Nick Flowers Posted August 11, 2019 Report Share Posted August 11, 2019 Here is a picture of a Brute, a carbon arc lamp and its associated resistor. They were common enough on all the films I worked on, but recent reading on the web suggests they they are no longer used. Is that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurence Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 Yes indeed, and gravely missed on cold nights! (That was a "ballast" in Hollywood.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 While I recall them being in more common use on big shoots when I was starting out (and welcomed the breaks for recarboning or trimming), they seem to have been supplanted by HMIs within just a few years. A little later I worked with a few DPs and gaffers who owned their own arcs, it was kind of their "look" in a time long after they had disappeared from most location shoots. By that time i had a better understanding of what I was seeing, and have to say that compared to early-generation HMIs they were pretty great. I have not seen one on a job in at least 20 years now, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacysound Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 I've only seen them once on a movie I did Mid 90's. DP used as many as 6 at once for big exteriors. I remember each light had an electrician to adjust the arc as it burned and a grip to provide ladder and stability. Little smoke stack out the top. I'm sure there are others here that can provided better stories about their experiences. Carfbon Arc "technology" was also used for search lights and Film Projectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacysound Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Flowers Posted August 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 Brilliant! Thank you Stacysound for posting it. I particularly like the popcorn gag! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Westgate Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 I think there were 3 used on "Mr Lawrence" that I recorded in 1992 Australian gaffer Warren Mearns, very exxperienced and laid back. It was the biggest lighting rig to leave Australia complete with DC generator The director Nagisa Oshima tried to explain to Warren how he wanted a night exterior of a house lit ! Warren answered "Do you really want it like that or done my way?" Oshima San conceded "Your way!" A very interesting experience all round! mike Mike&Oshima.bmp Mike&Oshima.bmp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RueDwyer Posted August 27, 2019 Report Share Posted August 27, 2019 I was at an ASC sponsored event at Mole Richardson 3 years ago... they lit one of these with what they said was one of only 5 carbon rods they had left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wandering Ear Posted August 28, 2019 Report Share Posted August 28, 2019 I helped on a show not too long ago that made a custom carbon arc lamp in an all clear housing to create lightning effects covering a large area in the forest. Cool to see it done, but I can only imagine the trouble that would be as a primary lighting source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Flowers Posted August 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) At the time it seemed not to be too much trouble. On location you could power 4 Brutes off a 1000 Amp mobile generator - so that accounts for 5 sparks; one to each lamp and one to the genny. Plus of course all the other sparks you needed for the other requirements. There was the delightfully titled 'Practical Sparks', who would be in charge of all the domestic lamps in shot - to me it implied that all the other sparks were IMpractical; hopeless dreamers probably walking aimlessly around in circles spouting Keats and Shelley - rather far from actuality! * But this was in the days of four man sound crews and strong unions - overmanning was an indelicate subject to raise. *To quote Stephen Potter: "Petrification of the implied opposite."^# ^ An example of "L'esprit de l'escalier"# # Two examples of showing off. Why do I do it? Edited August 29, 2019 by Nick Flowers Adding footnotes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundmanjohn Posted August 28, 2019 Report Share Posted August 28, 2019 In my time as a stand-in projectionist, before Xenon lamps became common, arcs were the only light source. I first met them as hand-adjusted versions in the follow-spots in the big theatre in my home town and then again in the projection room of the first arts centre I worked in as a jack of all trades. Those projectors used a system called auto-arc, where an opto switch supposedly checked that the gap was correct and fed the carbon in when it got too large. They never really worked properly, so one had to keep a constant lookout for the picture colour balance. Too blue or too yellow and the arc needed adjusting by hand. Mind you, the early Xenon lamps chucked Ozone out at an alarming rate and were a bit of a pain to change when they failed, with protective gloves and eye-protection needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted August 28, 2019 Report Share Posted August 28, 2019 Like the man in the video says--no HMI looks like an arc. Those lights make a scene look like you're making a movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tourtelot Posted August 29, 2019 Report Share Posted August 29, 2019 10 hours ago, Philip Perkins said: Like the man in the video says--no HMI looks like an arc. Those lights make a scene look like you're making a movie. Oh, I'm getting all teary-eyed. Early wireless mics, Sony BVH500 1" video recorders, and arc lamps. Next you'll be talking about Panavision Platinum cameras. God, I adored those cameras. Just the sexiest machines this side of a Porsche 356. I'm SO old. :):) D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Westgate Posted August 29, 2019 Report Share Posted August 29, 2019 Hey Doug buddy I can go back to the first Audio Ltd VHF radio mikes in 1965 (also used on Kubricks 2001) The first Sennheiser 805 long shotgun in 1969 and also an Ampex Quad 2" recorder in a location van in 1976 !!!! mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tourtelot Posted August 30, 2019 Report Share Posted August 30, 2019 You are older than me. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mixr Posted March 8, 2021 Report Share Posted March 8, 2021 As a seventeen-year old I was able to sneak on the set of David Wolper's 'Devil's Brigade' when they were shooting night exteriors. The shot involved a truck full of rowdy soldiers (probably 'impaired'😉) pulling into frame from some distance and coming to a stop. Several brute arcs were being used, with their chimneys, operators and ladders. I don't think I ever saw that much arc power on a set since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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