We have certainly come a long way since I first started out in the film industry. Fifty years ago the light of choice was a carbon arc brute – brute in name and brute in size.
The front Fresnel lens was 650mm and the soft, even, light output has not, in my opinion, been surpassed even today. The unit comprised the housing, a mechanism to feed the carbon arc through, resistors, solid cables and A boxes. The power required to run the beast was 225amps! One light, one man. We used eight on Shaka Zulu. Some people would say that we have not changed much if we look at the 18k and 30k HMI units. We have gone from a simple unit to one packed full of electronics and costs.
Not everything has changed. Still used to this very day are the tungsten units – a very simple concept of filament globes in a housing with a reflector. Units ranged from 10k down. These units have been work horses for over half a century and although their shape has been jazzed up they are essentially the same units used in the old Hollywood films.
Modernity has seen both smaller and larger units introduced. These range from 150w up to the still very popular 20/24k. While the tungsten soft and cyc lights still play a leading role in TV studios and theatres, various methods of control were introduced to play with the output of the lights, and these ranged from the initial analogue dimmers through to today’s compact digital dimmers.
As in the case of the brute, the power requirements of the bigger lights are large, and particularly if dimmers are used, the power is then multiplied by the number and wattage of the units connected to the dimmer. This meant lighting technicians in days gone by had to be very strong to manipulate the large cables, lights and stands required on set.
The control boards linked to the dimmers have also undergone reconstructive surgery – from the clunky 0-10v analogue boards with limited channels we have progressed to stylish and modern DMX/artnet boards capable of controlling many universes of channels on a single unit.
However, while in the past it was quite simple to figure out how to control the lights, we now get in front of this multi-function board and have not a clue what to do next, often resulting in the hiring of additional staff to simply put the lights on!
What tungsten lights have in abundance is simplicity – if it won’t switch on either the switch is off, the globe blown, no power to it, or the cable is faulty. Try fixing today’s electronically operated fixtures that way! Other units that have survived the test of time are the ubiquitous Blonds and Redheads, still in use many years after Mario de Sisti pioneered the way with his designs.
So whilst the tungsten workhorses were going about their business, in the background, factory engineers were going about producing brighter and brighter lights. The HMI lights were evolved! People were astounded by the output of these new sources, and they quickly gained a foothold on sets. They reproduced daylight! WOW! And today they are the staple diet of location shoots all over the world. These lights range from 100w up to the massive 30k, the globe alone is the cost of a small country’s GDP, but light output to wattage consumed was much better than tungsten, so bills were reduced and power cables became less heavy.
However, it was back to a number of items per unit – housing, head to ballast cable and, of course, the ballast itself. So the more lights, the more assistance was needed for setup and de-rig. Savings were spent on labour and everyone was happy.
The flavour of the month is the multi-faceted units with the 1.8k, 4k and 9k units leading the way. These units have taken off by producing much larger outputs than the conventional units. A 1.8k faceted PAR has the equivalent output of a normal 4k.
On to the next big wave to flood the market – fluorescent. This was the beginning of something big and has changed the way a lot of DOPs work as it has enabled the use of smaller powered units to illuminate larger spaces efficiently. The tubes didn’t flicker on camera like normal units, nor did they have the dreaded green tinge associated with household units. Development had evolved utilising ballasts to control the frequency and cycle rates however this also added to the cost of the units, so once again we had heads, ballasts and head to ballast units.
Built-in dimmers have enhanced the usefulness of the units. Tubes became available in daylight and tungsten so the set could be easily changed from warm to cold. Green screen and blue screen tubes were also added to the mix, which made it a lot easier to shoot this format.
Apart from the normal 4ft and 2ft tubes we were introduced to very small units with tiny tubes, as well as the multibank units with 6ft tubes. There was something for everyone. The fluorescent fitting has undergone a metamorphosis lately with the introduction of LED tubes in the fixtures.
Even more latitude is now available in that the tubes are a straight 220v, so by simply applying power at either end single tubes can be inserted anywhere on set. The fixtures themselves no longer have ballasts so the unit power cable just fits into a wall plug and has the tube dimmer on the cable. How easy is that?
Tubes come in the colour correct daylight or tungsten keeping the flexibility of their conventional predecessors. Other units are on the market using the 55w tubes to make the fixtures smaller and more compact.
So where are we now? In the midst of another great shakeup in lighting: The LED revolution
Everyone is trying to get into the LED market and fixtures are becoming brighter, smaller, and more flexible. And that’s the problem. No sooner have we bought an LED and unpacked the box, and it is superseded by another model.
The benefits of LED are tremendous. The power requirement is minimal. You can plug the equivalent of five X 2ks into a single 15amp plug point. The heat factor is greatly reduced. LED’s still do get hot but they have a system of dissipating the heat which leaves the housing cool to the touch. This is a joy to all the technicians who regularly burn themselves on conventional fixtures. Additionally because of the low power requirements the cabling is much lighter and more manageable for the number of fixtures required.
Most LED fixtures are available with DMX control built in eliminating the need for heavy power draining dimmers and cables. There are many lightweight LED panels on the market which are battery powered and can be taken into the field. These panels normally come with the ability to swing between daylight and tungsten.
However, this raises another query – aren’t we being short changed in that we only get half a light? We probably have a 100w fixture but, at any one time, a 50w output. While this system is becoming very popular in the LED market, I cannot help feeling that most DOPs know they are going to shoot either 3 200 or 5 600 so why are we wasting the other half of the light?
Of course, colour also comes into the equation. Initially we had red, green and blue. Now we have red, green, blue, white and amber or other combinations/multiples thereof. This is fantastic but once again output is sacrificed for the number of variations. Simplicity of use in changing colours makes this all worthwhile, but is the same true in the tungsten/daylight options?
By John Harrison, Southern Lighting Solutions / MovieVision
