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DIY - China Lanterns
By Ron Cotton – June 19, 2005
ScottSpears.net has an intriguing article about using cheap China Lanterns instead of professional grade china balls for cutting costs on set. Scott Spears includes the facts that are great to use with gels and dimmers switches offer control to your lighting. The downfall with this design is tungsten lighting becomes very hot, and paper lanterns weren't designed for 200-400 watts, making his plans a fire hazard.
Pete May, in his publication “The Essential Digital Video Handbook” points out the heresy of using such improvising isn't worth the disaster waiting to happen. Noting that aerosol flame retardants might reduce the risk but offer no guarantee that the low grade paper china dolls might burst into flames. Pete contends that Plexiglas Globes make a more suitable for hot tungsten lighting instead of using China Balls.
If you can sacrifice the dimmer switch from Scott Spears project then there is yet another approach to this situation. Fluorescents. I know many of you will contend that blue-green tones are accentuated making white-balancing useless and very difficult to fix in post. The flicker can also be picked up on film or video. Also, the audible sound of fluorescent humming picked up as background noise. There's been many major advancements in fluorescents, specifically Compact Fluorescents because of its mass market appeal. You can sometimes receive discounts from your power company when purchasing. When selecting your light source choose ones with the following properties:
- Wide-spectrum
- High CRI rating
- Low noise properties
- Preferred Color Temperature (3,400K, 5,500K, etc.)
Use of Negative Fill on the China Lantern can replace the need of a dimmer switch. Also Malkiewicz's Film Lighting explains that you can achieve higher control of light output and direction by spraying areas of the China Lantern.
Paper China Lanterns are quite fragile, so great care is needed when handling them on set. In the end, this project is preferred if your budget is minuscule, while Plexiglas Globes offer more possibilities.
References:
http://www.scottspears.net/chinalanternarticle.htm
The Essential Digital Video Handbook, Pete May, 2004 Rockport Publishers.
http://www.cybercollege.com/tvp028.htm
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