Construction Lighting Sources for Night Scenes?

B

borax

Active member
Hi,

I will be shooting a very low budget horror film that calls for half of the scenes to be shot at night.

Ideally I want to use one large light source to back light the locations that I will be filming. Also it would be great to use the same light to shoot through windows at night as the main light source for a room.

I realize that most films use huge 12-24k HMI lights on cranes to get that effect.

The problem is I can't afford to rent that equipment.

So ... I was wondering if anyone has tried to use alternative equipment like the sort of lights used when doing street repair and construction work?

Driving past the average construction site I am always amazed at how much light they are pumping out onto those locations. The lights seem to be a least be 10K and attached to a pole that can be raised about 20ft with its own genny at the base. Sound familiar?

My thought was getting a hold of one of those and attach it to the back of a car or truck and drag it around to the different locations. Add a bunch of CTB to the light and fire it from 20ft up so the light falls on the ground behind the actors.

Since I will be shooting in a small town and have "friends who have friends" maybe I could get a hold of that kind of equipment cheaply or even for free??

I am trying to stay positive, but maybe I am just dreaming?

Any insight into whether this would work or not would be great.
Also if you have any other ideas, fire away..

..Thanks
 
It's a fine idea, but with a few issues. I have seen these used at outdoor concerts.
The genny's that power them are not exactly quiet though..... You would need to build a wall around them to force the sound up and away from the set. You'll also need to use "Room tone" to help cancel this audio drone out in post. Unfortunately, you can't really separate the lights from the genny, it's an all in one unit. It is also possible that a unit that has not been maintained well, may produce lights that flicker or dim slightly due to inconsistant power. I would ask for a demo before leaving the parking lot of your equipment rental retailer.
 
Just shoot MOS and foley it in post
You can turn the genny off and shoot a few minutes or record audio to get an ambient track
Even if you have a bunch of dialogue (its horror so you probably have more action than dialogue) just shoot it once with the lights and once without.
 
I was at a wedding a couple years ago and they rented a "moon light"; essentially a huge china ball -- about 8' diameter -- on a highboy stand with guy wires. Really pretty light. They used it at dusk to shoot the wedding pix -- photog said it was daylight balanced -- and left it up for the party. Photog said the wedding planner rented it and that they're very popular for outdoor weddings. Something to google up I suppose...
 
in general i find 1200 & 2500 HMI pars to work very good on small shoots ...they can provide some punch thru windows during daylight and work very well for night exteriors
many times you can shoot interior night scenes during the day by blacking out windows then use tungsten fresnels and shape the light ...

1200 HMI pars can be plugged into ordinary house circuits ... the 2500 HMI you need a little more so you either do/pay for a electical tie in to main box or if the location has a 220v electric dryer/stove you get a electrical box that can plug into the dryer/stove plug and then plug in 2500 HMI into box ...

if on location and no electric available ? see what a 150amp sound proof generator will cost - 150amp usually can be rented without a operator ...
or you find locations that have some kind of lighting in place and you just re-enforce in slightly running off inverters ( attached to car batts) and 400 watt HMI's ??
 
Construction Lighting Sources for Night Scenes?

The cool thing today is that most any light can be used when shooting Digital Video and then on top of that, color altered in post.


On T2, Cameron used Mercury Vapor lamps for the many night exterior scenes


mercuryvaporbq1.jpg



Hg1.jpg


I ran across this (Possibly affordable system?)

http://www.multiquip.com/Multiquip/298_2835_ENU_HTML.htm
 
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