Generators

[untamed_aggression]

I'm writing a script at the moment that has a few scenes in the woods at night.

I'm thinking about the lighting, specifically how the chuff it's gonna happen. Since the scripts not finished yet, and ignoring all concepts of a budget, where am I gonna hire a generator from? What prices am I looking at, and how much noise do they make?

Best regards,

etc.

[TJ_the_director]

the first thing you wanna do is stay away from the non-overhead cam engine powered generators (aka as flatheads or lawnmower engines). Not only they will consume fuel like a jumbo jet (5000 watts = 5 gallons = less than 5 hours run time), they won't last very long (if you plan to purchase).

Overhead cam engined generators (industrial types) uses a lot less fuel, and lasts forever. Diesel generators are even better, but pricey.

You can rent them from rental outfits that cater to builders, and yes, they make a racket!

[TJ_the_director]

I just noticed you are planning night shooting in the woods. Here's an idea: buy 12 volt lighting instead. a set of 2 or 3 from NKG (among others) and cig liter adaptors will let you run multiple lights off a car battery and the engine will keep it charged. (turn engine off when camera is rolling, then back on again after)

[eidde]

if you need to hire a generator
take a look in Yellow Pages, or thompson local
and find builders suppliers or hire centre.
You can hire all sorts of stuff, generators, lighting rigs....
Gens come in different sizes, just ask the guys in there which theyd recommend, probably a small one will do just for lights - depends on how many lights you need - since they can supply lights too, (these arent "film" lights though but does that matter? - they are 500 Watt Halogen workign spots)
In my town you can hire a genny for about 20-30 quid for a weekend, and a stand with two halogen spots for about 10 quid.
bargain!

Ive considered both, and I think faffing around wirth 12V car batterys and transformers and so on is more hassle than its worth and may set you back more than this anyway.
Keep it simple and keep your garage empty - hire stuff :-)

Good luck

oh yeah noise - get lots and lots of cable, if you are shooting at night in a wood then the noise will travel.
If you get the dimensions of the gennies you want then you can always make/get a wooden box that'll fit over it - leave a hole for exhaust and air inlet - and pad it out with something. That'll reduce your noise quite a lot.

Or use car headlights, and maybe a car spotlight (from a garage or hire centre that runs of the battery/cig lighter) Suprising what you can get away with.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 23, 2004 04:35 AM: Message edited by: eidde ]</font>

[jungleguy]

Cheap generators are

a. VERY NOISY

b. HAVE POOR QUALITY ELECTRICITY, THEY SPIKE. and can damage your equipment.

[Chance5]

NB"""!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF you are using proffesional lighting, your generator from the hire shop or bobs DIY industrial centre will be no good as they will cause the lights to flicker.

On deadlights (yonks back!) we hired a lighting generator for the grand sum of ?80 for the weekend.

[untamed_aggression]

Awesome [img]biggrin.gif[/img] cheers for the replies, everyone.

Well, I'm off scouting sometime this week so I can tailor the script to the geography of the location, so we'll see how efficient a generator would be...

Stay tuned! Perhaps!