Large Bounce Source

Are there any suppliers of very large bounce boards or bounce textiles (windbags or muslin) in the UK, the largest I was able to source was a 30' x 30' windbag from AFM, I was really after a 40' x 40' windbag or a 20' x 40' Motorised board.

Cheers

Daniel Bronks
DP
UK

Arri Focus have a 20 * 60 heavy silk.

Cheers

Geoff Boyle FBKS
Director of Photography
EU Based
www.cinematography.net

> the largest I was able to source was a 30' x 30' windbag from AFM, I >was really after a 40' x 40' windbag or a 20' x 40' Motorised board.

what were you trying to achieve Daniel?

Matthew Woolf
NYC DP

>"what were you trying to achieve Daniel?"

Matthew I was shooting a profile car shot in a studio which was top lit with a Fisher light. The car then reversed to camera and all the film gear was packed away in the car before it drove off. I just needed a big enough frontal bounce to maintain the integrity of the car lighting even when the car moved. We managed but the 30 x 30 was barely large enough.

It is hard for production to understand the necessity of such a large reflector, I felt they thought It was unreasonable to ask construction to make something bigger. I know Fisher rent motorised boards in LA, but not here.

Thanks Geoff re the heavy silk, what do you generally use when you light through it, without it looking like several sources?

Daniel Bronks
DP
UK

Daniel Bronks wrote :

>Matthew I was shooting a profile car shot in a studio which was top lit >with a Fisher light. We managed but the 30 x 30 was barely large >enough.

I remember seeing giant floating "lighting balloons" at NAB last year. Some of them were the size of blimps and were lit internally. I specifically saw the use of them in lighting autos.

Can't remember the manufacturer's name at the moment. If looked like they had everything from Chinese lantern sized balloons up to maybe 60'x30'.

-- Steve Hullfish
-- Verascope Pictures

Hi Daniel, I haven't used the silk from Arri Focus I was just chatting to them last week about a car job I have coming up ...

I'm still thinking about sources!

Cheers

Geoff Boyle FBKS
Director of Photography
EU Based
www.cinematography.net

Daniel,

Have you considered using 4 - 20' x 20' on trussing, you can build them as big as you like & then use bed sheets to cover the truss areas. I've gone as big as 80' x 40' & 60' x 60' comfortably using this system.

Regards,

James Mc Guire
Gaffer
Dublin/Leavesden

>I remember seeing giant floating "lighting balloons" at NAB last year.
>Some of them were the size of blimps and were lit internally.

When "Lolita" was shooting in New Orleans back in 1997 they used blimps or something similar. It was an amazing sight to see. The quality and character of the light was wonderful. They lit up 2 blocks in the French Quarter.

Not an easy thing to do.

Joseph T McDonnell III
Cinematography/High Definition
IATSE 600
New Orleans, La
Los Angeles, Ca

Stephen Hullfish wrote :

>>I remember seeing giant floating "lighting balloons" at NAB last year.

Maybe your eyes had been drinking or it could of been the "Solarc" by Airstar look them up on www.airstar-light.com They have various styles and shapes and might be a good alternative to large bounce source - save you time on all that rigging IMHO.

Ed Mash
DoP
London

Ed Mash wrote :

> it could of been the "Solarc" by Airstar look them up on
> www.airstar-light.com They have various styles and shapes and might >be a good alternative to large bounce source.

Airstar is exactly the product I saw. I remember the picture of the Arche de Triumph. I think the Tube product in their line might suit the auto shoot better than the Solarc. The tubes would probably provide a nicer reflection than the spherical balloon. I remember that part of the pitch in using these instead of traditional bounced sources was the ease of moving them.

Stephen Hullfish

Stephen Hullfish wrote :

> I remember that part of the pitch in using these instead of traditional >bounced sources was the ease of moving them.

This is what makes them so applicable to cars, especially when you're trying to achieve that liquid reflection of light it. It can be frustrating trying to move a car "on camera", the airstar however can be moved quickly and subtly, and the tubular shapes in particular create great reflections. Not sure I'd recommend them on a windy day though!

Of course a floating ceiling with a hard source is also another great way to light a car.

Ed Mash
DoP
London

Hi,

There is also an alternative called the Bag-O-Light. However this is fixed to a light directly. On a recent shoot we had a couple attached to 6K each fixed on a separate crane.

Nice lights.

They also have smaller ones. Worth having a look at it.

Regards

Emmanuel, Munich
Assistant Caméra - Camera Assistant - Kamera Assistent
BVK- European based
Mobil# Munich +491608036889 - London +447910034443 (please use German
number)
cml-listmum

So these balloons come 40' long do they?

Dan Bronks
DP
UK

Daniel Bronks wrote :

> So these balloons come 40' long do they?

I've just checked the website and the TUBE comes in several sizes.

You could string 2 x TUBE 880HH together, which at 23.6 ft each would give you 47.2 feet in total or take the TUBE 400Ha at 11.5ft / 440HH at 16ft and lie them side by side like sausages in a pan until you hit the magic distance of 40! Which with a bit of rough maths means 10 x 400ha or 7.142857142857 of the 440HH.

www.airstar-light.com

Ed Mash
Dop
London