The exciting thing about the Arri Alexa, F-3 and the new wave of DSLR’s is their high ISO range
to minimum noise ratio. This has opened up a whole new way to light as a cinematographer.
Whether it be daylight interior or exterior, dawn, dusk, night exterior or interiors the option
now exist to use available light in new ways, as well as working with less. The films that I shot
prior to Act of Valor, our lighting package fit into a 48’ semi truck along with multiple 10-ton
truck drop loads to expose film. We are in very exciting times and they are about to be shaken
again on November 3rd with Canon’s announcement . Using available light is one thing, but
shaping the available is what cinematography is all about. Just because you can, doesn’t mean
you should.
Here is a perfect example. St. Germain Puerto Rico. We needed to light 8 city blocks. I had two
lighting technicians. So I rented 2 -1200 watt HMI par lights
(http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/126690-
REG/LTM_HH_286K_Cinepar_1_2K_HMI_PAR.html) and 1-3000 Watt Honda Generator
(http://www.wisesales.com/eu3000isa-honda-generator.html) that I hid behind the church to
block the sound so that it would not effect our dialogue. Added 6-4’ green and yellow single
KINO flo’s (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/258371REG/Kino_Flo_CFX_4801_4_Single_Fluorescent_Light.html) in the store windows behind
the actors as they walk in the plaza, this would also help add color dimension as well as great out
of focus highlights when I went in for close ups. Their key light would be two stings of carnival
bulbs that were 200’ long, and the edge/back lights would be the street lamps that lined the side
of the plaza as they took their stroll. There was way too much light at 1600 ISO. So I started to
manicure and shape the wide shot. Bottom left corner I used black wrap
http://www.filmtools.com/blacstudfoil.html to block out the streetlamp because it was too hot
on the left side of frame and took my eye away from the actors on the cobblestone street in the
center of the plaza. The building on the left that has a coolish tone was smoking hot. I wrapped
Neurtral Density .9 gel (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/87265REG/LEE_Filters_6NDSTD_4x4_Neutral_Density_ND_.html) around that so that I kept the
cool color contrast but it took it down. A church is such an important part of the Hispanic
culture. I wanted to highlight the steeple as well as its body. We were under serious time
constraints that day and I should have taken the 1200 HMI par down about 2 stops that hit the
body of the church. The steeple looked great but I burned the church up just a bit too much. I
added full plus green (http://www.filmandvideolighting.com/lee-244-full-plus-green-lightinggel-filter-sheet-film-video-stage-tv.html) to the HMI’s so that they felt dirty and not perfect.
Here are the units that lit the Plaza:
My lighting package now is pretty much everything you can either purchase from Home Depot
or out of a Grainger catalog. I always used practical light to motivate my sources but now the
practical can be the source. There is no need to hide lights or hang them to simulate what that
particular light would be doing. I have a very simple package which is a mix of some movie
lights, some theatrical lights and then your local hardware store. Here you go:
LOCAL HARDWARE STORE PKG
4-Single bulb shop fluorescents w/ cool white tubes, with daylight & tungsten bulbs. Vitalight
for Daylight and Optima 3200 for Tungsten. This is easy to hide behind bars, bottles, in corners,
great top light in a garage, office, etc.
(http://www.monstermarketplace.com/lighting-fixtures-and-light-bulbs/f15t8-fluorescentsingle-strip-light-fixture)