Lighthouse Look

Hello All.

Does anyone have any experience shooting a lighthouse set and simulating an actual LIGHTHOUSE look?

I'm looking for examples on films, or possible options on how to come up with different options for a realistic look, or Poor man's process.

Thanks,
Steven Douglas Smith

>I'm looking for examples on films, or possible options on how to come >up with different options for a realistic look, or Poor man's process.

Never done it, but an idea comes to mind to try using beam projectors. They are available in 2Kw, 5Kw, 10/12Kw, and 20Kw in Tungsten. There is also a whole line of them in HMI as well. Mole's version are the ones I have used most commonly in the past. Here is a link to the specs :

http://extranet.mole.com/public/index.cgi?cmd=view_category&

parent=1899-1900-1905&id=1920

Michael Ambrose
Gaffer
L.A. Based

I thought the recent 'Very Long Engagement' had some terrific images at the light house.

Great Film.

Mark Doering-Powell

Steven Douglas Smith wrote:

>Does anyone have any experience shooting a lighthouse set and >simulating an actual look?

One technique used routinely for laser light shows and other situations where a beam of light needs to be manipulated far more actively than the mass and size of the light source might otherwise allow is to bounce the light from a stationary source off a mirror and manipulate the mirror to get the movement needed.

In the case of a lighthouse effect, you could take a seriously bright light and position it from below vertically up at a mirror angled at 45 degrees, casting the light horizontally out from the top of the structure. The mirror can then be more readily spun around like a lighthouse, without having to move the actual source. The mirror should also more readily and realistically fit into the open-windowed top of a lighthouse "housing."

Depending on the desired scene orientation, it might also help to mist/smoke the air so the projected beam shows as it spins. The key mental image we have of a lighthouse is of the rotation of the beam as through a fog (of course, the weather condition for which the lighthouse was typically built to warn nearby ships that they were coming perilously close to shore), getting dimmer as it spins away from us and then gradually brighter as it comes closer again, becoming blinding for an instant when it shines right at us, and then the cycle begins all over again. And again.

Ira Tiffen
LA,CA

This is from a VFX/post person perspective, but in the past (Haunted Lighthouse 4D, Life As A House), we've shot the best we could on the day, and done volumetric light CGI enhancement in post. In other words, you may find a post solution easier than trying for perfection on-set. The main thing is, it's difficult/impossible to relight figures, so as long as the basic lighting scheme is logically correct, you should be okay.

Tim Sassoon
SFD Vfx & creative post
Santa Monica, CA

Spooky lighthouse film? The fog.

Are you expecting to have people walking around the huge fresnel lens assembly on the top? If not then I suppose a cramped, dreary round set should help sell the effect.

Clive Mitchell
http://www.bigclive.com