When the independent SOMOS Productions was signed on to produce Nickelodeon Latin America’s original teen novella 11 11, En Mi Cuadra Nada Cuadra it outfitted one of its Miami area studios entirely with the new Litepanels® tungsten balanced LED lighting fixtures.
“That studio has six standing sets, all completely lit with Litepanels’ LED tungsten fixtures,” said John Tarver, director of photography and lighting designer for the Nickelodeon project. “We’re using a combination of the Inca 6™ and Inca 4™ Fresnels, and the 1×1™ panels. All the fixtures are on DMX control.”
On an adjacent studio, which is predominantly lit with tungsten halogen fixtures, Tarver uses Litepanels tungsten 1x1s as problem solvers. “Because of their small size and ability to fit into small spaces, the 1x1s come in handy on that set. We’ve been using them quite successfully mixed with the normal tungsten units.”
Tarver said there is a big difference between the two studios when it comes to cooling them. “Certainly in Miami, with the heat and humidity here, it’s much easier to keep the all-Litepanels studio cool with the air conditioning because the LED fixtures don’t generate any heat at all.”
Though the studios are lit to a tungsten color balance, Tarver has found himself incorporating some daylight fixtures for certain effects. One is the Litepanels 1×1 Bi-Color™, a flood fixture capable of varying color balance from daylight to tungsten.
“The Bi-Colors have been great, especially because we use them a lot to do the day to night transition. Their ability to shift from tungsten into blue allows them to give us a nighttime look. And then we use them to illuminate someone’s face to look as though the light on them is projected by a computer screen. We also use Litepanels’ Croma™, a small, battery operated, color-agile light, for a lot of our computer screen effects.”
When Somos placed its Litepanels order, they included two of the company’s high-output Hilio™ fixtures. “They’re amazing, amazing lights,” said Tarver. “In some ways they’re the most revolutionary of all the lights that we’ve been using because they add a tremendous amount of pure daylight for units that are lightweight, dimmable, very easy to handle, and use almost no power.
“In fact, we recently had an interesting use of the Hilio. We needed an effect for a lightning storm. Because the Hilios are very bright in daylight, and also because they have a very quick response time, by just flashing them on and off we’ve been able to use them almost like a small lightning strike strobe. We’re getting a very convincing lightning effect. One part of the story has a hurricane approaching, and then there’s a power outage so all of our lights go out. We placed two Hilio’s with the light coming through the windows on the otherwise dark set. Then we flash them so the lightning strike comes through the windows.”
Though 11 11 is predominantly shot in the studios there are scenes that are shot outdoors on location. Tarver sings the praises of the Hilio in outdoors use as well.
“In one of our first episodes, we shot on a luxury yacht here in Miami harbor. It was a very high-end boat, and the Hilios were invaluable because we were able to use them on the interior without having to worry about burning the expensive upholstery of the boat. They gave us enough light to balance out against the bright Miami light on the exterior.”
The yacht scene took place with the boat tied to the dock, where abundant shore power was available. But Tarver pointed out that the energy frugal 115W draw of the Hilios could easily have been handled at sea by the yacht’s electrical system, or by battery packs.
With the ambitious first year shooting schedule required to finish 70 one-hour episodes of 11 11, En Mi Cuadra Nada Cuadra, Litepanels tungsten and daylight balanced LED fixtures have pulled their weight for Somos Production.
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