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LIGHTING LED FUTURE
design or DOP wants the lighting to look.
people think. For one thing the sun is staying the same power. Lighting is often used to balance other sources, windows, shadows… nature. So the amount of light needed to balance a shot can be more constrained by the environment than the camera. Second thing, having more light with more responsive cameras lets the production do cool things like high- speed photography, playing more with dynamic range and depth-of-field… If LED lighting can cost-effectively provide powerful sources there is no need to significantly reduce the amount of light used if it offers new creative options. KK, Digital Sputnik: The emphasis is shifting from high output to high precision control of lights. MW, ARRI: I suppose this might depend on the lighting designer but certainly there are many sets that can be lit at much lower light levels than ever before. This might make the set a more pleasant environment for the actors and crew and could allow for subtler shading of the light. But it really depends on how the lighting
Def: What are the new techniques that DOPs and lighting designers need to know to keep up with the pace of innovation? BB, Litepanels: Two main developments are the use of colour and the innovations of wireless connectivity. Firstly, with regards to colour, LED fixtures like the Litepanels Gemini allow DOPs to quickly use a full spectrum of colours to add impact to any scene, providing improved flexibility and accuracy which are both essential. Secondly, as infrastructures shift to all wireless/IP connectivity, lighting designers need to have fixtures that are enabled with wireless technology. This reduces the time and trouble of cabling fixtures to control panels and gives them the ability to work much more quickly in setup and strike. KH, Sumolight: The more lightweight and cooler LED fixtures, the more they make new light-shaping accessories possible. The control via Wi-Fi enables smaller set-ups, a very flexible and fast set-up of multiple lights. One thing that needs to be taken into account is that compared to HMI lights there is not a single way any more to avoid flicker in the recording. Many manufacturers have different ways to tweak frequencies at the PSU that the user needs to be aware of. We did choose to design a PSU that doesn’t need to be tuned at all to allow flicker-free recordings with high frame rates. FH, Kino Flo: Lighting techniques and their challenges have been pretty much the same historically. Film and camera technology has however evolved and with it the lighting fixtures to provide the inherent lighting requirements. Cameras and lighting will have to provide more metadata for the post-production workflow than was previously possible.
NOW, THERE IS NO REASON WHY LED SHOULD BE SEEN AS A COMPROMISE
RP, Cineo Lighting: One of the greatest advantages that digital lighting solutions provide is allowing manufacturers to custom-design the colour spectrum that a light produces. In our industry, we work at the intersection of art and science and both aspects have to be considered when looking at LED technology. A spec sheet alone will not tell you how a digital lighting instrument fits with the emotion you are creating. Best advice is old advice: a camera test. KK, Digital Sputnik: Today’s movie set is quickly becoming digital and will need more digital specialists and also unified digital solutions in order to use the advantages of digitalisation to the maximum effect. MW, ARRI: DOPs and lighting designers need to be aware of the basics of any new technology. This will allow them to ask the important questions and will also aid them in knowing what to look for when experimenting with a new light. Having a basic understanding of colour science would be helpful but the most important thing is how they feel about the light after using it. Def: Has LED technology now reached a critical mass? Is it no longer seen as a compromise as was the case with digital cameras maybe six years ago?
ABOVE Rosco’s Silk 220 LED panel.
BELOW Kino Flo Select light and control.
DEFINITION AUGUST 2018
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