Arri lights for interviews/productshots - which ones?

R

Realdvxuser

Well-known member
After doing a bit of research on lighting kits, we are thinking of investing in a starting kit of two Arri Jr lights instead of a three of four kit of el cheapo ones.

However our experience with lighting is very marginal until now, we've only improvised with whatever was available. We'd mainly like to use the lights for doing interviews and making productshots and we are thinking of having the first two JRs to be a key and fill light. And then see whatever light we can find to make it complete, or maybe rent when necessary.

However now comes the question: Which ones should we get for these purposes. Our options so far:
1. Get two 650 Watt Juniors and bounce one of a reflecting surface as a fill
2. Get one 650 and one 300 Jr

Or is it wiser to go with 150's? Do the 650 Watt provide to much light for most interview circumstances? Thanks for any help.
 
I´d start with the 650s, you can always dimm or ND them down, and maybe if you´re doing product shots, one will be a car or a small production site - than you´ll be glad to have some more output...
I´d also ad a Tota with an umbrella, cheap and versatile.
Though not very controlable, I´d rather have a slightly overlit video than one where you had to leave the office fluos on to get at least close to a decent exposure...
Also later you will most likely see into a softbox, and a 650w fixture might just be enough for it...
 
Key light-Small chimera- with a tota or 1k open face or 650 fresnel
Fill light- 300 watt fresnel(or anything you can find cheap)
Backlight 150 watt fresnel
Background light 300 watt fresnel

This is what I would buy in this order. Almost any thing will work for the fill light but I personally like 300 fresnels.
 
Alright thanks guys, we'll go for the higher watts then and see where we extend our kit from there. Cheers for the quick help!
 
Lighting Interview

Lighting Interview

If you want to do job right you need at least three lights: Key, Fill, Back. Standard Three Point Lighting. And try not to Light Direct... Video does't like that. Diffuse (or Bounce) your Lights.
Lighting Workshops
 
1. You do not need to own three lights to do three point lighting.
2. Depending on camera and recording format, hard lighting with video will look just as
good as on film.
3.Lighting should depend on what mood to achieve, not textbook wisdom, sometimes one
hard light just is enough...
 
Spartacus said:
1. You do not need to own three lights to do three point lighting.
2. Depending on camera and recording format, hard lighting with video will look just as
good as on film.
3.Lighting should depend on what mood to achieve, not textbook wisdom, sometimes one
hard light just is enough...
Click to expand...

Good advice. A reflector can be one of the points too and they're pretty inexpensive. One other thing though. Women almost always look better in soft light than hard light--for those times a woman is your subject.
 
Spartacus said:
1. You do not need to own three lights to do three point lighting.
2. Depending on camera and recording format, hard lighting with video will look just as
good as on film.
3.Lighting should depend on what mood to achieve, not textbook wisdom, sometimes one
hard light just is enough...
Click to expand...

Exactly right.

This is two:

1167410555.jpg




Softbox & reflector and hair light.

Okay 3 WITH the background light. :)
 
Yeah,
my point was that even buying only one fixture can be enough for a start, when you know what to do with it...
Use windows, reflectors of any kind (a big white wall nearby can act as a reflector...), direct sunlight, practicals, fire (camping anyone?), flashlights, computer/TV screens - whatever...
3 point lighting is a standart for interview situations, yes, but you can do with fewer lights, and you can also light interviews with a lot more fixtures, just whatever gets the job done the way you want it;o)
 
Alright, a little update...we just bought 3 Arri's...one 350 JR, one 650 JR and one 600 Arrilite...we went up to the store and when we would buy this setup it would only save us 200 USD if we'd buy only two light instead of three.

We went out to buy only two and do exactly as you mentioned on the soft light and reflector setup. However now we have three lights, which gives us more freedom. We just made some basic setups and also experimented a bit and so far it all looks pretty impressive. What works really well on the lights is to control the light from spot to a flood. The light is really nice and smooth trhoughout this whole range, and it can have a great impact on making the light just right for the situation. Glad we went for the good stuff straight away!

Thanks again for all your input!
 
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