Deep in the heart of Cardiff suburbs, strange floating
spaceships have been spotted... Well, actually Helium Balloons with an eight
kilowatt light source inside. I had heard about these large softlight sources as
used on feature films, and wanted to see them for myself. Colin Jones, Gaffer on
the 20 week drama shoot during early summer 2002 for S4C invited me along.
Alfresco productions are the Production Company.
Here are two of the four currently in use on
this huge composite Victorian street set designed by Haydn Pearce. Rory
Taylor is the lighting cameraman who chose to use the balloons, partly
because of severe restraints on power and hire costs
This close up shows the nature of the fabric
covered balloons which are held aloft by about £200 worth of Helium. They
are easy to move around at their working height, a bit like walking a sky born
dog! Each of the two light sources that you see here are comprised of four
1Kwatt bubbles in a star formation.
I measured about 800 lux of simulated
skylight at head height from one of the balloons at about 5 to 6 metres
high.
The set has been very skillfully designed to
maximise use of this 23,000 square foot former warehouse. Rockwool about
half a metre thick has been installed in the roof space above the 40 foot
high cyclorama.
Rory has the balloons moved around according
to which area is being shot. They provide an excellent 'skylight' source.
Using 320 ASA film, he finds his operating stop is between F2.8 and f4.
The set is extremely realistic with stone
cobbled streets and even the odd real tree.
and this is the real tree! It has to capable
of being climbed.
The set is, I believe, modelled on the town
of Mold in the middle of the 19th century.
The set is scheduled to remain for three
years to accommodate further series of this costume drama. It is
called Trefnant.
Here Rory is filming in the grocers shop with
a two tube Kino flow and the ubiquitous black wrap.
Colin Jones displaying his trade mark:
Balloon Lighting Wales!
A 10K peeps around the corner of one of the
balloons to give some modelling to the set.
..........If you want to know more about Helium
filled balloons light sources, call the expert (Colin Jones) on: 07850
279995 or, try clicking
here where there is a
considerable resource on helium balloons generally.
