Small Talking Heads Kit

I've been shooting talking heads for my friend's Documentary "21 Days Before 30" and due to transportation constraints and the need just to be lightweight in general I've tailored the grip and lighting to a bare minimum but still have an effective kit that gets me through almost all situations. For a guy who normally carries everything but the kitchen sink, when he can, this is quite a feat!

The kit consists of:

(1) Redhead w/ 600w bulb (I find 600 has enough punch and saves you 4 amps over the 1K bulb)
(1) Arri 150 fresnel
(1) Lowel Pro-light (250w)
(1) Small Video Pro Chimera
(1) 1K Dimmer

(2) Medium kit stands
(2) Small kit stands
(1) 40" grip arm
(1) Standard grip head
(2) Mini Cardellini
(2) Mini Grip-heads
(1) 25lb sandbag
(3) 25' AC

Everything fits between a milkcrate, 1450 pelican case and a stand bag.

Generally the setup is the Chimera keying the interviewee and the 150 and Pro-light interchanging between backlighting and background lighting where appropriate. Our approach has been very natural so sometimes the Chimera is all I use. The project has also been interchanging cameraman so keeping it simple works to the benefit of changing crew and equipment.

The extra stand, grip arm, grip head and mini cardellini are used to support the boom mic. I could probably add a 2nd 1K dimmer and an extra sandbag.

21 Days Until 30

On my off days I've been helping my friend Lenny shoot a documentary following this woman, Jillian, who is trying to quit smoking 21 days before her 30th birthday.

We've been shooting on a Sony Z1U in DVcam mode. It's been interesting to spend more time with this camera as I haven't done much shooting with it.

Lighting has been super simple and super realistic. I've generally been popping an open face unit into a ceiling and then rimming with another source. I've started to bring out some of my lights just to make it easier (I was using a small Lowel kit that Lenny got) - keying with a redhead chimera and then a 150 fresnel to backlight if I need it.

The Shop..

Had a free today so I finally cleaned up my shop which had looked like a tornado had blown through it. I thought I'd take another picture since it's been almost a year since I took one last. There's been a lot of expansion in the last year and it's a reminder of all the production memories, new people and overall growth.

I've since put in a new floor, new shelves, more organization and more gear. Overall it's a much nicer space to work in now. Only time until I will probably have to move into a new facility.


2007


2006

Low Cost HMI's - ???

The guys over at Cool Lights (www.coollights.biz) are developing low cost HMI units which are targeted to be ready by this fall. You can read more info here at DVXuser.com. Will be interesting to see what they end up doing.

It's an exciting time to be a cinematographer...