L IGHT CONTROL | FEATURE
LIGHTICIANS NEW APP LAUNCH FOR ALL PRODUCTIONS Although many manufacturers are making their own apps or have already made them, like DMG, there are a few independent companies who make DMX control apps for use by everyone. Lighticians is a company run by people who have come from the industry, and so make the point of marketing themselves as filmmakers creating their apps for shooters. Their app Elixir also looks to reduce the learning curve for DMX control. It has the feel of a household app with the function of a professional tool that speaks the language of a filmmaker As you would expect, there is digital gelling with colour calibration across multiple fixture brands. You can make adjustments and save customised gels as colour swatches. There are save-and-share projects, colour swatches and custom fixture profiles. You can also duplicate projects to quickly create multiple looks. The really good news is that you can simultaneously control all fixture parameters from different lighting brands regardless of a fixture’s HSI, RGBW, bi-colour or FX mode. The app promises to be plug-and-play, is scalable and customisable for novices to advanced customers. Their base station is an all- in-one DMX to Wi-Fi networking device for lighting control. It’s
RIGHT Screenshots from Lighticians Elixir lighting control app.
discussion of ideas – how do we get a certain look that fits the story, the scene and the period. DMX is another brilliant tool that frees up ever more creative options. The speed to experiment on set using your finger rather than a collection of time-consuming gels is a major step forward. The importance of the conversation and understanding between departments of how to achieve a desired look and feel for a film still remains the key to a successful project. “The advantages are speed and control from a remote interface. Full remote RGB control is an incredibly powerful tool to experiment with mood, texture and feeling. There can be a slight reliability problem with wireless/bluetooth connections from time to time, which can be frustrating if a glitch occurs, but it’s a technology in its infancy so these problems will be ironed out over time. “Having used a DMX system on this film I can’t really see being without it in the future. It’s another huge step forward in a very exciting time to be making films. This is absolutely the future of pro lighting control, and I think the uptake has been huge over the past few years.”
internal fixtures, and you could dial in mood, colour and intensity using your iPad whilst watching the monitor. There were night exteriors and night car rigs where we programmed lighting effects on a series of fixtures using DMX through the iPad. DMX CONTROL “The lighting design was to feel naturalistic and true to the period, so in terms of positioning fixtures my approach was simple: once you have the fixtures where you want them, through RGB and DMX control you can take your mood anywhere you want at the slide of the finger. That is a revelation. “I don’t see any blurring of lines using DMX technology when it comes to the role of a gaffer. As with all meaningful creative relationships, the key thing is the
compatible with all standard wireless products, such as LumenRadio receivers. They promise it is designed for all production sizes.
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