Filming an amusement park at night

Z

zdakota

Member
Believe me, before bothering you, I have searched the internet and found nothing useful. Does anyone have any ideas (with no-budget, of course) on how to light an Amusement Park at night?

Our most powerful light would be a 2k.

Naturally there will tons of practical lights from the rides, midway, etc. We don't have money for a large light on a crane. Day-for-night really wouldn't be an option, given the logistics required.

And while I'm at it---has anyone ever mounted their camera on a roller coaster or other ride? And if so, do you have any tips for someone without a true key grip?

Thanks to all.
 
If you are shooting with the DVX, you should be just barely ok with the speed of the image sensors. 400 asa and higher seems to capture the lights on the rides (and I've heard tell that the DVX is something like asa 640 at 24p). You'll have trouble with the HV20.

I have mounted many cameras on many roller coasters. Mount it as low as you are able. It is much more stable and much more dramatic that way. Most parks have rigs that they have built specifically for that purpose that sit on top of the front car. But check out the bottom front of the front car. There is a plate that allows more cars to be attached. Long bolts through that plate will hold a camera - just make sure your camera clears the cross beams on the tracks.
 
cyclone---

Thanks for the input. Yes, we are shooting with a DVX--I've really put it through many tests, but nothing like this. Any ideas on where to get some basic rigs for mounting a camera on a coaster? Any personal preferences/recommendations, I mean?

I'm not worried about getting the lights from the rides to display, just about getting a whole amusement park lit. Fortunately, we have time to experiment and will try planting lights around the park to see how it works.

Hopefully, with the assistance of the sodium vapor lights in the park, we should get something interesting.

Thanks again, cyclone, for the advice!
 
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I don't think you'll never be able to successfully light the park with individual practicals. You'd need large cranes with 12k HMI's and Zenon lamps or pars. Your best bet is to rely on the ambient light from the lights in the park (the midway is usually the brightest part). Then you only have to light the specific area you are featuring. Shooting on a coaster with a tape-based camera has the problem of the increased and shifting G's literally lifting the tape off of the tape heads. Hard drives or film are best for that. Unfortunately, I don't know of places that sell or rent coaster rigs, as they as so individually specific to any given coaster. My partner and I built them for Magic Mountain and Santa Cruz, and found that most of the other parks we shot at had their own. Good luck!!
 
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