question.

In the 1980s, a lot of movies have a very specific kind of lightning that appears to be with a very specific bulb. It's a very intense blue and has a slight hesitation or ramp before it reaches its full intensity. I'm looking very specifically for the kinds of lights/bulbs that were used to achieve this. Can anyone tell me what bulb/light this is? I can easily track it down. I just don't have any models and manufacturers. I get "Why do you really want to have that specific look?" (Because that's what the client wants, plus I like that look.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI-4zcItmYM&feature=related
Clock tower scene in Back to the Future (the quality of this clip is very poor but that is pretty much the exact kind of lightning I'm talking about here.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZhQJpBPco&feature=related
At 0:40, and at 2:09 of this video are great examples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTwKortN5iE

Most of the lightning now we achieve with strobes/ DMX controllers, which are a very even, ON/OFF with no ramp to be seen. The other technique, either flashing an incandescent on and off or rapidly opening and shuttering.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I know all the classic ways but I don't know how it was done in your examples. Big productions have resources we usually don't. A couple of fellas got an Academy Award for a lightning machine some years back.

If you really want a ramp up (and back down), not just a stutter, use a tungsten fixture of 1K or 2K where there is enough mass in the filament that they can neither go instantly on all the way nor instantly off.

Personally, I think that looks like a big incandescent being turned on and off. For small scenes I use a single small tungsten fixture, gelled half blue, precisely because it goes on and off so quickly so I can jitter the plug in the socket and get lots of rapid full and partial strikes. When I have a larger space to light I use a bunch of these small lights and the gag is to plug them into a single outlet or stinger so the connection can be rocked or jiggled for a convincing look. I've posted a link to an example somewhere here.
 
Hi,

Actually, I do routinely work on large productions -- so I do actually have those resources. :) It's not an independent picture...

It isn't an incandescent -- an incandescent ramp is even -- 1-100%. These older machines --- 70s and 80s, ramp to about 30% and then click to 100% if you'll notice. They appear to be large fluorescent fixtures, possibly argon/xenon.

If anyone does know what these particular lights are, let me know. I'm going to bug some DoPs around that time too.
 
"why can't you use a dimmer real fast up and down to achieve the ramp up?"

It doesn't have the same aesthetic.
 
Might not be helpful but I'll throw it out there: an old analog light board I've used has flash on off buttons. You can probably program some kind of smooth dims them strike the flash button to jump to 100% once you hit about 30%. Or else I'm thinking some kind of box full of capacitors and such that go to 30 and trip something inside that causes it to jump to 100. A little rube goldbergish for sure but someone more electronically inclined than me might be able to rig one up. If it helps at all, I got on that thought pattern because I was reminded of flicker generators. Perhaps loosely following that concept, (a nicer one which has dimmers to control frequency and such).

Edit: just re-read your post and sounds like you're looking for that specific bulb so I'm not sure about that but I'll leave up what I originally wrote in case.
 
skycron said:
Hi,

Actually, I do routinely work on large productions -- so I do actually have those resources. :) It's not an independent picture...

It isn't an incandescent -- an incandescent ramp is even -- 1-100%. These older machines --- 70s and 80s, ramp to about 30% and then click to 100% if you'll notice. They appear to be large fluorescent fixtures, possibly argon/xenon.

If anyone does know what these particular lights are, let me know. I'm going to bug some DoPs around that time too.
Click to expand...

Ask in the lighting section of cinematography.com
 
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I could understand that -- I would imagine they'd need quite a bit of headroom, I'm sure a few kW to keep from browning/blacking out.

I want to see if I can track down one of the older units -- 79 to 89. I'm sure the genny guys at William F. White will hate me, but then...they hate me anyway. :)
 
A carbon arc would cause a similar look but you probably wouldn't want to turn it on and off with that kind of load.
 
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