Gaffer: Joel Rainsley
Planning something similar? I can spec the kit, source the crew and handle the electrics.
Gaffering a commercial shoot in London, I used some of the benefits of the Arri SkyPanel S60 to save time changing set-ups and save the production money on consumables. This fully colour-temperature and hue-tuneable LED fixture provides ample soft light.
Using two of these heads as side lights for our subject let my sparks change quickly from set-up to set-up, and saved the production the expense of gelling the lights with different effect and colour-temperature gels.
With the S60s patched into a lighting desk, every feature could be controlled from the desk’s dimmer channels. There were a few technical requirements to consider, such as the number of channels available on our desk. The S60 offers several DMX modes: some control just a few features, such as colour temperature and plus and minus green, using only a few channels, while others give full control of every feature using as many as 20 channels per head.
Another challenge was checking the current colour temperature and hue from a lighting desk with no digital display of the settings. In future I’d consider adding a colour meter to my kit list so these could be checked manually. The shoot went well, and the clients and director of photography were happy with the results. I look forward to using these lights to their fullest on future projects.
