Movie production electrical needs

Unfortunately, it all depends on the lights they are going to use.

When I did production video in houses (not sets) I'd use a great deal of the available power in the house (normally 100 amps or so).

In physically large scenes, my 2KW lights weren't enough. It is normal, in outdoor scenes, to have some 10KW lights to kill shadows.

I'd suggest, if they are really budget tight, to use lots of reflectors. Problem is that means they have to be moved as the sun moves in outdoor scenes. Well, lights have to be moved too.

If they have some budget, they ought to rent a light truck. They will have the panels and, if necessary, the generators.

Really too many variables to give you a concrete answer except to say that no matter how much power you have, it won't be enough at some point in the process.

Unless they are shooting in film noir style. (real dark).

A movie company rented one of our empty buildings for a month. Being the company electrical designer I was naturally curious about their generator setup. It was parked right outside my office window. They used a 400A 120/240 generator. The bottom of the trailer was a huge 200 gallon fuel tank. Apart from the normal engine gauges, the Distribution panel was equipped with a frequency meter a volt meter and two load amp meter. One for each leg.

Below the multiple double pole 50 Amp breakers there was a panel fitted with many Hubble style twist lock 50A 4 wire sockets.

This allowed the electrician to plug in sub panels. One very neat feature was the color coded plugs ( quick connect) rubber covered plug ins. that allowed then to insert extensions to reach further. These extensions wer #6 or #4 Ga to reduce voltage drop over th elong lenght of cords.

Each sub panel consisted of your typical 100 A house distribution panel. That in turn fed multiple outlets set up on a power post panel. Both the normal house hold style and also the special types needed for the Kleig lights were mounted in these panels.

Of interest aside from the electrical plugs on the generator, was the method they used for the exhaust muffler and the cooling air for the radiator. The air flow was directed upward. This was done to reduce the amount of noise transmitted out to the sides. The generator had to be located a long ways away from where they filmed since the microphones tended to pick up the sound of the genset. The entire engine compartment was lined with sound absorbing foam like we use for sound proofing the generators on board yachts.

There is a lot of filming done around Vancouver and I see these mobile generators quite often. It looks like they are supplied by a rental company that specialize in building these high powered super quiet generator plants. That is a very specialized field. Don't try to do it yourself. I have to deal with the same thing on every boat we design. Imagine shooting for a couple of days before discovering the darn genset noise shows up on every sound track!! AARRRGH!! . . . . Reshoot the whole works! Ther goes the budget.

You should do this.. Fix It In Post.

Apply to Adobe, Adobe Audition audio software specifically to edit the genset sound out without disturb the sonic audio of your production.

It is the LASSO technology that allows for this exceptional capability; it is as if there were never anything there at all...You can get the application within Adobe Premiere or CS3.

If you're in the USA, refer to the National Electrical Code, Article 530. They cover the legal requirements. If you follow these, you are much less likely to fry your equipment or your personnel.

Matthews, & Mole Richardson, are the main companies that supply motion picture, video production electrical distribution equipment. Rule of thumb is that 1000 watt light needs 10 amps. Wall sockets typically supply 15 amps. A 2 thousand watt light pulls 17.5 amps, and typically will hold for awhile, though plugs will start to heat up.

I've often tied into power panels using Mueller Clips then into a bull-switch and onto then a custom made Spider box. When you do such things you can access all of the available power at the power box, and bypass wall sockets. Still it is important to know what you are doing, since if you don't you either waste time, or get hurt.

There are some fine lights available these days, and it is often possible to work off of wall sockets. Kinoflo fluorescents are terriffic lights providing soft light, for instance.

Mole Richardson makes what is called a DP Kit, of lights that are designed to run off typically available power.

There are handbooks such as The Lighting Directors Handbook, and others that tell you how to do these sorts of things.

At anyrate I suggest you look up Matthews and Mole Richardson, LTM, Arri, Great American Market, (GAM), and get ahold of a Lighting Directors Handbook.

The nomenclature is Grip & Electric. Grip equipment is camera support, & physical control of light. Electric is power distribution for the lights, most simply.