RGB LED for color wash

egproductions

egproductions

Veteran
So I recently shot some interviews at a school that has some RGB LEDs mounted along their celing. They were really great to leverage since it was easy to throw up a color wash of the school colors on the background of my interviews. I believe there were 5 LEDS mounted.

Here is how it turned out. You will notice the bacground color. The subject was lit with two kickers and a butterfly key light.

http://www.eliecreative.com/rynj12132016/Dinner%20Videos%202018/Drafts/Rabbi%20k%20-%20Honoree_v4.mp4

It got me thinking, I would love to have some sort of portable setup where I can easily throw an RGB color wash on any background I am filming. Can I pull this off with good results with 3 lights to create the wash or will it looks really uneven?

The other big question is what RGB lights are good for this. I want to be able to manipulate the colors easily (and even proclivity if I'm given RGB values) and I want to make sure they won't flicker under normal frame rates.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
I have two of the Hive 100 C's. They are pretty quick to set up for a color wash - similar to what you are talking about. Though in your example - you might need more than 2 for such a wide background - especially if also a long throw. But I like the ability to dial in colors easily while using my phone app to do so remotely.
 
After a lot of research I eventually went with Chauvet Slimpar Pro H for this use, which are RGBAW+UV. Pretty affordable, totally silent, and uses 1200kz pwm which supports 48,50,60,100, 120, 200 etc shutter speeds. I built a whole office studio of these for an ad agency and they render colors quite well in my tests especially if you mix all the color channels together and tune to your subject and camera. I got one for about $180 used for my own use recently. Also tried the Adj 12p hex lights since there was one for $120 used, and they are cheaper with better flicker rate and slightly more output but aren't silent and the noise was not ideal for a short film I used them on. If you don't care about fan noise or are flexible on shutter speeds there are all kinds of options in the color changing lights space, but the selection narrows very quickly for good flicker free pwm frequencies, silent operation, and affordability.

Here's the show I use those on (lit only with those lights, foreground and background) : http://bit.ly/2FWoowI

Only caveat is I'd highly recommend a dmx system for such lights because it's so powerful to quickly fade and program every color channel and mix colors. I got a cheap dmx-wifi dingle I use on them. You can also get an IR remote that is handy but a bit tougher to tweak custom color with. I call these my "Poor-man's Digital Sputnik"
 
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While you're listing ones almost definitely out of his price range, how about Arri skypanels or l7/l5-c fresnels, litepanels gemini, the upcoming litegear stardust, astera ax1...

If you want an amazingly inexpensive option I've successfully used 100w $20 rgb/rgbw led strips pretty effectively with flicker free and non flicker free controllers.
 
Neglected to mention ARRI’s & Kino’s extensive RGB offerings, but they’re bulkier than the others previously mentioned, & imagine more than you’d want to store, & transport in the NYC area.

For your application I’d likely go with a pair of Wasps, or possibly the Quasars. I’m a big fan of the Crossfades, & hopefully Quasar will offer the QLED Rainbows without the Lumen Radio for a lesser cost.
 
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hmmm a lot to consider. I've been know to spend $500-$1K on a light but beyond that for a color wash (almost like a "B" light, seems excessive). I like how the sputnik has a vlock on the light itself.

I'm leaning towards the Chauvet Slimpar Pro H because of the price and throw but I'll still look into this when I have a little more time.
 
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