China Ball Rigging to Ceiling

cardmaverick

cardmaverick

Well-known member
I'm getting ready to shoot a big interior room that has a very high angled ceiling (5.29 meters on the highest end, and 3.73 on the lowest end).

My wish is to rig a cluster of four china balls over the room, with a black wrap skirt around them.

Does anyone know of any good ways to do this? The room has a loft overlooking it, so as a last ditch effort, I could pound a 2K off that conveniently angled ceiling, but the light will be way too bland and boring, not to mention go all over creation.

I know china balls are light weight, and can be taped into position, but for this, I'm stuck with a flat drywall ceiling to work with, and my last efforts to tape tape the socket cord to a ceiling were less than stellar. After not to long, it just tears the tape down.

Any ideas would be welcome!
 
We recently did a shoot where we double armed a c-stand in order to get a china ball out over a dining table. We had to counterweight the stand - and obviously sandbag it like crazy...but it worked.

Not sure how far out that loft is from where you need the china balls to hang - but it's a thought.
 
Is this a rented space? A friends place?
There is sth I only dare to ask in a worst case, but sometimes it´s the only way:
Since china balls are really light (depending on what lamp you use inside) why not drill 4 tiny holes for little screw hooks?
Fill the holes with plaster after the shoot.

Or rent two Mini Max from Matthews Grip...
 
I'm actually leaning towards putting something into the ceiling right now, like a screw, but I've also been thinking about other strong adhesive options.

As for the angle, I really have no way at all to right anything on the ground, its a three camera shoot, all three cameras covering the entire ground level floor. So to say the lest, its a challenge to light this thing, and NO, I can't just shoot separate angles and reset, this is a VERY different kind of film project I'm working on.
 
I just went back into my preproduction notes and looked at my location photos, I think I might be able to create a 2x4 wooden boom pole that hangs out of the loft.... just gotta make sure I have lots of sand bags handy to make it safe. C-stands certainly won't fill the bill on this one...
 
dont put anything to strong on drywall i dont think I need to explain what will happen. Your best bet is to staple it to the ceiling. Get the staple so it has the sharp edges on the left and right side of the cord and the flat part is pushing the cord. A few of thses shold do the trick.
 
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