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[Maurice]

But does the whine come from the material itself, or the transformers? If it's the former, I can see it being a real problem, but if it's the latter, the whine should be easy enough to eliminate.

The whine comes from the power supply (transformers) and I think is due to the amount of voltage stepping up they do. If I recall somewhere around 42,000 volts.

When I went to a Variety screen of of Tron Legacy at Skywalker Ranch last year, I asked director Joseph Kosinski if the choice of having actual lighting in the costumes affected the design. He made reference to the whine, and said, of the scene in the club, "imagine that whine coming from 100 costumes", and mentioned how much ADR had to be done because of it.

 

[chardman]

Well there's a huge difference between a bunch of costumes each with its own built-in self-contained power supply, and set pieces wired to a single distant transformer located perhaps hundreds of feet from the nearest microphone.

 

[Maurice]

Well there's a huge difference between a bunch of costumes each with its own built-in self-contained power supply, and set pieces wired to a single distant transformer located perhaps hundreds of feet from the nearest microphone.

Hundreds? How big a set do you think most fan films have?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well there's a huge difference between a bunch of costumes each with its own built-in self-contained power supply, and set pieces wired to a single distant transformer located perhaps hundreds of feet from the nearest microphone.

Hundreds? How big a set do you think most fan films have?

Well, we could have run the cord out the side door of the warehouse and had someone stand guard over the transformer.

In the end it was rather amazing what we could do.

 

[chardman]

Well there's a huge difference between a bunch of costumes each with its own built-in self-contained power supply, and set pieces wired to a single distant transformer located perhaps hundreds of feet from the nearest microphone.

Hundreds? How big a set do you think most fan films have?

Your set could be the size of a shoe box, or as big as an aircraft carrier, but that wouldn't prevent you from placing your power supply damn near anywhere you want, (and yes, you could even put your transformers outside of your shooting space), provided you had a long enough power-cord.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well, that's not entirely true. We just did a day's shoot on a green screen stage located inside another facility. We had control of a rented area which was by no means tiny but wasn't what you'd call a soundstage either - maybe forty by twenty-five feet, and it included our makeup and costume area. We were not invited by the owners to be running wires or operating equipment outside of that space.

 

[Maurice]

I've read some suggestions for dampening down the whine. But even if you could do it, EL material is a highly expensive solution for something you can usually do much more cheaply and more easily with a few common lights.

The only times I've used EL sheet and wire is in 2004 on a film set that required them (the control panels needed to be practical and appear to float in the air, which meant they needed to be no more than 1/8" thick).

Test shot on the set (most of the screens without the control panel art)...

Another angle (with art in all the panels)

(The screens on the wall to screen right are lit with an artist's lightbox, and you can see how that's not as even as the EL sheet. The screens on the lower front console are LCD computer monitors running animations done in a style to match the art on the floating panels.)


With no damned actor in the way...

Finally, during a sound check, and the "house lights" brought up, you can see the EL material turned off...it's pinkish:

 

[FalTorPan]

The only times I've used EL sheet and wire is in 2004 on a film set that required them (the control panels needed to be practical and appear to float in the air, which meant they needed to be no more than 1/8" thick).

Maurice, I love these images. Is the movie watchable, either online or through a DVD purchase?

 

[Maurice]

The only times I've used EL sheet and wire is in 2004 on a film set that required them (the control panels needed to be practical and appear to float in the air, which meant they needed to be no more than 1/8" thick).

Maurice, I love these images. Is the movie watchable, either online or through a DVD purchase?

Actually, the film was rough cut and basically shelved. It was my first film and I made a ton of mistakes. When I looked at it again I realized the amount of work it would take to fix it up would possibly be more work than actually just re-doing it! I might pop the rough edit up on YouTube to share with those interested, so long as they realize it's not a finished work.

 

[Barbreader]

The only times I've used EL sheet and wire is in 2004 on a film set that required them (the control panels needed to be practical and appear to float in the air, which meant they needed to be no more than 1/8" thick).

Maurice, I love these images. Is the movie watchable, either online or through a DVD purchase?

Actually, the film was rough cut and basically shelved. It was my first film and I made a ton of mistakes. When I looked at it again I realized the amount of work it would take to fix it up would possibly be more work than actually just re-doing it! I might pop the rough edit up on YouTube to share with those interested, so long as they realize it's not a finished work.

After the comments I heard when Phase II released B&F II in unfinished condition, any expectation that audiences will understand something is 'not a finished work' seems unrealistic.

 

[Maurice]

After the comments I heard when Phase II released B&F II in unfinished condition, any expectation that audiences will understand something is 'not a finished work' seems unrealistic.

Well, I'd put a big fat disclaimer ON SCREEN and then if people choose to ignore that, that's their problem, not mine.

 

[DestinyCaptain]

Can't argue with that.

 

[Barbreader]

After the comments I heard when Phase II released B&F II in unfinished condition, any expectation that audiences will understand something is 'not a finished work' seems unrealistic.

Well, I'd put a big fat disclaimer ON SCREEN and then if people choose to ignore that, that's their problem, not mine.

I sincerely hope it works.

 

[JohnnyE4]

thanks for the tips
I have to figure out my own screens I'm not too worried about the lighting though as mine is so small 1/6 scale I'm using jewelry beads for the buttons which will reflect light I just need to find screens that I can get permission to print out on sticker sheets to fill in my visual screens

 

[Maurice]

^^^Are you looking for a particular design style? i.e must it look Star Trekkish?