Will these lights be enough for a short horror film. Please Help

B

billygraydon

Active member
I am currently set to shoot a short horror film which takes place in a local abandoned missile silo and was wondering if the renting the following lighting kit would be enough.

Arri 4 light kit.
"Mix and Match" any combination of
1k (1000w), 650w, 300w, 150w, 100w.

Includes:
4 Arri lights
4 light stands
barndoors
diffusion material
rolling case

Any help would be greatly appreciated. look forward to hearing from you.
 
That may not be enough depending upon the area you want to light at any given scene. Also what will you do for power? Doubtful there is power down there now is there? Some kind of generator will be necessary most likely unless they have a generator that they used for power before and that can be fired up again.
 
well the rooms are not too big and usually when filming in there we will be filming one room at a time. maybe 12' by 12'.

As far as power I do have a generator which I am going to have to bring along.
 
Sounds like that kit should do the trick for you then based on what you said and if you have a generator that can handle that wattage if all are on at the same time.
 
Just a word of warning on the generator. Make sure it is in a well ventilated area (not down in the silo). Carbon monoxide poisoning is a real danger.
 
Yea I plan to keep it outside I still have to figure ou exactly I am going to do that.

Which wattages should I choose?
 
Good thinking Paul! For sure whatever ventilation system they have down there won't be working if the silo doesn't have power.

The safe way to figure out capacity is to add up all the wattages of the fresnels you choose (say 4 1KW = 4000W) and then add another 50% to that, so 6000W generator to run the 4 1K fresnels. You could perhaps get away with a smaller generator but you should always have some safety margin. And its absolutely necessary to have such a margin when using HMIs as the startup pulse of the ballast causes a big current spike in the beginning. Tungsten are much less demanding in the startup spike.
 
Last edited:
I think if you are creative enough you can make that kit work wonders. For a 30min short I just did we bout a 1k, and 2 650's, used a bunch of cheap clamp lights and a lot of ingenuity and it turned out perfect for what we needed, I think people tend to over do lights now a days and just use a bunch of un necessary ones.
 
Elmy said:
I think if you are creative enough you can make that kit work wonders. For a 30min short I just did we bout a 1k, and 2 650's, used a bunch of cheap clamp lights and a lot of ingenuity and it turned out perfect for what we needed, I think people tend to over do lights now a days and just use a bunch of un necessary ones.
Click to expand...

Agreed -- but i find this is mostly true with using one big source, say a 2.5 HMI Par on a 5k. You don't want to use these to hose the set down with light. So, a good supply of flags, silks and nets will be needed to shape the light.
 
I think the problem is people forget about accessories like that too much. Light does nothing for you if you can't mold it
 
If I was going into a abandoned missile silo I would be worried about mold and fungus growing in that dark area, bring a respirator don't touch the walls or fungus/mold.

Get a better assortment of lighting is what I'd recommend without additional details of your shoot, (double wick candles, china balls, mogul 100/200/300, tungsten 150/150/350/350/650/1k, flo 4' quad & 4' double with both globe sets, 1 or 2 1200 fresnel/par/parnel HMI's).

Genny, lunch box, cables and 1 ton grip package would be a nice addition.
 
people go there to paintball on the weekends its a dirty place but it is open in many parts so the fungus and any other harmful things are really not a concern.

An assortment of light such as that would be tough considering I will have a generator on hand to power these lights.

If there was an alternative I would prefer to use as little lights as possible and give it a natural look but we shall see how I can manage that.

Thanks for all the input everything It has been very helpful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top