On location lighting; drunkards and Banshees on bridges
Our second to last day of filming was definitely a challenge. Our first two shots were on location in Gosport and an abandoned railroad bridge in far southern Owen County.
First Gosport. We had cooperation from the local police and were able to tap the community gazebo for power. We lit a drunk Ryan O’Brien plus Tommy and Shamus on the streets with a 1Kw Broad and a 500W Broad for frontlight and a 500W Broad as a kicker in an ally. The Gosport Police were a great help and the local tavern provided some on-set audience.
Next, the Banshee Bridge. About 45 minutes southwest of Spencer is the Banshee Bridge where Ryan O’Brien meets his Banshee nemesis, played by Shani. We had about four different setups for the filming (which began about 2:30 in the morning) using the 1Kw Broad as well as up to four more 500W Broads. We were lighting the bridge as well as the actors for this encounter. To power the lights, Russ was able to secure a 5000W gasoline generator (which eventually started). Rather than try and use the lightboard and DMX dimmer packs, I decided to go for the full Guerilla Gaffer technique. I got some more stringers and patched 600W (and a 1Kw) dimmer switches inline near the recepticle end. So, we were able to power and control all of the Broads with dimmable stringers.
Thus far I’ve been wearing the following hats; lighting designer, Gaffer, Electrician, and still photographer (along with Yvonne). The shoot on the Banshee Bridge also allows me to add the title of either Stunt Coordinator or Rigger (I’m not sure which would be more appropriate). Since we had the Banshee hanging around on the edge of this bridge, 30 feet above the fast moving Eel River, we wanted to take precautions. Shani, being a real Trouper, was ok with doing her own stunts, so I strapped her into a climbing harness and tethered her to the bridge with 4000# test tubular nylon webbing, just in case.
The rest of the shots that day were after dawn and we used available light and didn’t need the reflectors for fill, so we got those shots in the can pretty quickly.
Cool Chris, wish Sammy and I could have been there for this shoot! Do you have any photos?
Yvonne handles all of the stills on the Bridge. I’ll be meeting with her soon to get the photos together and see what sort of teasers we can release.