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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Spinning Light Rig

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Matt W.

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I just watched this Beyonce music video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaasJ44O5lI and was wondering how they got the spinning light rig that was used.

In close ups it appears to be six regular light bulbs in a circle; for some of the wider shots (the opening) they turned some of them off. Seems like they used multiple rigs. Anyhow, looks great. But the issue with building something like this is that the cable will get all tied up as the rig rotates. Are these custom rigs easily available to rent or possible to build? Is there a cord that has a bearing that carries electricity but can rotate freely? I want to make something to get a similar effect.

Would this work: http://www.360electrical.com/where_to_buy/retail.htm

I could use an old LP player or fan as a motor, but I'm worried about whether or not it would support the weight. Any ideas? And I've heard AC motors shouldn't be put on dimmers since they're designed to function at specific voltages only? No idea...not an electrician, but I want to put a motor on a dimmer.

Failing this I could bounce off a rotating cut out breadboard pinwheel or put a rotating cookie in front of a soft box? Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 
As far as weight goes, six porcelain sockets drilled into lightweight plexi with 100 - 650W bulbs in each should be under 5 pounds. If you use 300W or less with 6 sockets, you can wire them all together on a single cord, and you've got a 1.8K fixture that can plug into a household socket.

If you do wire them together, make sure you use a cable that can handle the amperage. For turntable product shots, we use a 50' stinger, wrapped around the turntable opposite the turning direction. The turntable unwinds itself as it spins. I imagine you could do something similar around the stand for your makeshift belt-drive motor. That will work if you're shooting takes about as long as the 1+1 video, with a similar speed.

If I remember correctly, you can dim the motor and it will usually work, you're just bringing about the quick death of the motor drive. So if it's a $20 yard sale record player and you only need it for as many shots as the 1+1 video, it will probably get you through the day. I could be wrong there.

You can also buy a motor for less than $100, possibly way cheaper, that will rotate at the speed you want. For around $100 you can get an adjustable one. A lot of these are marketed for displays, showrooms, expos, or cake trays. Like the ones in classy diners.

Good luck!
 
Matt W. said:
I just watched this Beyonce music video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaasJ44O5lI and was wondering how they got the spinning light rig that was used.
Click to expand...

This is where they "stole" the idea : L'Enfer d'Henri George Clouzot (1964)

A film that was never finished where they had unlimited budget and ended up doing months and months of testing with all kind of equipments and played a lot with rotating light systems. My uncle William Lubtchansky was camera assistant at the time and worked on all this crazy project. He spoke about the film and this lighting system they developed in a documentary released a few years ago. I think the light wheels were all rotated manually and they had electric contacts made by a kind of metallic sweep to avoid having any wire in the way and rotate for as long or as fast as they wanted.

watch some of the stunning images they did in this short video, there are many more available in the documentary along with explanations and I'm sure if you search online you will find more footage and discussion about this effect :

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9dizt_extrait-3-l-enfer-d-henri-georges-c_shortfilms

It is very interesting to see how a rotating light changes the expression on Romy Schneider 's face
 
Awesome, thanks for the help. The effect in L'Enfer looks great, I really like it.

I guess using wire brushes as contacts is a good idea. Doesn't sound completely safe. Could I make this by wiring six bulbs (we'd use 100w or 200w lights is my guess) to a copper plate, then soldering steel wool or copper wool (or a steel wire brush) to my electrical cable and having it brush up against the metal plate at all times? I know we couldn't touch the plate, obviously, but then I could put that on a separate motor on a dimmer. Would the voltage drop too much since steel isn't that good a conductor? Hmm...

Now to make this in two days. Going to try my best to be safe...
 
Steel Wool is very flammable.

NEVER use Steel wool for this, or any situation with sparks or open flame.

You should consider using 12v lights if you want to home brew this.

There are plenty of LED lights that are bright enough to do this effect so you can avoid high amp circuits and have the opportunity to use batteries as well.

You can find Lazy susan bearings for a couple of dollars that allow you to shoot through the center of a sheet of plywood or plexi.
 
brushes can work. There is a big difference between a brush and steel wool.
I would still consider working with low voltage lights for safety.
The connector in your link to would have to be located at center of rotation right in front of your lens.
You need something to allows the lens to see through the enter; Google pancake slip rings for an idea of what you need to build.
 
Are there low voltage lights available that would work? I am totally open to using LED lights, but they'd have to be around 3000K and not super hard light. Battery power is fine. I googled pancake slip rings, but that's beyond what I'm capable of making, unless I can just cut out two sheets of copper plating and put a brush against each. But where would I even buy the materials for that? My go-to store is Home Depot. Two copper rings and two brushes would be the idea, though, right?

I might just suggest we use two of these rigs, right off camera, with three bulbs each, and use the thing I posted above (that wouldn't work as an on-lens ring light, but would still spin). We're going to be putting glitter on the talent's skin, I think, so the glistening effect would still be there, though not as pronounced and the ring light would obviously be much nicer.

How would you design one of these? I'm not an electrician so a lot of my ideas are probably misguided. If there's a viable way of doing this with battery power obviously that would be my preference. And thanks very much for the help; I'm kind of lost here, if you hadn't guessed.
 
If I had to put together a quick proof of concept for an off camera fixture I would do this:
(Standard disclaimer, Do this at your own risk, I make no guarantees, YMMV, etc., etc..)

Go to Home Depot and get:

1x Westinghouse Industrial 56 in. White Ceiling Fan
Model # 7840900 Internet # 20275969 $77.00 Ea
$77.00

3 x Dorcy 72 Lumen - 3AA 24 LED Worklight
Model # 41-4227 Internet # 202677191 $10.00ea
$30.00

Misc:
Pipe Clamps, assorted nuts & bolts
1 x 5' Pipe, 4 x 2' pipes, and unions to create a stand
(If you don't already have a heavy duty light stand)
gaffer/duct tape
$30.00

Total $137

Assembly:

create a stand with the pipes

Mount the fan motor to 5' upright pipe, so that it is perpendicular to the floor ( clamps should bypassing the built in vibration/damper suspension.)

Attach the blades to the fan, duct tape the flashlights to the blades so they are somewhat balanced.

Important!! The fan motor will not be connected to an electrical source.

Spin the fan by hand. Record results

The fan should have enough momentum to keep going at a consistent speed for 10-20 seconds at a time, and an assistant should be able to maintain the speed by hand.
You can gel the flashlights correct for color and/or softness, or use different flashlights altogether.
 
Thanks very much, that's clever and much safer. I might try something slightly different since I know the director loves tungsten lights (and we're shooting at 3200K), but when that almost inevitably fails I'm building something very similar to what you described.
 
The easiest solution that won't be a headache to put together would be mounting 5 or 6 Fluorescent bulbs on a disk similar to what was suggested already. With 40 watt bulbs you can get a reasonable light output and select 3200k lights so you don't have to gel them. Mount a couple of inverters on the disk along with some gel batteries to power it. That way the disk is clear of all wiring and this option allows you to rotate freely. I have built an number of portable options like this for hand held lighting control, just not rotating, yet. It works very well and is not too expensive.
Larry
 
Results...

Results...

The final question is how much distance do you want between each of the lights--in terms of both circumference and diameter.

Circumference--if you want the effect of light falling off then picking back up, as in the 1+1 video, each light has to be a good distance away from the next. Exactly how far depends on the directionality of the light source (soft, right?), the intensity and how far the unit is from talent. Your final results are largely determinate on what fan do you pick--how many blades and how long are they?

Diameter--where do you place the lights on the blades, all the way at the end (for greatest distance) or closer to the center (for a more subtle effect?)
 
Just a thought, I don't know if it would work the same way but what if you did it a little differently. Take a large soft box with like a 1k and put a foam core circle mounted in front of it with holes cut out where the light would shine through. All you would have to do if figure out how to mount and spin the foam core verses a whole light assembly. It would solve the spinning electrical cable part but the "light quality" might not be the same. It would allow you to experiment with hole size and spacing a little easier though.
 
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