Biggest "Bang for the Buck" Setup
Bigest “Bang for the Buck” Setup
ARRI M-18 with a Mombo Combo stand
Scroll to bottom of this article to see the finished video
The Project
This was a really fun project to be a part of for a few reasons:
1) It is a passion project for the Director/ DP, Matt Wilcox (Blue Ox Films). Passion projects are exciting because they are usually really interesting content and the filmmaker is inherently very excited and passionate about the shoot- That tends to rub off on people.
2) We didn’t have a hard and fast shot list. There were a number of scenes we planned on but it was a very organic style of shooting. It was as if we were shooting for a documentary (I love lighting for docs). Our main plan was to light for a wide but give space for the dancers and the camera to move in a natural way.
3) Location Location Location. How cool is this place?!? It was next to impossible to point a camera in any direction and not have an incredible frame to work with.
Second Story Edge Light
The room the DP had chosen to shoot in was on the second story which called for a classic hard light setup through the window. With keeping budget the micro budget in mind, we used a light and stand that led to maximum efficiency. The Arri M-18 / Mombo Combo rig is the brightest light you can power off of standard house power and the tallest stand available on the market.
The Mombo Combo is an extra tall, four riser combo stand, capable of extending to 24’ and reach your second story windows. This stand is extra heavy duty and it is the tallest stand on the market. If you need to reach a second story window, this is what you’re going to need.
Another classic piece of gear we had at work was the ARRI M-18. In North America we have 120V power as standard in our commercial and industrial locations (We usually have a couple 240V circuits in each location but they are still made from two 120V circuits combined). Because of this, ARRI M-18 is the largest output light that can be powered through standard house power.
The Setup
The location did most of the heavy lifting for us. Once we got the M-18 up in the air, we stacked a couple KinoFlo Celeb LED’s and shot them through 250 diffusion to wrap the key light a little bit. We also had about 20 feet of negative fill on the left side of frame to add some contrast. Lastly, we had a hazer to give the set some mood and let those light shafts work.
