Sinohui Hinojosa
SAN JOSE, CALIF.
Emerging Artist Productions is a Northern California-based production house that specializes in HD content and post solutions for indie films and television. In my position with the company, I'm constantly on the lookout for the best ways to get the shot, on time and on budget.
Some of the problems that I've encountered involve putting lights in tight spots and needing to use lighting where power sources aren't readily available.
SMALL FIXTURES; BIG ILLUMINATION
During the production of "Veronica's Blog," a weekly children's television show that I produce, I was surprised to find the answer to many of our lighting problems with FloLight's MicroBeam-256 and MicroBeam-128 LED lights. These are small lights that have an incredible output, and I've used them in places where I never expected they would work.
Not only do these on-camera lights pack a punch, they've actually replaced some of the other lights in our arsenal.
We originally purchased the FloLight units as portable three-point lighting kits for background interviews—and they are really terrific in that application—but we found out that we could use them in many other applications as well. As soon as my director of photography got his hands on the FloLights, I knew that we would be buying more.
They can operate either on AC or the same battery power that our cameras use, and can be dimmed while maintaining a steady color temperature. These features have saved us significant time on some of our setups. Their portability also allows us to bring them in for last minute fill or accent purposes in just seconds.
When we need to grab a pick-up shot or insert, we just connect one of the LED lights via the provided shoe mount and can then take care of things in a fraction of the time it would normally take to set up a larger light.
REPLACES LARGER INSTRUMENTS
Our director of photography on occasion has also used the FloLights to replace the larger and bulkier lights we would normally use when we need a bright source of illumination. The FloLight's small footprint makes it possible to pack a lot of illumination in a tiny space.
Each time we use these lights, my crew and I are always impressed by the fixtures' design, lack of heat, and ability to be instantly deployed. They're balanced to 5600 degrees K, and come complete with a filter pack and articulated arm stands, providing us with so many options you simply wouldn't get with other LED fixtures.
The more I use these lights, I know that we made a sound decision in purchasing the FloLight instruments. When combined, the three fixtures we have deliver an equivalent of 500 Watts of ordinary lighting. The illumination is steady, cool and dimmable. The more that we use these lights the more I appreciate their great value in our work. They will forever be part of our production equipment and have already paid for themselves many times over.
Sinohui Hinojosa is a writer/producer/director, and is the co-founder of Emerging Artist Productions. He has more than 20 years of experience in film and television production. He may be contacted atshinojosa@emergingartist.org.
For additional information, contact FloLight at 408-866-9100 or visitwww.flolight.com.
