British Cinematographer
By
some estimates, 90% of all film and TV shows shot in the UK use kit
sourced from Cirro Light.
The
company was launched by David Morphy and John Coppen to distribute
Kino Flo lighting equipment beyond the borders of Hollywood, where
Kino Flo was already an established presence on the sets of US shows,
and it looked to Cirro Lite to expand internationally.
At
the same time, Morphy took on LA-based Lightning Strikes, another
iconic piece of kit used to create a multitude of explosive effects –
some early examples include the machine gun in Schindler's
List and
the train crash in the channel tunnel at the climax of Mission:
Impossible.
Some of the early customised controllers are still on show at Cirro
Lite.
Since
inception in 1992, equipment it has supplied for sale or rental has
been used on iconic movies from In
the Name Of The Father
and
Saving Private Ryan,
the Harry
Potter and
James
Bond
franchises, up to the last London-set series of 24
and, currently shooting, Disney's Beauty
And The Beast, for
which the company says it is supplying an astounding one million
watts of Soft Sun units to light the stages at Shepperton.
Cirro
Lite is proud to have more Lightning Strikes' equipment in stock than
anywhere in the world, outside of the manufacturer's home. This
includes the new SoftSun units which features a monstrous 100,000KW
continuous flicker-free fixture.
For
Kino Flo, Cirro Lite acts as a western Europe distributor (most
rental houses having a dedicated Kino Flo department) and the company
predominantly sells product into the established film lighting rental
companies.
“Kino
Flo changed way the cinematographers choose to film by allowing them
to get out of the studio on location,” says Morphy. “The
product's soft, cool ability to work efficiently on location allowed
DPs to light creatively in a way that they were not able to do
before.”
“We
also distribute Dedolight, which is one of the finest precision
optics systems ever made,” explains Morphy. “Its instruments give
more control and accuracy than any other hard light fixture and are a
justified favourite among a great many cinematographers.”
Cirro
Lite's inventory of award-winning lighting and accessories further
includes Matthews Studio Equipment – the original 'Hollywood' grip
company known for its lighting support kit. “Their current offering
is world class and shows the pedigree of such an established industry
innovator,” says Morphy.
All
of the products from Cirro Lite are uniquely the creation and
invention of filmmakers and technicians from the studio floor, and
this is reflected in both the design and quality of all the product
lines on offer. Cirro Mist, the only product manufactured in-house,
is tuned specifically to produce a fine, safe, visually-light mist
for the camera and studio environment.
When
it comes to the revolution sweeping film and TV lighting, Cirro Lite
is not slow to offer solid state fixtures, but has also adopted a
cautious approach.
“There
have been well-documented colour problems with the technology in the
way the camera reacts to the light and we're very conscious about
colour quality,” Morphy says. “Our LED offer, based on Kino Flo
Celebs and Dedolight's DLEDs, has been very high quality. LED is an
important innovation for those who want to take advantage of its
unique properties. Our priority is to give users the confidence that
they are not going to end up in trouble on site. If something looks
great to the eye, but results in technical issues on set, we have not
done our job.”
The
Dedo LED range (Ledzilla, DLED 2.0 up to 12.0) and the Celebs, are
beginning to offer an alternative to traditional sources on shoots in
part because of the advantages of colour tuning, stable dimming and
battery operation. Wolf
Hall
is an example of Kino Flo Celeb 400s recently being used on a high
quality drama.
“Light
distribution is perfectly even, with a full range of very fine
dimming, plus very stable colour performance,” he says. “You can
now have small, portable daylight LED fixtures with dimming control,
where you previously used a lot of gel or had to go HMI, which is a
great time-saver on set.”
Cirro
Lite is preparing to launch the new Kino Flo range of LEDs which are
able to modify light to suit digital cameras. “In the old days you
had one or two film stocks, Fuji and Kodak with colour space really
targeted at just the Kodak. Now, with over 30 digital cinema cameras
on the market from different manufacturers, and each with different
chipsets and different digital film stock, one light cannot address
every single camera. The new Kino Flo range will enable
cinematographers to adjust the light hue to the camera. It is set to
be an extremely useful piece of kit. I'd say it will be a game
changer.”
Handily
based out of Acton, north west London, Cirro Lite has expanded its
original HQ with a second showroom on a mezzanine. “Camera-operators,
cinematographers and gaffers come here in pre-production and
production to look at what's new or to solve a particular problem or
achieve a certain effect. Very much part of what we do is to offer
both product knowledge coupled with industry knowledge to DPs and
gaffers helping them to make educated choices.
“We
encourage professionals – who want to come in and handle, test and
learn about the latest technology – to book an appointment,” says
Morphy, who was originally involved in lighting live shows for The
Rolling Stones, as well as film and television lighting, before
setting up Cirro Lite. “If anybody wants to pop in for an hour it
is always great to see them. We invite feedback on all new equipment
that comes to market and welcome anyone who wants to become part of
that family. It is only through feedback from the industry that we
can advance product and a European point-of-view is especially
important because the way we shoot and work on location is different
to the US market.”
For
example, crew can work from an articulated truck in the US but you'd
be lucky to get one down a side street here. “There
are logistical issues to packaging kit which need careful
consideration,” says Morphy. “Even shooting in houses is
different due to the age (generally smaller spaces) of British
property which impacts the style of shooting. We take this very
seriously and we feed it back to the developer.”
Morphy
regularly passes on input gained from talking with local gaffers and
DPs to the lighting developer. “We do have a say in the design of
the latest product. It's a very inclusive process.”
In
addition to lighting products Cirro Lite also offers a lighting
design service, including web studio design and audio visual lighting
design.
No comments:
Post a Comment