ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

7 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

There is no "silent" but you can put the generator a way away, or consider ADR or better still, look at low power lamps you can power from batteries?

If you want to spend more for a better genny then maybe a Honda EU65 which claims 52-60dB(A) and looks like a wheelbarrow. You can look at renting extra sound baffling to reduce it too.

7 years, 6 months ago - Mark Wiggins

You don't need a genie for 2K lamps. You can plug them straight into the local 13 amp supply. Just make sure you use different sockets for each.

7 years, 6 months ago - Richard Anthony Dunford

There's no access to a power source which is why we need the genie.

Yes putting the generator as far away as we could was one idea. Trying to use low power battery lamps for closer shots with dialogue could work; thanks for that suggestion.

7 years, 6 months ago - Alwyne Kennedy

Maybe rent a powerful LED, such as one made by Arri, which only draws around 400W but has an output equivalent to a 2K tungsten blonde. Buy a suitable inverter from Maplins, and you'll get mains voltage from car batteries, with no noise.

See https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-12v-modified-sinewave-1000w-inverter-a12hq

From the Arri website: "Consuming only 400 watts, the L10 is incredibly energy efficient. The L10-TT and DT versions have a brightness level close to that of a 2,000-watt tungsten Fresnel. This means that with the same amount of power as consumed by a single conventional 2 kW tungsten light, you can run five L10s and achieve almost five times the light output. "

7 years, 6 months ago - Richard Anthony Dunford

Thanks Alwyne, I'll look into those

7 years, 6 months ago - John Lubran

Unless the location is in a cave or similarly dark place there might be an option of shooting day for night.

7 years, 5 months ago - Jackie Sheppard

We've regularly needed a genie on location shoots. What's your location like? Check with your gaffer about how much power you need and how much cabling you can run between the genie and the actual location. Can you get your genie behind some 'natural baffling', ie walls/hedges etc. Just get it as far away as you can whilst still being able to run sufficient power for what you need. Think about how you will get the genie to the location? What size is it? How will you transport it? How much fuel will it consume? If you're shooting for more than a day - can you leave it safely in situ overnight?

7 years, 5 months ago - Richard Anthony Dunford

We ended up ditching the 2k blondes for some 100w LED's which were actually pretty powerful and a bunch of other LED lights for back-lights and fills and using one of those car battery adapter things Alwyne suggested for a power source.

For any other filmmakers that plan to use the car battery adapter things to power your lights etc on location I'd say it's worth running the engine for a bit every now and then otherwise your car battery could go flat and you'll need to jump start it... which happened to us =)