LIGHTING SPECIAL
to embrace the energy savings and lack of hazardous material disposal that comes with discharge lamps. Furthermore, ARRI products are designed for durability and repairability to ensure the longest possible device life. Def: How do you see the relationship between lighting manufacturers, DOPs and production teams evolving? Are there areas where collaboration could improve? TK: Lighting manufacturers are gaining more access than ever to their target audiences – like cinematographers – through social media, professional societies like the International Cinema Lighting Society (ICLS) and other kinds of internet-based communities. This ongoing communication has created mutual awareness of customer needs and led to more responsive iterations of lighting products that previously took significantly longer to realise. This valuable collaboration has the potential to improve, with a clearer, shared lighting language commonly used by all parties. LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY AND SOFTWARE have evolved TO EMPLOY image-based lighting ”
TRUE COLOURS Aputure’s STORM 1000c features the powerful new BLAIR-CG light engine
RK: In the past ten to 15 years, we’ve seen the transition from film to digital and from tungsten to LED. In both cases, this means projects with lower budgets can achieve results previously out of reach. It also means our customer base is much more spread out, both in terms of geography and budget. The importance of listening to our customers has not changed, but the variety of perspectives has grown. To that end, there is always room for us manufacturers to improve at talking with and understanding the needs of our customers. It’s truly a continuous practice. To our customers, please keep sending us your feedback. We need to hear your voice! Def: What is one feature or capability your clients most frequently request – and how does it shape your R&D priorities? RK: Within the cine market, wireless connectivity has quickly become a requirement. At the same time, price points have become more sensitive. We have a fixed cost with the inclusion of wireless capability, so we have to work to avoid unnecessary costs in other aspects of the product. We have to
make sure every aspect of our products is creating value for our customers. TK: Ease of service has recently dominated Aputure’s feature requests. This feature completely transforms and shapes physical and software product research, as well as development, to make easy service possible. Def: As the boundaries between physical and virtual production blur, how is lighting tech adapting to serve hybrid workflows? RK: This is something we’ve been focusing on quite a bit over the last few years. One of the results is our Digital Twins. These are exact replicas of our lights in the Unreal Engine. The photometric behaviour and physicality are exactly the same as the real fixtures. This means crews can use the exact same fixtures on their virtual set and their practical set. TK: Lighting tech and software have now evolved to employ image-based lighting (IBL), which offers more dynamic or realistic lighting controls at simple and complex levels alike. For the first time, these IBL fixtures have given lighting
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