BUILDING SXT SILKS

This entry was posted on 9/1/2006 9:18 PM and is filed under Pre-Production.

One of the most frequent asked questions I get worldwide from my GUIDE BOOK For Guerrilla Filmmakers is "How do I give my video more of a film-look?" Obviously, it's mostly in the lighting but what exactly does that mean? It means not doing what 99% of every aspiring filmmaker seems to do automatically - point a bare light directly at their subjects like they're warming frenchfries or something.

All motion picture lighting is diffused to various degrees (with the exception of deliberately hard lighting backgrounds and other elements for effect). When you hard light people, highlights burnout and shadows dropout, giving you that "video look" even when you shoot 35mm film. That's what makes your choices in lighting instruments for diffusion so important to producing professional results during principal photography.

SXT stands for "same exact thing" as commercially sold lighting instruments but with a few added design benefits like lighter weight, non-conductive frame and lightning fast assembly on set and in the field that's just incredible.

My primary light source was a custom made SXT four foot by eight foot butterfly diffusion silk that, all together, cost about a hundred dollars to build both lighting instruments - with the lights!

I didn't buy gels either, I used clear two inch packing tape to patch together thrown out scraps of expensive gels discarded from other people's film projects who never considered that light seams in gels don't seriously affect light transmission when set behind diffusion.

Typically, the expensive commercially manufactured versions of these lighting instruments use nylon cord to lace the diffusion material to metal frames. My design uses non-conductive, lightweight PVC pipes (held together by the screen tension alone) and nylon zip-ties instead of using cord lacing. The zip-ties allow me to rig the instruments in five minutes by myself instead of the hour and a half that it takes to lace up with cord. With a pocket tool, I can cut the zip-ties and have the instruments wrapped and back in the truck in less than a minute.

 

My 4x8 SXT design

The design consists of seven 4 foot long sections of one-inch diameter PVC pipe. It's plastic, so you can easily cut the pipe, and; four 90 degree PVC elbow joints, and; two "T" joints that form a lightweight, non-conductive frame that is easy to handle with even one hand.

Once you have the frame fitted together by friction alone (not glued so you can break it down for transportation) you can go to any fabric store and buy a bolt of white nylon material. It's relatively cheap stuff so you might think about getting another type of different opacity and diffusion qualities so you can quick-change your silk to meet different photographic goals. Fold the edges over and crimp eyelet type grommets (6mm type or 1/4 inch dia.type) along all four edges of the material.

Last, use zip-ties to secure the eyelets to the PVC frame. Don't use cord. Zip-ties allow you to either assemble or disassemble your 4x8 in five minutes instead of an hour or more using cord.

By using zip-ties, you only need to fasten or cut them on one of the short ends of the silk (leaving the zip-ties fastened to the silk on its other three edges) so you only have to ever deal with one edge and only disassemble the pipe half-way.

If you need to replace the entire silk, then you would have to disassemble all the PVC joints but that just means a ten minute job that won't significantly slow your production down.

Below are images of the 4x8 assembled as well as broken down for transportation with the different stages of assembly illustrated step by step so you can see how expedient it is to handle all by yourself.

 

My 2x2 SXT Chinese Lantern design

One of the most effective low-light filming instruments is the Chinese Lantern concept. By placing a light within a diffusion "orb", you can throw soft light in a broader arc of coverage than a flat silk. Think of it as a ball of radiosity, or evenly diffused light that ping-pongs inside like its own reflector before throwing out a brilliant glow. Just clothespin a gel over a "Home Depot" worklight and put it behind the instrument so your lamp doesn't overheat and that's all there is to it.

I used twelve 1/2 inch PVC pipes cut to two foot lengths, and; eight 3-way PVC joints for each corner of the frame. The silk is the same as above but it's two pieces: A two foot square piece on top with another piece that wraps around three sides of the frame, fastened with four eyelets (6mm type or 1/4 inch dia.type) on the extreme edges at the rear of the frame.

Only four of the six sides need to be covered. The back needs to be open to aim your worklight through as well as leaving the bottom open. Use zip-ties to fasten the eyelets. The eyelets are permanent installations - you only have to pull out the vertical pipes to break this lantern down.

Notice that only the top and bottom rectangle pipes are glued together, leaving the vertical pipes unglued so it can be assembled and disassembled quickly to be stored flat for transportation.

Something else of note: The pants I'm wearing are the new Army Combat Uniform (ACU) trousers that replaced the familiar BDUs. Although I have an aversion to wearing any part of a uniform with civilian clothes, these "pants" are the most comfortable trousers to work in high temperatures with and stand up easily to stresses that would shread bluejeans in five minutes. They have more pocket space than a photographers vest that feels as cool and comfortable as your most comfy pajamas.

We bought a bunch of these for the main character's costume but after checking them out closely, I tried on a pair and found them to be outstanding for the rigors of making a film in the Arizona heat. Since I'm paying for them anyway, I think I'm going to be wearing them until we get this movie sold and I can afford to buy some new clothes again! Now if they would only come in solid colors that are more civilian in appearance, I'll be the first to buy a dozen. I don't need a bunch of pouches jingling off a tool belt anymore, I've got velcro closing pockets for just about everything I need.

If you're wondering, "Doesn't Arnett own any other color T-shirt than blue?" The answer is yes, however, since I'm behind the camera, wearing black, dark blue, dark colors or a neutral gray keeps the D.P. out of the reflections on-screen so I don't make an inadvertent cameo in the glass surfaces.

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