“蓝光”下的雪夜速降
M系列登上雪峰
“我们需要大功率与可靠性——除了ARRI M系列别无选择。”
—— 灯光师马克•斯图恩
洛杉矶灯光师马克•斯图恩将ARRI M40和M90灯光带到偏远的山地拍摄夜间滑雪短片《余辉》。本片由Sweetgrass Productions制作公司出品，摄影师是迈克•布朗、尼克•沃尔科特和扎克•兰姆拉斯，迈克•布朗与尼克•瓦格纳联合执导。
我们的拍摄从加拿大卑诗省开始，大概20天后转移到阿拉斯加又进行了16天的拍摄。在前期准备阶段，我们讨论的一个重要议题就是带去的灯光设备能不能经得起这样的折腾，当你身处荒郊野外，可靠性是重中之重。我们调查了市面上每一种灯光的光谱，只有ARRI M系列最适合这种类型的拍摄。
在卑诗，最初我希望用六盏M40配合拍摄——雪道两侧各一盏，这样就不用频繁地将灯光搬来搬去。可惜我们的预算在加拿大不够用，因为那里的租赁费很高，所以最终只拿到两盏M40和一些LED灯光。尽管如此，M40还是发挥了主要作用，一般我们都用它们来做过肩镜头的双主光。每个镜头都是先布置M40，然后用别的LED来补充。
我们在积雪15英尺厚的峭壁和山口工作，脚下踩着滑雪板，灯光全部靠肩扛移动，发电机则放在雪橇里在山坡上又推又拉。我们大概花了80%的时间在移动灯光设备，只剩20%时间是在滑雪。
在卑诗逐渐认识到只有M系列才有那么强的输出和可靠性之后，去阿拉斯加之前我们只订了ARRI的灯光。要去我们的拍摄地点，所有的一切都要靠直升机运输到山头上。因为飞行时间有限，所以我们提前就找照片研究，和向导一起先去熟悉地况。开拍当天，灯光和对应的发电机挂在网里会直接空运到事先确定的坐标。
这些灯光必须要经得起阿拉斯加快速变化的湿度、霜冻和海拔的考验。结冰会让灯头无法点亮，我不得不把灯头先凑到发电机的排气管口除冰。最初我们计划在3000米海拔的位置安置这些灯光，因为临时改变主意，又往上加了接近1000米，所以那些发电机一定是因为这件事闹情绪，我们不得不时刻留意着它们的运转情况。
我们带去了两盏M90和六盏M40，但是由于极端低温天气导致发电机故障，有两盏没能点亮。我当时就站在悬崖上安装一盏M40，夜晚来得很快，在天色完全暗下来，看不见山底的灯光设备之前，我必须赶快滑下去找到它们，所以当时也顾不上那些了。最终我们用一盏M90和一盏M40做主光，两盏M40做轮廓光，还有两盏M40放在山底做填充光，这样我们的滑雪者才能知道在哪里刹车。每晚他们只能滑一次，因为没有直升机就没办法再返回坡顶。
这些灯光被安放在10到20英尺厚的雪坡里、峭壁边、冰山上，在低于零度的气温下每天被直升机悬空拖吊着上下山，结果依然照常工作，表现得难以置信的好，我不认为还有别的灯光设备能陪我们干好这件事。这一趟它们一定受尽折磨，但我之所以选择M系列，就是因为我清楚知道它们是最适合这次工作的灯光设备。我们需要大功率与可靠性——除了ARRI M系列别无选择。
夜间滑雪短片《余辉》
Blue Lights on a Black Run
"We needed the reliability and power of the ARRI M-Series – nothing else comes close. "- Gaffer Mark Stuen
LA-based gaffer Mark Stuen takes ARRI M40 and M90 M-Series lights to remote mountain locations for the night-skiing short film project, Afterglow from Sweetgrass Productions. Shot by Brown, Nick Wolcott and Zac Ramras, the film was directed by Nick Waggoner and Mike Brown.
Our shoot started with about 20 days in British Columbia and after that we had around 16 shooting days in Alaska. A big topic of discussion during preproduction was the reliability of the lights we were going to take up; when you are in the middle of nowhere, nothing else is a higher priority. We looked at the photometrics of every light available, but the ARRI M-Series was better suited to a shoot like this than anything else on the market.
In British Columbia I originally wanted six M40s to deal with the logistics of the shoot – two for each of the zones we were planning to ski, so that we wouldn't have to move them much. Unfortunately our budget couldn't handle that in Canada, where rental rates are high, so we ended up with two M40s and some LEDs. Nevertheless, the M40s were our backbone and we generally used them as double over-the-shoulder keys. Every shot started out with the M40s and then we would work the LEDs in where they could accent.
We were working in 15 feet of snow and on the edges of cliffs and cornices. The lights were all moved on our shoulders while skiing and the generators were placed in sleds and pushed or pulled up and down the slopes. We probably spent 80% of our time moving lights and 20% skiing.
For Alaska we exclusively ordered ARRI fixtures, having learned in BC that the M-Series were the only lights with the horsepower and reliability to be trusted on a shoot like this. Everything had to be helicoptered to the exact cliff locations where it was going to be used. We planned this out in advance by looking at photographs and going on scouts with our guides, as we had very limited helicopter time. When the time came to drop the lights they were slung in nets with their generators and carried off to their positions.
The lights had to deal with rapidly changing humidity, frost and altitude in Alaska. I actually had to thaw out the lampheads with the exhaust of their generators, as the ice was preventing them from striking. Originally we had planned on using all the lights at about 3,000 feet elevation, but at the last moment it changed and we were closer to 4,000 feet; the generators hated us for that and had to be constantly monitored.
We had taken two M90s and six M40s, but the extreme cold caused us generator issues and we couldn’t use a couple of the lights. I was literally standing on the middle of a cliff while working on an M40; night time was rapidly approaching and I had more lights at the base I needed to ski to before it was too dark to see, so we just had to work with what we had. Our setup turned out to be an M90 and M40 key, two M40 backlights and two M40s at the base as fill, so our skiers could see the end of the run. The skiers could only do one run each per night, as you couldn't get back up without a helicopter.
We put these lights on slopes with 10 to 20 feet of snow, on cliffs and glaciers, in sub-zero temperatures and flew them in and out of our location hanging from helicopters. They still worked and performed incredibly well, and I don't think there is another light in production that could have done it for us. We definitely put them through the wringer but I chose them because I knew they were the best lights for the job. We needed the reliability and power of the ARRI M-Series – nothing else comes close.
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