How do you set up practicals?

I

Indyreel

Well-known member
Can someone tell me the correct way to set up practicals in a shot? Do you use a specific type of bulb or do you gel the top and bottom opening of the lamp shade? Stuff like that.

Thanks
 
I have become fond of the new florescent bulbs. The great thing is you can get them in daylight temperatures and not have to fight with spills from windows.
 
First off, there is no 'correct' way; you can try to see what works for a given situation using whatever tools you have at your disposal... Typically, at least for me, it's easier to change a bulb than to gel up a lamp shade if trying to color match and I generally think most would agree... But, if for some reason a situation called for it, gelling could very well be an option...

Beautiful thing about lighting is that it lends itself very well to experimentation...

PS: Mixing color temps is not necessarily a bad thing; it happens all the time in 'real' life...
 
Dimmers man, dimmers. You will rarely want a practical blaring out at full power, it will usually mess up the rest of your lighting and your contrast ratio.

I use the cheapo Harbor Freght dimmers for practicals, they work really well and are cheap.

And the nice orangey warmth is usually nice for BGs as well.

Dan
 
IndyReel,

Probably the hardest part is making sure the practical looks like it's the primary source (from the audience's perspective).

Regards, Michael
 
Isn't there a standard proceedure (or type of bulb) to make the bulbs look tungsten yellow instead of orangy?
 
trudd said:
Dan - I bought the same dimmers from Harbor Freight, but if I go past 60 or 70% there is some intense buzzing. Do you have the same limitation/is it bad for the bulb?
Click to expand...

What wattage bulbs or instruments are you encountering the buzzing? The Harbor Freight dimmers are 1500 watt and I have been told that you really want room for as much overhead as possible. I have not personally had much problem with intense buzzing with mine, but I have encountered line noise in my audio on occasion. It is weird though, it almost seems random as to when it will occur.

There have been a couple of shoots where I was doing interviews and just had to not use the dimmers, but I could say the same of my Mole dimmers that cost ten times as much.

You have to experiment with which circuits the dimmers are on versus which circuits your camera and or monitor are on and which circuit your lights are on and you can usally clear up buzzing issues with some re-patching but not always.

Dimmers are an inexact science.

Dan
 
The buzzing is minimal/negligible when used on 40 to 60 watt practicals, but was very intense when I tried it on Arri 650 and 300 fresnels. I bought them mostly for use with practicals but the one or two cases I tried to dim a fresnel I thought I was going to pop a bulb!
 
I've been gelling the top of the lampshades with 216. Although it's naturally occurring, I find the spill that comes from the top of the lamp strange looking on the the wall behind it. I also carry a range of wattages from 7.5-150W bulbs in clear and frosted (if available) and dimmers.
 
I also carry a lot of low-wattage bulbs to use in practicals. I'm going to try the blue coated bulbs as soon as they're available here.
 
I also think low-wattage (like 10-20W for E27, I never found less than 10W for that socket)
is the safest way to go. Color temp is around 2700-3000, not too low, and you don't have to worry about dimmers making noises.
 
OK - I'm not a gaffer, so stupid question time - What exactly is a practical, and why is it called that? (I can get the gist from the above discussion, but I'd like some fill, I haven't run across that term before). thanks,
 
Hi Dick:

A practical is a real light source, found on location or brought in by the art/prop department. The track lights in a living room are practicals, the lamp in the end table, the light inside your fridge, all practicals.

DPs and gaffers like to use practicals because they make shot look realistic and can give motivation for other light sources that are used. When you see candles in tv or movies, you realize that almost none of the "candlelight" lighting the shot is from the candle, right? It is usually provided from other lights, which are mimicking the candlelight. The exception would be the Kubrick film, "Barry Lyndon" where all of the candlelight scenes in the film were lit and shot with just the real candles. But typically, the candle is just another practical light.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Hi Dick:

A practical is a real light source, found on location or brought in by the art/prop department. The track lights in a living room are practicals, the lamp in the end table, the light inside your fridge, all practicals.

DPs and gaffers like to use practicals because they make shot look realistic and can give motivation for other light sources that are used. When you see candles in tv or movies, you realize that almost none of the "candlelight" lighting the shot is from the candle, right? It is usually provided from other lights, which are mimicking the candlelight. The exception would be the Kubrick film, "Barry Lyndon" where all of the candlelight scenes in the film were lit and shot with just the real candles. But typically, the candle is just another practical light.

Dan
Click to expand...
Yeah, but Kubrick used special lenses designed by NASA
 
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