NEW YORK — The lighting team on Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program are using ETC’s Ion lighting control system to deal with the high-pressure, fast-paced challenges of single-camera television production.
For such shows, demands change every hour, the set is constantly moving, the lighting varies for every shot and the lighting console is often placed where the programmer can’t see the set. Sometimes the programmer also needs to be in two places at once.
Before this season started, Christian Grosselfinger, gaffer, David Kane, best boy, and Tom Howard, programmer, teamed up to research secure wireless networks to create a mobile lighting control system. They chose Ion.
“I was impressed by Ion’s performance and versatility and was also intrigued with its networking possibilities,” said Kane. “This seemed to present the perfect opportunity to take our controls to the next level, while benefiting production and increasing our efficiency.”
Ion offered them a familiar programming style from traditional TV and film lighting consoles, but it also gave them the ability to program moving lights and create sophisticated effects easily.
“Ion is the first console I've used that is in tune with what we need,” said Kane. “We're using cues as a way to store looks and then building on top of those, running multiple effects on submasters, and building interactive lighting effects on the fly. Ion has adapted to this methodology very well, and thanks to ETC, it just keeps getting better and better.”
Adding mobility to the Ion console is the iRFR application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The iRFR acts as a remote control on a wireless network, giving users the ability to set levels, call up submasters and cues, and manipulate any parameter on a moving light.
“The iRFR gives me complete portability, providing me with a control interface that I can keep in my pocket at all times,” Howard said. “The app makes it easy to adjust levels and moving light parameters from anywhere on the soundstage.”
Another wireless solution the crew uses on The Sarah Silverman Program is Client software. A free download from ETC’s Web site, combined with a client dongle, the software gives any PC the ability to sync up with Ion and have access to every control the console has.
“Usually the gaffer will relay cues to the programmer over the radio,” said Kane, “but with Client software, Tom can take a tablet, stand right over the director's shoulder at the monitors and take cues directly from the source. This makes our department even more efficient in getting the director's vision to film with the fewest steps in between.”
In addition to the wireless system, the team has also streamlined their use of lighting fixtures. Since color temperature is critical in lighting for cameras, gaffers cannot simply dim a light to make it less bright. Tungsten-halogen lamps shift their color temperature as they dim, so to make a scene brighter or dimmer, gaffers add or turn off multiple lights at the same intensity level.
On The Sarah Silverman Program, they accomplish this using ETC Source Four fixtures, which give them a controlled beam that can be quickly focused and contained to a bounce card, instead of having to bring lights in to the set on the floor.
“The Source Four is invaluable when grouped together on pipes or on distant stands for filling large 12×6 bounces temporarily hung from the fourth wall. The floor is kept clear, giving the actors and cameras room to breathe freely,” said Grosselfinger.
“I love to sneak soft patterned barrels through tight windows to caress deep backgrounds, dropping a lamp on the floor for ceiling bounces, hiding in corners for quick slivers of light on small bounce cards, which in turn act as backlights, or the ever-famous theatrical special on a painting or prop.”
To cut down on refocusing lamps, The Sarah Silverman Program crew uses ETC’s automated fixture, the Source Four Revolution. Kane explains: “The interior set bounces tend to live in only a handful of places, so once the focus points for the Revolutions are set, we are able to instantly and precisely focus a unit. We're a bit short-staffed, so giving the programmer the ability to focus lighting units frees our other two technicians.”
For the future, the crew is planning to continue their relationship with ETC, adding the latest products to keep the show on track. “I've always been interested in pushing the envelope when it comes to lighting control,” asserts Kane. “On this show we've accomplished many of the things I've wanted to try for years. The trick now is to take what we've learned and step it up a notch for the next one.”
Photo by Rhet Bear
For more information, please visit www.etcconnect.com.
