New Arri kit - suggestions?

T

themagichoof

Active member
I've used nothing but cheap Walmart work lights for lighting up until now so it's time to get something decent. And I decided that if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it -right- this time and get some Arris.

I'm going to need at least a 3-light kit. I can either get these separately and build my own kit, or buy a kit that's already packaged together (if they have them). I'll be lighting almost strictly a single subject in interview-style (think documentary), so that leads me to believe that I'll need a simple key/fill/back light kit. My problem is that I don't know exactly which models to get and which Arris are good for each of these 3 purposes.

Also take in mind I'd like to do green screen stuff. I'll shoot mostly interview footage (sitting in a chair) and I can knock that out with a simple 3-light kit, but if I want to use a green screen (standing - wider shot) I may need an additional light, no? So for now the 3-piece kit I get, I want to be able to use those but applied with another light or two for green screen purposes whenever I upgrade.

Can someone point out some models and some accessories that I'll need to get a basic 3-piece kit going, or possibly a packaged kit? This may be a noob question but, do Arris usually have a dimmer on the lights themselves, or will I have to buy one separately?

My budget is somewhere around $1200 and I'll try to get these used with or without accessories. Also take in mind that if there's a better/cheaper light for the key/fill/back position, I'm willing to get something besides an Arri, but I'll get some Arris if they're better and not too much more.
 
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I'm not sure of what to get here. Should I get an Arri fluorescent for either the key/fill, or should I get 3 halogen lights and get a softbox for some diffusion if needed? I'm not sure that using 3 straight up halogens as hard light is the way to go. I'm also not sure of which wattage to get for each light. Can someone point me to some links of the Arri 'standards' for key/fill/back lights?
 
Hey guys, I really want to get this figured out. Don't know exactly which Arri lights to get for a 3-point technique - wattage, halogen/fluorescent and softbox/etc... Would appreciate some input here.
 
Sometimes I think I own every brand of light ever made, going all the way back to the Kliegl brothers. :) Except Arri. I've worked with them a lot, they're fine, but they don't impress me any more than any brand-name fixture, foreign or domestic, (with the sad exception of some made in India for Altman once upon a time when it lost its way.) But Arri and Mole have both their fans and solid reputations from the beatings they take in G&E houses.

So sure, Arri's a good brand but not the only one.

For interviews I think you'd be best off with fluorescents for their coolness and the ease of getting daylight balanced globes, since interviews seem to often be where there is a window supplying some 5600K ambient light or in the background of a shot.

Two-foot four banks would be very versatile and fairly compact. Get one 300W tungsten fresnel with separate hand squeezer for a backlight. You can get by nicely on one fixture for both key and fill (with a reflector) or use two. For greenscreen you can add two on either side. For your budget you'll have to go with knockoffs but people here have posted on good quality ones. Best would be Kinoflos, of course.

Arri tungsten heads don't have built-in dimmers. No fresnels I've ever seen do so.

If you want to go all tungsten buy one or two 650W fresnels for key and fill, one 300W for edge light. For greenscreen a couple of 650W work well but in close confines two 300W would be plenty. BTW, for your greenscreen work your worklights should be ugly but pretty effective. Use ND gels if you have to knock them down and blackwrap to control spill.

I highly recommend the interview techniques DVDs of Doug Jensen of Vortex and Walter Graff of Bluesky.
 
Asked a friend what he thought a kit should be ... gave him 2 choices... I work as a producer/director and wished I paid more attention to lighting now that I live in a smaller market... if I ever decide to do some work back here (always work in LA or NY or Nashville)...

650w
300w
150w
or
1k
650w 300w

here's what he wrote back...

arri = great lights. i've done a ton of interviews with arri's.
most times you need more than three lights. alot of times the background is too dark and you need a couple of lights (at least 1) there, too. from your choices, kit 2 is better only because it has a 1k. the 1k must come and must be used with a chimera, that will be your soft key. the 650 would be flooded out most of the way and backed away a bit and barn-doored to only shine on the subject. in tighter quarters you will need to pop in one scrim or two if needed to cut some of the light. remember, your diffusion gel you clothes-pin on will also cut some light as well. it's better to back off the 650 fill light as necessary to get your lighting ratio correct and do what i'm suggesting here. i've found a 300 sometimes is adequate but most times, not -- by the time you soften it with gel, it's too dim and you're forced to move it in closer to the subject, too close for comfort. that's why start with a 650 flooded out and do those things i talked about if you need to knock down the brightness. remember, you can always cut the light, but you can't make make more light from nothing.
backlight: depending on the situation, it is good to have a 150w and a 300w. the 150 is great to rig (cantilever) behind the subject on a lateral pole (so you don't see the light stands. it is small and light-weight to do that. and you could position it to get right above his or her shoulders. the 300 is too heavy to try this. that's what i love about the 150. but if you cant get it on a lateral pole like that, then you would have to go with a 300 on a light stand and move it to the side, just out of frame and raise it up high, of course. the best, though, is for the light to be straight behind the subject, though, but then you see the light stand. that's why my 150 set-up is really cool.

trick: if you get an xtra bulb for the 300, you could always put a 300w in a 650 housing, that way, if you worry you can't cut the light off the 650 fill, you could make your 650 a 300, and when you're done put the 650 back in.

so, best set-up is
key - 1k with chimera on it (a must) -- for good exposure you will end up being about 4-5 feet from subject (maybe more if your camera is low-light sensitive.
fill - 650 with opal diffusion clipped on (a must) and two wire scrims standing by just in case (you may need 1 or both). remember to start that light in the flood position to start.
backlight: best is 150 on a lateral pole only hanging into the scene just out of the top of the frame. or if don't have that, a 300 on a stand raised high and the stand out of the right or left edge of the frame. the 150 trick looks a lot better, though, cause the light appears to be coming from the top...
background: best is have standing by a 300 and a 650. what's nice about the 650 ans a wall, you can close the barn doors down to just leave a streak of light on the bookcase or wall. the 300, on the other hand, will be used for general illumination, to bring the light level up cause it's too dark.

remember, you could always buy or rent a kit and then add to it one or two lights purchased or rented separately.

cheers!
 
Thanks a lot for the replies. Let me clear something up though: is it optimal to use a fluorescent in there somewhere (for key or fill position) - like, is it necessary? What would the pros do in this situation? I'm going to take a guess and say that getting all halogens would be optimal and to stay away from fluorescents for now, until a special situation arises that a fluoresent will be necessary. So my shopping list so far will be like so:

1x 1000w or 650w Arri halogen fresnel (key)
1x 650w or 350w Arri Halogen fresnel (fill)
1x 150w Arri Halogen fresnel (hair light)

And maybe 1x, possibly 2x softboxes. Not sure if only the key needs a softbox or if it's better to have a softbox for both key and fill. I could use scrims and some kind of diffusion instead of a softbox for the fill, so not sure what to do on that one. The 150w hairlight I'm guessing can be used as a hard light source since it's low-powered and is only used for filling out edges/hair.

Does all of that sound optimal?
 
Mercy, shooting interviews with a 1k AND a 650... that's gonna be one hot room, and you'll want to know where the fuse box is.

I've been using two- and four-tube biax flos for lots of stuff like this, with a 650, a 300 and a little 150 fresnel on hand. Lately I've been sticking those really big screw-in flo's - the 85 watt ones - in a big china ball and they just kick all kinds of butt. In fact, I'm trying to find a granny to sew me some box-shaped ripstop lanterns for them. They're equal to my 750 fresnels and pull a couple amps. Wrap a straw gel or a light rose around the tube for a little warmth. I freakin' love those things. Just lit a 15' wide greenscreen with two of them.

I love tungsten lights and have all sorts, from open face theatricals to lekos... but for business-ey work stuff, break out the flos. Cooler, lighter, zero power issues, and the twin biax units can run on skinny household stingers. Seriously, think this over.

And softboxes are overrated - scrims & bounce are usually more flexible, cheaper, easier to pack & store and have all sorts of uses. I have four or five softboxes, up to 4' wide... RARELY get 'em out except for product stills.
 
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