Challenge

“Working for four years now with DP Guido van Gennep NSC, we created a specific workflow and lighting package to go along with that. The approach is nimble, creative, and fast in a good way,” Johan Hoitink explains.

For Netflix’s Dutch series Roosters, Gaffer Johan Hoitink faced the challenge of shooting on certain locations that were not ideal from a lighting perspective.

“Along with that, it needed some rich light for the sake of realizing a comedy feel within the drama. We liked the creativity our full color lights gave us, which are CRMX controlled, and knew we needed that control for every light, including the bigger ones, in our setup.”

Solution

After evaluating their options, Hoitink decided the Aputure XT26 and CS15’s power, tunability, and CRMX control made them the perfect complement to the existing lighting package.

Their ability to operate on household power eliminated the need for generators and extensive cabling, significantly streamlining setup times. “Not needing a big generator somewhere far around the corner and laying big long cables to all sides of and into the location, is a time advantage right from the start.”

The time saved during initial setup translated into a smoother workflow on set and gave the team greater flexibility to use the set as needed, fine-tuning scenes with greater precision. “That is the time that directors and the DP want to use the set as well, and now they can.”

Results

With the Aputure XT26 and CS15, the team achieved power and control without sacrificing flexibility. The fixtures’ shared accessories, including reflectors, fresnel lenses, motorized yokes, and ballast cables are welcome extras. “It is nice not having to bring or own every accessory for every lamp head. That saves room and time.”

“[On the name of set], we used a flat roof behind the house to reach the windows on the first floor. The location was surrounded by neighbors we were not in contact with, so we had to transport all of the equipment via the stairs, through our own windows, onto the weight limited roof. We kept the ballast inside, with the long ballast cable easily manageable. We would not have been able to reach it with a power cable coming from a generator on the streets. So how cool is it, a 2600w LED light on a household outlet, the biggest light possible with those limitations, to have that on our shoot every day.”

“Imagine what you can do when you’ve already seen and tackled the most common lighting challenges during rehearsal and you can actually focus on the details and creative ideas during the shoot”, says Hoitink.

“You look at your DP and are both satisfied as soon as shooting starts.”