“We are out here in California and we get a lot of light,” he says. “If you are doing car interiors and the look you need demands a very punchy source to get the contrast in the right spot…we were having a lot of trouble finding something.”
Gaffer Michael Bauman is in an excellent position to evaluate Creamsource lights given his dual role working on Hollywood productions and running rental company Lux Lighting
As befits a company based in a place called Sun Valley, CA, Lux Lighting’s Michael Bauman talks a lot about the light in California, in particular the trouble it can cause on set when it comes to getting the light right for particular types of shoot.
“We are out here in California and we get a lot of light,” he says. “If you are doing car interiors and the look you need demands a very punchy source to get the contrast in the right spot…we were having a lot of trouble finding something.”
The movie in question was Ford v Ferrari (Twentieth Century Fox), directed by James Mangold and starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, depicting the famous battle between the previously dominant Ferrari and Ford at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1966. It was shot entirely in California with the Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamund standing in for the famous French circuit – which meant dealing with the California sunlight.
Enter the Creamsource Micro BiColour. “That had enough firepower to be really effective, and was really a perfect fit for what we were doing,” says Bauman. “And then towards the end of the production we got the new Creamsource Micro Colours with their extended Kelvin range, which was really useful. I use it on my jobs and we’ve started investing in it for our rental inventory as well.”
As well as working as a Gaffer on leading Hollywood productions, Bauman also set up Lux Lighting with fellow Gaffer John Tower in 1998. As such he’s invested in six of the still relatively new Micro Colours.
“It’s a great building block that offers a lot of potential,” he says. “When our clients see it, they like it immediately because they can see how useful it is going to be, and most of the time they end up going out and buying a couple of them for themselves.”
Bauman’s list of the Micro Colour’s best qualities is a fairly long one. “The build quality is really exceptional,” he says. “The IP65 rating on it is really great, and we’ve used them inside a car wash so we know that it works. The effects are great, especially the strobe for things like simulating camera flashes, and the XY ability is a really good tool to have as well. All in all, I think it’s a great asset to add to your library; in terms of ‘bang for buck’ it’s got a lot of really good stuff going on.
“People really need to have a punch and a high output source, and the Micro Colour is really good at doing that in a consolidated package.”
One of the latest projects Bauman has used the lights on as a Gaffer is the forthcoming Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (Warner Bros.) directed by Cathy Yan and starring Margot Robbie.
“We used a lot of color on that, and the Micro Colours performed really well,” he says.
As for the rental side of the business, it looks like the lights will feature quite heavily in its future plans too.
“The Creamsource build quality and reliability has always been something the product line is known for and we certainly see ourselves investing more in their product line as we grow our rental operation.”
For more information on Lux Lighting visit https://www.luxlightingllc.com/