Moonbox Setup
Gear used: 3 x Gemini 2×1 Softs, 2 Gemini 1×1 Softs, half grid cloth, speed-rail frame and boom lift.
Notes from the Gaffer
The piece was for a big church, south of Chicago as part of their Christmas Eve service. The DP (Cory Vetter) wanted to do a moonbox and we were having to deal with a modest budget at the same time. His first thought was to put a Skypanel 360 up there, which I don’t have. And they happen to rent for kind of crazy amount of money in the Chicago area. I said I think we can get the levels we need with the Litepanels’ Geminis that I own and they’ll be a lighter and more affordable rig. And he’s like, okay, let’s give it a shot. It worked out really well.
We controlled them wirelessly with DMX and had them in CCT mode with green/magenta control. Mostly we dialed in like a daylight tone with a little green pushed into it for our overall ambience. We got the levels we needed and it was a lightweight and cost-effective solution that even allowed us to use a smaller lift.
The Gemini moon box was our ambience for the entire shoot. It became our super soft moon-like source giving us color contrast in the shadows and kept us from clipping off to black immediately. So it just worked really well and gave us a soft wash of the whole set. And then occasionally we even used it for a key. We also switched to tungsten for a couple shots to emulate the Christmas lights around the set too.
Watch the final commercial
“I've been using Gemini 2x1 Soft panels for several years now and they’ve definitely been my workhorse light in that form factor. I've loved it.”
Josiah SjöströmGaffer
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