If I could have 1 arri kit to shoot a simple drama feature, softbank d1 or 3 arri 650

Clint Nitkiewiz Hernandez

Clint Nitkiewiz Hernandez

Well-known member
If I could have 1 arri kit to shoot a simple drama feature,

Would you choose a

softbank d1 - 1 150w fresnel, 1 350w fresnel, 1 650w fresnel
or
3 650W fresnels w stands, scrims, case,


The second choice would give me more light if i needed it, and cant I just put scrims or double scrims on the 650w to get 200w or low light, but will this reduce the quality of the fresnel light with the scrims?

I also have (1) 1000w flood lamp from home depot and
(2) 150W from home depot, though these are not as good as arri fresnels?

I want the film to look as best as possible, so price here is not the important thing,

please let me know some opinons, thanks!!!!!
 
I would take the $2,000-3,500 you would spend on a light kit and rent lights for your shoot. It will probably cost less and you will be able to get a much wider array of fixtures and grip to do things with.

I know it's not the answer people want to hear because new kit is always fun and exciting to buy, but if you truly want the best options for a set amount of money, most of the time renting is the best option.
 
I would go with the D1 for size, weight and power drawn. Sure you can put scrims on the 650 but you'll still be drawing 650w and it'll still generate the same amount of heat. For some situations where you have to hide a light in a corner or hang it up overhead a 150 or a 300 would be much more useful than the larger 650.
 
if money is a concern why are you looking at Arri kits in the first place?

I agree with William that renting is a good idea but I also understand that the added logistics of a rental house can complicate a low budget production when people have day jobs.

In my experience, the lights that always come out of the box are the large soft sources. I'd spend a couple hundred dollars on a cheaper set of fluro softboxes (or better yet, make some ) and get a variety of cfl's in different powers and color balances.

I don't know what you're shooting on but we just shot a dramatic short this past weekend in a house. We replaced all the praticals in the room with cfls for the night time scenes and blasted two 1K cfl arrays into the room to simulate daylight coming in the window.

Scout your locations well and find places that naturally have an appropriate mood with minimal lighting.
 
Listen to William. At $4000 you can get a whole truck with lights for about 20 days (if you talk to the owner to give you a deal) and on that truck you will have every light imaginable.
 
I'd go for the highest wattage and most control you can. You want to be able to control your light. If you think it's too hot, just stack your diffusion. I'd rather have the control to switch from hard to soft light, then always be working with soft. Soft is easy to make it look nice, but what if you want hard daylight through windows? Or a slash of light on the wall? Want one big source? Take the 3 650s and put them all side by side through a 8x8 diff. I dunno, I agree with the renting idea though. You could always check usedmovielighting and buy a few 2k babies.
 
Agreed, renting is not a bad idea, but if you really want to buy....buy lights that are controllable. You can always get softlight out of a hard source, but you can't get hard light out of a soft source. I hope this makes sense??? Ha Ha
 
thanks

thanks

What do you mean by soft vs hard lights? Also are fresnels much better than open face or floods?

Yeah no way would I now get a D1 kit,

Other people are telling me that the norm for a feature to have is (2) 1K floods and (2) 650W fresnels, that under 650W is not very common.

Due to a limited budget, Id rather get 650W and stop it down and layer on difussion to get a 200W look If i Needed as opposed to buying a 200W light. That just seems to be more resourceful.
 
Clint Nitkiewiz Hernandez said:
What do you mean by soft vs hard lights? Also are fresnels much better than open face or floods?

Yeah no way would I now get a D1 kit,

Other people are telling me that the norm for a feature to have is (2) 1K floods and (2) 650W fresnels, that under 650W is not very common.

Due to a limited budget, Id rather get 650W and stop it down and layer on difussion to get a 200W look If i Needed as opposed to buying a 200W light. That just seems to be more resourceful.
Click to expand...
Nick, all due respect, these are surprising questions. To make your show look good, hire an experienced DP or gaffer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top