Assembling a lighting and grip package, thoughts?

[Mark K.]

Hi Guys,

This is a bit of a long one I warn you, but I'd really appreciate any advice or suggestions people might have.

I've reached a point in my career where I want to focus more purely on lighting and camera, and move away from the various ancillary creative freelancing jobs that have (till now) supplemented my film work. I'm pretty good at what I do now (and perhaps more importantly - I'm good enough) so I want to put together a small lighting and grip package that will allow me to gaffer on projects when I'm not shooting others (and basically just spend more time on sets).

Now I am limited by the amount of space I have in the back of my ute (that's a "pickup truck" to my international friends!), but the following package is something I can get away with once I install some custom shelving.

In terms of the lighting package my primary goals are speed, precision and control. Any time I can save setting up additional flags/cutters, means more time spent on takes (where it belongs), it's also more efficient - and I like that. Which is why I'm thinking I'd prefer these particular fixtures.

The Dedo units offer more control than anything shy of a Leko, so it's easier to get the effects you want with them (having larger 650w units, and a daylight balanced 1.2k HMI version simply extends the scale of what I can do with them - relative to the standard 150w Dedos).

I just picked up my first Area 48 Remote Phosphor softlight yesterday after comparing it directly to a Kino Flo Diva 400 (the standard softlight that I'm most confident and familiar with using) and it beats both the light output and colour accuracy of the fluoro unit by a considerable margin (by eye, I'd guess it's got about 1/2-stop more output), and the Area 48 offers the added benefits of being battery operable, lightning fast to switch from daylight to tungsten, and has no colour shift as you dim the unit (so your not having to add +green gels like you often do when you dim a Diva with tungsten tubes - so there's time saved there as well).

Now obviously this kit is a fair bit different from the standard small lighting package you get these days - which seem to generally consist of a couple of HMIs, Blondies, Redheads, Tungsten Fresnels, Kino Softlights & a couple of 150w Dedolights. So what I'm most interested to hear, is whether people would actually want to bring in a gaffer with a package like this?

I feel pretty confident that I could light everything that I'm used to lighting with a conventional small package, faster and more precisely with this package - but that's irrelevant obviously, if no one wants to hire me with a package they're not familiar with.

So what do think guys, is this a solid package? Would you want to work with it? And if not, what would you want to be different and why?

This is going to be a substantial investment for me obviously, so any thoughts, suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Mark


(items in bold are the things I don't own yet)

Lights:
1x 1.2k HMI PAR
1x 1.2k HMI Dedolight
2x 150w HMI Fresnels (capable of 5600k and 3200k, 650w tungsten equivalents)
2x 650w Halogen Dedolights + dimmers
2x 150w Halogen Dedolights
2x Area 48 Remote Phosphor Softlights (capable of 5600k and 3200k - they're Kino Diva 400 alternatives)
3x Z96 Small LED Panels

Grip:
5x 40" C-stands + Grip Heads + Grip Arms
6x standard light stands of various sizes
2x 4'x4' Floppies + assorted blacks
2x Gel/Diffusion Kits
4x Umbrellas (white, gold, silver)
1x 2'x3' Digital Juice Flag Kit (nets, silks, black block etc)
1x 6'x6' Overhead Butterfly (with silk, and ultrabounce)
3x 4'x4' Diffusion Frames (216, 250, 251)
3x Scissor Clamps (for ceiling frames)
2x 2'x3' 4-in-1 Reflector Frames
3x Cardellini Clamps
6x Super Clamps
2x Magic Arms
10x Shotbags

Power:
1x 3.5kw Portable Generator

 

[Christopher Mills]

if they'll fit....

if they'll fit....

Add a pair of 4x4 hard reflectors with yokes...
hard and soft side silver foil..
extremely useful in redirecting daylight, and never need electricity.. can also be used to bounce your hard sources at night.

 

[Mark K.]

I looked into hard reflectors with yokes, and may still pick up some mirror reflectors, but then I stumbled on to these hard-framed 5-in-1 Reflectors:

Being rigid they give you all the control of a dedicated yoke-based reflector. They also give you gold, silver, white, black and diffusion and only take 30 seconds or so to switch between. The silver side works a treat for bouncing sunlight in where you need it. White gives you a softer option. And covering the silver or gold sides with the diffusion cover give you a nice softer bounce option that's got more punch than just white.

Really versatile little bits of gear, and they don't take up much space.

 

[Roger Johansen]

where did you get these Mark????

 

[Mark K.]

I stumbled across them in-store at Dragon Image here in Melbourne, but I'm pretty sure they're manufactured/sold by the same no-name-brand Chinese manufacturers you get most cheap collapsible reflectors/stands etc. from.

They don't have a name unfortunately, so perhaps try googling 5-in-1 reflector frame?

The big one's cost about $120 (though they're probably a fair bit cheaper anywhere that isn't Australia).

 

[Steve Das]

Add a pair of 4x4 hard reflectors with yokes...
hard and soft side silver foil..
extremely useful in redirecting daylight, and never need electricity.. can also be used to bounce your hard sources at night.

These are the hard reflectors that will give you more light to play with and shape.
But they are usually crated in wood box containers so they take up quite abit of space...you might be able to
get away with one but yeah 2 would be better. Plus you need a combo stand to hold them.
The reflectors you found seem more for shaping light in close-ups.

If you have a budget total you are going for..you could put the prices down in your list and maybe people
could suggest some additions or substitutions to your list.

http://www.msegrip.com/matthews-42-in-x-42-in-reflector.html

 

[Mark K.]

I really want a couple of those Matthews reflectors, they've been on my list for years. But sadly I just don't have the space to carry them in my current setup. If I expend to a van or add a trailer down the road, I'll definitely be adding two of them.

 

[Justin McAleece]

Here's a question. Do the extra foil baffle remnants mean anything to the softness of the soft side of the shiny boards? I've heard grips tell me that they're just left over from the manufacturing process but that they don't really matter at all. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Charlie Hohenshilt]

Ask yourself a few questions.
1. How far are you going to go with this truck?
2. Do you want to compete with other grip trucks?
3. Do you have enough friends in the industry that are willing to pay you to rent this grip truck, or can you rent it to established production companies in your area?

Then take a look at the grip trucks in your area. What do they have on them? Does yours match up?
Can you sub-rent gear to fulfill an order that has items that you don't own? How much time will it take to pick up and return gear?

What is the biggest shot you could do with your truck package?

Can your gear stay safe outside on a slightly windy day? A 6x6 silk becomes a sail in relatively low winds. Are C-stands going to keep it safe?

What kind of insurance do you need before someone gets hurt?


Don't give your gear away for free. It is unprofessional and hurts the entire industry. Gear does not grow on trees and it needs to be maintained. You are the one who is going to have to pay to have your 1200 repaired when it breaks down. You are going to have to pay for a new bulb when it goes green after a few hundred hours burning. Charge for expendables, you paid for them, they used them. I'm not saying to gouge them. We operate a business first, or we have a really expensive hobbie that is sure to fail.