Author Archive

Los Angeles California:
John Buckley III, chief lighting technician (IMDB) used 280 of our Mac Tech Tungsten 6 Space Lights for 14 weeks shooting “Land Of The Lost” (IMDB) at NBC Universal Studios Hollywood. That saved 25% power consumption as compared to using the old style standard 6k FCM space lights. That calculates out to a savings of 420,000 watts, roughly 3800 amps. The foot candles on the floor were more than double that of the old style FCM space lights which gave the DP the freedom to use whatever film stock he wanted. The Mac Tech Tungsten 6 Space Lights were loaded with 750 watt long life bulbs (2000 hours) and John chose to use the wide lenses. At the end of the 14 weeks, out of all the 1680 HPL 750 long life bulbs there were only 12 burn outs. 80 of those lights had just come off of the set of Car Poolers and had been working for 14 weeks over there. Out of the 280 sets of silk skirts & targets we only had one silk skirt damaged and that was a blood stain from a cut finger while loading.
When all things are taken into consideration, the power savings of both lights and air conditioning, the savings of labor time changing blown bulbs and the lack of extensive L & D charges for damages to accessories, our Mac Tech Tungsten 6 Space Lights were a hit.

NBC Universal Studios then purchased 175 of them and sent them down to New Mexico to work on Terminator Four.

Success! How sweet it is.

Thanks to John Buckley III for trying & testing our lights in the most demanding of situations!

Vancouver BC Canada

Jerrod Tiffen, rigging gaffer for the Warner Bros. film “Watchmen”, first called me last year to get information on our Mac Tech Tungsten line and I agreed to send him up some sample lights for testing.

After testing the Mac Tech Tungsten’s, Jerrod called me back with some very powerfull feedback and told me to expect a call from Paramount Production Services’ Eleanor O’Connor with a list of lights they wished to rent for the production. I was shocked when I got the list. It was for 36 Mac Tech 6 Space lights, 10 Mac Tech 9 Maxi’s and wow, 42 Mac Tech 12 Mini Dino’s! We had to build 20 more Mac Tech Tungsten 12’s for this movie because at the time we only had 22 in our rental department.

I decided to take a trip up to Vancouver to see the set and how they would be used. Jerrod introduced me to gaffer Dennis Brock whose list of credits and reputation I was well familiar with and you can see for yourself here.

As we toured the amazing set, constructed on an old lumber yard, I began to get the picture. They had built a two city block set complete with store fronts, movie theater, sidewalks, working traffic lights and even steam coming out of the manhole covers. At the end of each street were massive 60′ x 60′ green screens, illuminated by Mac Tech Tungsten 12 Mini Dino’s. It was very impressive. Weighing only 60 pounds each you can load 4 Mac Tech Tungsten 12 Mini Dino’s side by side in the condor basket with a 200 lb. electrician and you now have a 48 light dino that draws only 288 amps, all individually controlled through soccopex cable.

Thank you to Jerrod Tiffin for putting his faith in our Mac Tech Tungsten lights and for his great suggestions for ways we could make our Mac Tech Tungsten 6 Space light a more effective set lighting tool.

More on that later!

This Warner Bros. film shot on location in Vancouver BC. They used 42 Mac Tech Tungsten 12 Light Mini Dino’s, 10 Mac Tech Tungsten 9 light Maxi’s and more than 30 Mac Tech Tungsten 6 Space Lights.

How much POWER DID THEY SAVE??????? The answer:

175,500 watts over 1600 amps
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