Need More Power!!

escozooz

escozooz

Well-known member
I just shot a pretty lo-budget music video. For the green screen part we used a 20'x10' muslin screen on a Botek stand system.

Lighting
- 2 650w britek softbox (background)
- 2 500w worklights reflected off white (talent)
- 1 350w britek softbox (talent)
- 1 250w spot barndoors (talent)

- Monitor, Sound System, etc.

We were fortunate enought to secure a location that had a lot of space and power. It was a 35' three bay garage used for fixing up cars. But... we still blew some fuses.

The whole time I'm thinking we need like at least some 2K's and 1K's to fill in the dark spots but where am I going to get this power from? The garage is powerful but not that powerful. It would need to be 1 2k per fuse which = no good.

If the budget could allow it I'd shoot on a sound stage but thats a little too expensive. What is a good work around for getting power? Generators are a possibility but they run close to 2,000 and are really noisy.

Are there any budget ways of working with a lot of power? If not does anyone know the rate per day for a good sound stage in the Boston area? Shooting in NYC is the next option but travelling that far is also an expense we can't really afford.

Any suggestions would be great. I am no master electrician.
 
You could rent a construction generator, you don't have to buy one.

Or, use fluorescent fixtures for the green screen since they're very energy efficient and output a lot of light. Then keep your Arri's to light your subjects. Make sense?

I'm often surprised how cheap older Videssence fixtures go for on eBay. I have used six of these
type of lights for a 12'x12' green screen with a Softbank kit for talent with superb results.

Hope this helps.
 
I often do green screens and simply buy four foot or eight foot florescent from the home depot. Best of all you don't have to worry about CRi when lighting green screens with them as you actually want green from the lights. You gain two ways, less heat and less potential problems let alone a lot less equipment to carry around.
 
I love using lower powered flouros for most my shoots now. However, if you live in the Boston area you should have no problem finding a Gaffer (probably with a truck) you could hire that could do a tie-in to your locations main circuit box. This is a procedure is frought with danger and should only be done by some one that is properly trained, like a professional Gaffer or a liscensed Electrician.

As a rule of thumb, you should be able to use one 2K(17 amps) per 20 amp circuit. Go to the main fuse box and check how many circuits (and how many amps per circuit) you have and what parts of the location they service. Make sure that anything that is drawing current that you don't need is shut off. Then run extension cords to spead the current load over as many available circuits as you can. The formula for calculating the amp draw of a fixture is Amps X volts (figure 12o) = watts. Remember algebra?

Your dual 650s (1300 watts) draws 11 amps.
Your dual 500s (1000watts) draw 8 amps.
Your 350 draws 3 amps.
Your 250 draws 2 amps.

Your total draw with this kit is 25 amps. You should have no problem spreading this load around most any locations. Rememeber to use the shortest, lowest gauge extension cord (called "stingers") possible to pull juice from the other circuits.

Working with electricity has many more consideration than I have covered here. The best bet is to hire a pro. However, you really should not have a problem spreading out a 2900 watt kit.
 
letsburnbridges said:
thats an interesting signature u got, i like it
Click to expand...


Thanks. It is a quote from Francis Ford Coppola from the Documentary "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse", which is about the filming of "Apocalypse Now. It is the last thing he says in the doc. He gets up, takes off his mic and splits. It is very cool.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I am definitly going to try out some flo-lights. Maybe I'll follow one of the home-made flo guides.

Rosestar: Thats really helpful information. I was finding out how much a circuit could handle by trial and error. Until we transition into bigger budget shoots we probably won't be exceeding 3k to 8k.

When you have a gaffer/electrician do a tie into the main fuse box does that allow for more per fuse or does it effectivly add more fuses. Ballpark how much does this usually run for one day with setup and breakdown.
 
escozooz said:
Thanks for the responses.

I am definitly going to try out some flo-lights. Maybe I'll follow one of the home-made flo guides.

Rosestar: Thats really helpful information. I was finding out how much a circuit could handle by trial and error. Until we transition into bigger budget shoots we probably won't be exceeding 3k to 8k.

When you have a gaffer/electrician do a tie into the main fuse box does that allow for more per fuse or does it effectivly add more fuses. Ballpark how much does this usually run for one day with setup and breakdown.
Click to expand...

A tie-in lets you access the entire amp load of the service, for example, most modern residences have at least a 100 amp service, when you tie into the box, you set-up the distibution of this 100 amps how ever yo want (depending on the equipment used). To go beyond the total amprage you have to tie into a higher amp service. It is possible to "tie-in to the pole", i.e., draw juice from the power lines serviceing the location. This is highly specialized and must be done in consultation with local authorities. Most folkes rent generators.

I would hate to quess what the rates of a gaffer and truck are in your area, but ballpark would be $400-1200 a day. This would be book price, everything is negotiable. From my experience,gaffers are some of the coolest guys around.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top